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THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


























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THE 



CONTAINING 


THE UNIVERSAL THEOLOGY 

OF THE 


NEW CHURCH, 


FORETOLD BY THE LORD IN DANIEL, VII. 13, 14, AND IN 
THE APOCALYPSE, XXL 1, 2. 


Translated from the Latin of 

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, 

Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. 


NEW YORK: 

AMERICAN SWEDENBORG PRINTING AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 

1873. 












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Daniel, vii. 13, 14. 

1 saw in the night visions , and, behold, one like the Son oj 
man came with the clouds of heaven ; and there was given him 
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, 
and languages, should serve him . His dominion is an everlast- 
ing dominion , which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that 
which shall not be destroyed. 

Apocalypse, xxi. 1, 2, 9, 10, 5. 

And I, John , saw a new heaven and a new earth : * * * 

and I saw the holy city, Hew Jerusalem, coming down from 
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus- 
band. * * * And one of the seven angels talked with me, 

saying, Gome hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s 
wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and 
high mountain, and showed me that great city, the Holy Jeru 
salem, descending out of heaven from God. 

And he that sat upon the throne said. Behold, I make all 
things new. And he said unto me, Write ; for these words a/re 
faithful and true. 


Published by The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing 
Society, organized for the purpose of Stereotyping , Printing , and 
Publishing Uniform Editions of the Theological Writings o/'Emanue’ 
Swedenborg, and incorporated in the State of New York a. d. 1850 


Btjh»*ottp*d bt 
RICHARD C. VALENTINE. 
Nbw York. 


















































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CONTENTS. 


THE Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church i 

CHAR I. 

GOD THE CREATOR 4 

The Unity of God 5 

I. That the Holy Scriptures throughout, and the doctrines of all Christian 

churches thence derived, teach that there is a God, and that he is One 6 

II. That there is an influx universal from God into the souls of men, teaching 

them that there is a God, and that he is One 8 

III. That hence there is no nation throughout the world, possessed either of 

religion or sound reason, but that acknowledges the being of a God, 
and that he is One 9 

1Y. That the nature and qualities of this One God are subjects respecting 
which various nations and people have differed, and do still differ ; 
and this from several causes 11 

Y. That human reason, if it be so disposed, may collect, and be convinced, 
from the various objects in the visible world, that there is a God, 
and that he is One 12 

VI. That unless God were One, the universe could not have been created or 

preserved 13 

VII. That every man who does not acknowledge a God, is excommunicated 

from the church, and in a state of condemnation.. 14 

VIII. That no doctrine or worship of the Church can be consistent or cohe- 

rent with those who acknowledge not one God, but many 15 

The Divine Esse, which is Jehovah 18 

I. That the One God is called Jehovah from his Esse, because he alone is, 
w r as, and will be ; and because he is the First and the Last, the Be- 
ginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega 19 

n. That the One God is substance itself and form itself ; and angels and men 
are substances and forms by derivation from him ; and so far as they 
are in him, and he in them, they are images and likenesses of him. . 20 

III. That the Divine Esse is Esse in itself ; and at the same time Existere in itself 21 

IV. That the Divine Esse and Existere in itself cannot produce another Di- 

vine, that is Esse and Existere in itself; consequently there cannot 
be another God of the same essence 23 

V. That a plurality of Gods among the ancients, and also among the moderns, 

had its rise solely in consequence of the Divine Esse not being un- 
derstood 24 

The Infinity of God, or his Immensity and Eternity 27 

I. That God is Infinite, because he is and exists in himself ; and that all 

things in the universe are and exist from him 28 

II. That God is Infinite, because he was before the world, consequently be- 

fore spaces and times had birth 29 

III. That God, since the world was made, is in space without sp^ce, and in 

time without time 30 

IV. That the Infinity of God in relation to spaces is called Immensity ; and 

in relation to times, Eternity ; and yet, notwithstanding these rela- 
tions, there is nothing of space in his Immensity, and nothing of time 
in his Eternity 31 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


N<x 


V. Thai enlightened reason, from very many objects in the world may dis- 

cover the Infinity of God the Creator » 32 

VI. That every created thing is finite; and the Infinite is in finite things, as 

in its receptacles, and in men as in its images 33 

The Essence of God, which is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom 36 

That God is Love itself andWisdom itself ; and these two constitute his essence 37 

II. That God is Good itself and Truth itself, because Good is of Love, and 

Truth is of Wisdom 38 

III. That God, by reason of his being Love itself and Wisdom itself, is also 

Life itself, which is Life in itself 39 

IV. That Love and Wisdom in God make One 41 

V. That the essence of Love is to love others out of, or without itself, to de- 

sire to be one with them, and from itself to make them happy 43 

VI. That these properties of the Divine Love were the cause of the creation 

of the universe, and are also the cause of its preservation 46 

The Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God 49 

l. That Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence, are properties of the 

Divine Wisdom derived from the Divine Love 60 


II. That the Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God, cannot be 
known until it be known what is meant by Order, and until it be 
ascertained that God is Order, and that he introduced Order into 


the universe and all its parts, at the creation 62 

III. That the Omnipotence of God in the universe, and in all its parts pro- 

ceeds and operates according to the laws of his own order 66 

IV. That God is Omniscient, that is, he perceives, sees, and knows all and 

every thing, even to the most minute, that is done according to 
order, and by that means also whatever is done contrary to order. 69 

V. That God is Omnipresent in all the gradations of his own order, from first 

to last 63 

VI. That man was created a form of Divine Order 65 

VII. That a man has power against evil and the false from the Divine Omnipo- 

tence, he has wisdom respecting Good and Truth from the Divine / 
Omniscience, and he is in God by virtue of the Divine Omni- 
presence, in proportion as he lives according to Divine Order 68 

The Creation of the Universe 75 

That no one can form a just idea concerning the creation of the universe 
unless the understanding be brought into a state of perception by 
certain universal knowledges being premised 76 


The Creation of the universe described by five Memorable Relations. .76 — 80 


\ 


CHAP. II. 

The Lord the Redeemer 81 

I. That Jehovah God descended and assumed the Human, that He might re- 

deem and save mankind 82 r ~'~ > 

II. That Jehovah God descended as Divine Truth, which is the Word ; never- 

theless, he did not separate from it the Divine Good 85 

III. That God assumed the Humanity according to his own Divine Order . . 

IV. That the Humanity by which God sent himself into the world is the Son 

of God 92 

V. That the Lord, by acts of Redemption, made himself Righteousness 95 

VL That by the same acts the Lord united himself to the Father, and the 

Father united himself to him 97 

VIL That thus God was made Man, and Man God, in one person 101 


CONTENTS. 


V 


VIII. That the progress towards union was his state of exinanition, and the 

union itself is his state of glorification 104 

iX. That henceforth no Christian can be admitted into heaven, unless he be- 
lieve in the Lord God the Saviour 107 

A. Corollary concerning the state of the Church before the coming of the Lord, 

and after it 109 

Redemption 1 1 4 

I. That Redemption itself consisted in bringing the hells into subjection, and 

the heavens into order, and in thus preparing the way for a New 
Spiritual Church 115 

II. That without such Redemption, neither could men have been saved, nor 

could the angels have remained in a state of integrity 118 

III. That the Lord thus redeemed not only men, but also angels 121 

IV. That Redemption was a work purely Divine 123 

V. That this real Redemption could not possibly have been effected but by 

God Incarnate 124 

VI. That the Passion of the Cross was not Redemption, but the last tempta- 

tion which the Lord endured as the Grand Prophet ; and it was the 
means of the Glorification of his Human 126 

VIL That it is a fundamental error of the Church to believe the Passion of 
the Cross to be Redemption itself; and this error, together with 
that relating to three Divine Persons from eternity, has perverted, 
the whole Church, so that nothing spiritual remains in it 132 

CHAP. III. 

The Holy Spirit and the Divine Operation.. 138 

L That the Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth, and also the Divine Virtue and 
Operation, proceeding from the One ‘God, in whom there is the Di- 
vine Trinity, thus from the Lord God the Saviour 139 

II. That the Divine virtue and operation signified by the Holy Spirit, con- 
sists in general in reformation and regeneration ; and in proportion 
as these are effected, in renovation, vivification, sanctification, and 
justification; and, in proportion as these are effected, in purification 
from evils, remission of sins, and finally salvation 142 

'III. That that Divine virtue and operation, which is signified by the mission 
of the Holy Spirit, consists, with the clergy in particular, in illustra- 
tion and instruction 146 

IV. That the Lord operates those virtues in such as believe in him 149 

V. That the Lord operates of himself from the Father, and not contrariwise 153 

VI. That a man’s spirit is his mind, and whatever proceeds from it 156 

A Corollary. It is nowhere said in the Old Testament that the Prophets 
spoke from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah God ; but that it 
is otherwise in the New Testament 158 

The Divine Trinity 163 

I. That there is a Divine Trinity, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 164 ^ 

II. That these three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the three essentials of 

One God, which make a One, like soul, body, and operation in a 
man 166 

III. That before the creation of the world this Trinity did not exist ; but it 

was provided and made since the creation, when God became incar- 
nate, and then centred in the Lord God, the Redeemer and Saviour 

Jesus Christ 17(5 

IV That a Trinity of Divine Persons from eternity, or before the creation of 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


Na 

the world, when conceived in idea, is a Trinity of Gods, which can- 
not be expelled by the oral confession of One God 172 

V. That a Trinity of persons was unknown in the Apostolic Church, and the 

doctrine was first broached by the Council of Nice, and thence re- 
ceived into the Roman Catholic Church, and thus propagated among 
the Reformed Churches 174 

VI. That Gie Nicene and Athanasian doctrines concerning a Trinity, have to- 

gether given rise to a Faith which has entirely perverted the Chris- 
tian Church 177 

VII. That hence is come that abomination of desolation, and that affliction, 

such as was not in all the world, neither shall be, which the Lord 
has foretold in Daniel, the Evangelists, and the Revelation 179 

VIII. That hence too it has come to pass that unless a New Heaven and a 

New Church be established by the Lord, no flesh can be saved. . . . 182 

IX. That a Trinity of persons, each whereof singly and by himself is God, ac- 

cording to the Athanasian Creed, has given rise to many absurd 
and heterogeneous notions about God, which are merely fanciful 
and abortive 183 

CHAP. IV. 

The Sacked Scripture, or the Word of the Lord 189 

I. That the Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is the Divine Truth itself ib. 

II. That in the Word there is a Spiritual sense, heretofore unknown 193 

1. What the spiritual sense is 194 

2. That from the Lord proceeds the Divine Celestial , the Divine Spiritual , 

and the Divine Natural 195 

3. That the spiritual sense is in all and every part of the Word 196 

4. That the Lord , when He was in the world , spoke according to correspon- 

dences , thus spiritually as well as naturally 199 

5. That it is owing to the spiritual sense that the Word is divinely inspired , 

and holy in every syllable 200 

6. That the spiritual sense of the Word has hitherto remained unknown [m 

the Churcli], but it was known to the ancients. Also concerning cor- 
respondences, with which they were acquainted 201 — 207 

7. That hereafter the spiritual sense of the Word will be made known only 

to those who are in genuine truths from the Lord. 208 

8. A relation of some wonderful phenomena resulting from the spiritual sense 

of the Word 20S 

III. That the literal sense of the Word is the basis, the continent, and the fir- 

mament of its spiritual and celestial senses 210 

IV. That the Divine Truth, in the literal sense of the Word, is in its fulness, 

its sanctity, and its power 214 

1. That the truths of the literal sense of the Word are understood by the pre- 

cious stones of which the foundations of the New Jerusalem were built, 
as mentioned in the Revelation ; and this was the case from corre- 
spondence, chap. xxi. 17 — 21 217 

2. That the goods and truths of the Word in its literal sense are understood 

by the Urirn and Thummim on Aaron's ephod. 218 

3. That the same are understood by the precious stones in the garden of Eden, 

wherein the king of Tyre is said to have been 219 

4. That truths and goods in their ultimates, such as are in the literal sense of 

the Word, were represented by the curtains, vails, and pillars of the 
tabernacle 220 


CONTENTS. Vli 

No. 

5. That the same were represented by the externals of the temple at Jerusalem 221 

6. That the Word in its glory was represented hi the person of the Lord at 

his transfiguration 222 

7. That the power of the Word , in its ultimate#, was represented by the Naz- 

arites. 223 

8. Of the inexpressible power of the Word 224 

V. That the Doctrine of the Church ought to be drawn fi’om the literal sense 

of the Word, and to be confirmed thereby 225 

1. That the Word , without doctrine, is unintelligible 226 

2. That doctrine ought to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, and 

to be confirmed thereby 229 

8. That genuine truth, which should constitute doctrine, in the literal sense of 
the Word, is apparent only to those who are in illustration from the 
Lord 231 

VI. That by the literal sense of the Word conjunction with the Lord, and 

consociation with the angels is effected 234 

VII. That the Word is in. all the heavens, and the wisdom of the angels is 

thence derived 240 

VIII. That the Church exists from the Word, and the quality of the Church 

with man is according to his understanding of the Word 243 

IX. That the marriage of the Lord and the Church, and thence the marriage 

of Good and Truth, is in every part of the Word 248 

X. That men may collect and imbibe heretical opinions from the letter of the 

Word ; but it is hurtful to confirm such opinions 254 

1. That many things in the Word are appearances of truth, in which gen- 

uine truths lie concealed 257 

2. That fallacies arise from the confirmation of appearances of truth 258 

3. That the literal sense of the Word is a guard to the genuine truths con- 

tained in it 260 

4. That the literal sense of the Word is represented, and in the Word is 

signified by Cherubs 260 

XI. That the Lord, during his abode in the world, fulfilled all things con- 

tained in the Word, and was thus made the Word, that is, the 
Divine Truth, even in ultimates 261 

XII. That previous to the Word which the world now possesses, there was a 

Word which is lost 204 

XIII. That by means of the Word, light is communicated to those who are out 

of the pale of the Church, and are not in possession of the Word. . 267 

XIV. That without the Word no one would have any knowledge of God, of 

heaven and hell, or of a life after death, and much less of the Lord 278 

CHAP. V. 

The Catechism or Decalogue explained as to its External and In- 
ternal Sense. 282 

That the Decalogue, in the Israelitish Church, was the very Essence of holi- 
ness ; and concerning the holiness of the ark, in which was the law 283 

That the Decalogue, in its literal sense, contains general precepts of doctrine 

and life, but in its spiritual and celestial sense all precepts universally 287 

The first commandment: Thou 6halt have no other Gods before me 291 

The second commandment: Thou shalt not take the Name of Jehovah thy 
God in vain ; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his 

name in vain 297 

The third commandment : Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy ; Six 
days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh is the 
Sabbath to Jehovah thy God a 301 


CONTENTS. 


\riii 

No. 

The fourth commandment: Honor thy Father and thy Mother, that thy 

days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee 305 

The fifth commandment : Thou shalt not commit murder 309 

The sixth commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery 313 

The seventh commandment : Thou shalt not steal 317 

The eighth commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy. 

neighbor 321 

The ninth and tenth commandments: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s 
house ; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, or his servant, 
or his maid, or his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neigh- 
bor’s . 325 

That the ten Commandments of the Decalogue contain all things which re- 
late to love to God, and all things which relate to love towaids our 
neighbor 329 

CHAP. VI. 

Of Faith 336 

Preface: That faith is first in regard to time, and charity first in regard 

to end 336 

I. That a Saving Faith is a Faith in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. 337 

And this because He is the visible God in whom is the invisible. . . 339 

II. That faith in general consists in a belief that the Lord will save all who 

live a good life and believe aright 340 

That the first requisite of Faith in Him is the acknowledgment that He 

is the Son of God 342 

III. That a man receives Faith in consequence of approaching the Lord, learn- 

ing truths from the Word, and living a life in conformity with them 343 

A general view of the esse of Faith, the essence of Faith, the states of Faith, 

and the form of Faith 344 

Concerning merely natural faith, that it is a persuasion counterfeiting 


IV. That a number of truths, cohering, as in a fascicle or bundle, exalts and 

perfects Faith 349 

1. That the truths of faith are capable of being multiplied to infinity 350 

2. That the truths of faith are arranged into orderly series, and tints, as it 

were, into fascicles or bundles 351 

3. That faith is perfected in proportion to the number and coherence of truths 352 

4. That the truths of faith, however numerous they may be, and however dif- 

ferent they may appear, yet make a one, and are united by and from 
the Lord, who is the Word, the God of heaven and earth , the God of 
all flesh, the God of the vineyard or church, the God of faith, and the 
essential Light, Truth, and eternal Life 354 

V. That Faith without Charity is not Faith, and Charity without Faith is not 

Charity, and neither Faith nor Charity has any Life in it but from 
the Lord 355 

1. That a man has power to procure faith for himself 356 

2. That a man has power to procure charity for himself 357 

3. That a man has power also to procure for himself the life of faith and charity 358 

4. That nevertheless nothing of faith, of charity, and of the life of each is 

from the man, but from the Lord alone 359 

6. The difference between natural faith aud spiritual faith ; and that the lat- 
ter is implanted in the former by the Lord 360 

VI. That the Lord, Charity, and Faith, constitute a One, like Life, Will, and 

Understanding in man ; and in ease they are divided, each perishes, 
like a pearl bruised to powder g^o 


CONTENTS. IX 

No. 

1. That the Lord , with all his divine love , all his divine wisdom , and all hn 

divine life , enters by influx into every man 364 

2. That consequently the Lord enters by influx into every man with the whoh 

essence of faith and charity 365 

8. That every man receives those things which enter by influx from the Ljord 

according to his state and form 366 

4. But that the man who divides the Lord, charity, and faith, is not a form 

receptive, but a form destructive of them 367 

VII. That the Lord is Charity and Faith in Mau, and Man is Charity and 

Faith in the Lord ; 368 

1. That conjunction with God is the medium by which a man has salvation 

and eternal life 369 

2. That there cannot be conjunction with God the Father, but with the Lord, 

and by him with God the Father 370 

8. That conjunction with the Lord is reciprocal, that is, the Lord is in man, 

and man in the Lord 371 

% 

4. That this reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and man is effected by means 

of charity and faith 372 

VIII. That Charity and Faith are together in Good Works 373 

1. That charity consists in willing what is good, and good works consist in 

doing what is good, from and under the influence of such a good will 374 

2. That charity and faith are merely mental and perishable things, unless 

they are determined to works, and coexist in them, whenever it is prac- 
ticable 375 

8. That charity alone does not produce good works, still less does faith alone ; 

but charity and faith together do produce them 377 

IX. That there are a true Faith, a spurious Faith, and a hypocritical Faith 378 

That the Christian Church, from its very cradle, began to be infested 

and torn to pieces by schisms and heresies 878 

1. That there is only one true faith, and it is directed towards the Lord God 

the Saviour Jesus Christ, and abides with those who believe him to be 
the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and One with the Father 379 

2. That spurious faith is every faith that departs from the one only true 

faith, and it abides with those who climb up some other way, and re- 
gard the Lord not as God, but as a mere maiv 380 

3. That hypocritical faith is not faith 381 

X. The wicked have no Faith 382 

1. That the wicked have no faith, because wickedness is of hell, and faith is 

of heaven 383 

2. That throughout all Christendom there is no faith among those who reject 

the Lord and the Word, notwithstanding the morality and rationality 
of their lives, and that they even speak, and teach, and write about 
faith 384 

CHAP. YIL 

Charity, or Love towards our Neighbor, and Good Works 392 

I. That there are three universal Loves; the Love of Heaven, the Love o) 

the World, and the Love of Self 394 

1. The will and the understanding 397 

2. G*jd and truth 398 

8. Love in general 399 


X 


CONTENTS. 


No. 

4. The love t f self, and the love of the world , , in particular. 400 

5. The internal and the external man 401 

6 . The merely natural and sensual man 402 

II. That those three Loves, when they are in right subordination, make a 

man perfect ; but when they are not in right subordination, they 
pervert and invert him 403 

III. That every individual man is the neighbor whom we ought to love, but 

according to the quality of his good 406 

IY. That man considered collectively, that is, as a lesser or larger society, 
and considered under the idea of compound societies, that is, as our 
country, is the neighbor that ought to be loved 412 

Y. That the Church is our neighbor, to be loved in a higher degree, and the 

Lord’s kingdom is our neighbor, to be loved in the highest degree 416 

VL That to love our neighbor, considered in itself, is not to love his person, 

but the good which is in it 41*7 

VII. That Charity and Good Works are as distinct as willing what is good 

and doing what is good 420 

VIII. That charity itself consists in acting justly and faithfully in whatever 

office, business, and employment a person i§ engaged, and with whom- 
soever he has any connection 422 

IX. That eleemosynary acts of charity consist in giving to the poor, and re- 

lieving the indigent, but with prudence 425 

X. That there are public, domestic, and private duties of Charity 429 

XI. That convivial recreations of charity consist of dinners and suppers, and 

social intercourse 433 

XII. That the first part of Charity consists in putting away evils, and the 

second in doing good actions that are useful to our neighbor 435 

XIII. That in performing the exercises of Charity, a man does not ascribe 

merit to works, so long as he believes that all good is from the Lord 439 
XIY. That moral life, if it is at the same time spiritual, is Charity 443 

XV. That the friendship of love contracted with a person, without regard to 

his spiritual quality, is detrimental after death 446 

XVI. That there are spurious Charity, hypocritical Charity, and dead Charity 450 

XVII. That the friendship of love among the wieked is intestine hatred to- 

wards each other j 454 

XVIII. The conjunction of love to God and love towards our neighbor 456 

CHAP. VIII. 

Free-devermination 463 

I. The precepts and dogmas of the church at this day concerning free-deter- 

mination 403 

II. That the two Trees in the Garden of Eden, one of Life and the other of 

the Knowledge of Good and Evil, signify the Free-determination 
which Man enjoys in respect to spiritual things . . . . i 466 

III. That Man is not Life, but a recipient of Life from God 470 

IV. That Man, during his abode in the world, is held in the midst between 

heaven and hell, and thus in a spiritual equilibrium, which consti- 
tutes Free-determination 475 4- 

V. That from the permission of evil, which every one experiences in his in- 

ternal man, it is evident that man has Free-determination in spirit- 
ual things 47 g 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


' No. 

VI. That without Free-determination in spiritual things, the Word would not 

be of any use, consequently the Church would be a non-entity. . . . 483 

VII. That without Free-determination in spiritual things, man would have 

nothing which could enable him to conjoin himself by reciprocation 
with the Lord ; and consequently there would be no Imputation, 
but mere Predestination, which is detestable 485 

The detestable tenets of Predestination disclosed 486 

VIII. That without Free-determination in spiritual things, God would be 

chargeable as the Cause of Evil, ^nd consequently there would be 
no Imputation 489 

IX. That every spiritual principle of the Church that is admitted and re- 

ceived with freedom, remains, but not otherwise 493 

X. That the Human Will and Understanding enjoy this free-determination ; 

but the commission of evil, both in the spiritual and the natural 
world, is restrained by laws, or else society in both would perish. . 497 

XI. That if men were destitute of Free-determination in spiritual things, it 

would be possible for all men throughout the whole world, in a 
single day, to be induced to believe in the Lord ; but this is impos- 
sible, because nothing remains with man which is not freely re- 
ceived * 500 

XII. That miracles are not done at the present day because they deprive man 

of free-determination 501 

CHAP. IX. 

Repentance 509 

I. That Repentance is the first constituent of the Church in man 510 

II. That Contrition, which at the present day is said to precede Faith, and 

to be followed by evangelical consolation, is not Repentance 512 

III. That the mere lip-confession of being a sinner is not Repentance 5 10 

IV. That every man is born with a propensity to evils of all kinds, and un- 

less he remove them in part by Repentance, he remains in them; 
and whoever remains in them cannot be saved 520 

What is meant by the fulfilment of the law 523 

V. That the knowledge of sin, and the discovery of some particular sin in 

one’s self, is the beginning of Repentance 525 

VL That actual Repentance consists in a man’s examining himself, knowing 
and acknowledging his sins, supplicating the Lord, and beginning a 
new life 528 

VIT. That true Repentance consists in a man’s examining not only the actions 

of his life, but also the intentions of his will 632 

7III. That those also do the work of Repentance, who, though they do not 
examine themselves, abstain from evils because they are sins; and 
this kind of Repentance is done by those who perform works of 
charity from a religious motive 535 

IX. That confession ought to be made before the Lord God the Saviour, 
and at the same time supplication for help and power to resist 
evils 538 

3L That actual repentance is an easy duty to those who have occasionally 
practised it, but meets with violent opposition from those who have 
never practised it 561 

XL That he that never did the work of repentance, and never looked into 
and examined himself, comes at last not to know the nature of 
either damnatory evil or saving good 564 


CONTENTS. 


XI 1 


CHAP. X. 

Reformation and Regeneration 

I. That unless a man he horn again, and as it were created anew, he cannot 

enter into the kingdom of God 

II. That the new birth or creation is effected by the Lord alone, through the 

medium of Charity and Faith, during man’s co-operation 

III. That since all are redeemed, all have a capacity to be regenerated, every 

one according to his state . . . ^ 

IY. That the several stages of man’s Regeneration answer to his natural con- 
ception, gestation in the womb, birth, and education 

Y. That the first act of the new birth, which is an act of the understanding, 
is called Reforma' ion, and the second, which is an act of the will, 
and thence of the understanding, is called Regeneration 

VI. That the internal man is first to be reformed, and by it the external, 

and thus the man is regenerated 

VII. That when this takes place there arises a combat between the internal 

and external man, and then whichever conquers has dominion over 
the other 

VIII. That the regenerate man has a new will and a new understanding. . . 

IX. That a regenerate man is in communion with the angels of heaven, and 

an unregenerate man is in communion with spirits of hell 

X. That in proportion as a man is regenerated, his sins are removed ; and 

this removal is what is meant by the remission of sins 

XI. That Regeneration cannot be effected without free-determination in spir- 

itual things 

XII. That Regeneration is not attainable without truths, by which Faith is 

formed, and with which Charity conjoins itself. 

Some observations concerning the distinction of sex attributed to 
the subjects of the vegetable kingdom 


Na 

571 

572 
576 
579 
583 

587 

591 

596 

601 

607 

611 

615 

618 

5S5 


CHAP. XI. 


Imputation 626 

I. That Imputation, and the Faith of the present Church, which alone is said 

to justify, are a one ib. 

II. That the Imputation, which belongs to the Faith of the present times, is 

two-fold, the one part relating to the merit of Christ, and the other 
to Salvation as its consequence 628 


III. That the Faith which is imputative of the Merit and Righteousness of 
Christ the Redeemer, first took its rise from the decrees in the Coun- 
cil of Nice, concerning Three Divine Persons from eternity, and, 
from that time to the present, has been received by the whole 


Christian world 632 

IY. That Faith imputative of the Merit of Christ was not known in the Apos- 
tolic Church, which preceded the Council of Nice, and is neither 
declared nor signified in any part of the Word 536 

V. That an imputation of the Merit and Righteousness of Christ is impossible 640 

YI. That there is such a thing as imputation, but then it is an imputation of 

good and evil, and at the same time of Faith 643 

VII. That the Faith and Imputation of the New Church cannot be together 
with the Faith and Imputation of the former Church ; and in case 
they were together, such a collision and conflict would ensue, that 
every principle of the Church in man would perish 647 


CONTENTS. 


Xlll 


VIII. That the Lord imputes good to every man, and he l imputes evil to 

every man 660 

IX. That Faith, with whatever principle it conjoins itself, passes sentence 

accordingly ; if a true Faith conjoins itself with goodness, the sen- 
tence is for eternal life, but if Faith conjoins itself witli evil, the sen- 
tence is for eternal death 651 

X. That thought is imputed to no one, but will 663 


CHAP. XII. 


Baptism ' 667 

I. That without a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word, no one can 

know what the two Sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper, in- 
volve and effect 667 

II. That the Washing, which is called Baptism, signifies spiritual washing, 

which is a purification from evils and falses, and thus Regene’ra- 
tion 670 

III. That as circumcision of the heart was represented by the circumcision 

of the foreskin, Baptism was instituted in lieu of it, to the end that 
an internal Church might succeed the external, in which all and 
every thing was a figure of the internal Church 674 

IV. That the first use of Baptism is introduction into the Christian Church, 

and at the same time insertion among Christians in the Spiritual 
World 677 

V. That the second use of Baptism is, that the Christian may know and ac- 

knowledge the Lord Jesus Christ the Redeemer and Saviour, and 
may follow him 681 

VI. That the third and final use of Baptism is, that the Man may be regen- 

erated 684 

VII. That by the Baptism of John, a way was prepared that Jehovah the 

Lord might come down into the world, and accomplish the work of 
Redemption 688 


CHAP. XIII. 


The Holy Supper t 698 

I. That it is impossible for anyone, without an acquaintance with the corre- 
spondences qf natural things with spiritual, to know the uses and 
benefits of the Holy Supper ib. 


IL That an acquaintance with correspondences serves to discover the signifi- 
cation of the Lord’s Flesh and Blood, and that the bread and wine 
signify the same, namely, that the Lord’s Flesh and the Bread signify 
the Divine Good of his Love, and likewise all the Good of Charity, 
and that his Blood and the Wine signify the Divine Truth of his 
Wisdom, and likewise all the Truth of Faith, and that to eat signi- 


fies to appropriate 702 \ 

The signification of the Flesh, of the Blood, of the Bread, and of 

t V. v Wine, shown from the Word 704 


III That by -fiuerstanding what has been said above, it may clearly be com- 
prehended, that the Holy Supper contains, both universally ind 
singularly, all things of the Church, and all things of Heaven. . . . 711 

IV. That in the Holy Supper the Lord is entirely present, with the whole of 

his Redemption 718 

V That the Lord is present, and opens Heaven to those who approach the 


xi y 


CONTENTS. 


No. 

Holy Supper worthily, and he is also present with those who ap- 
p roach it tin worthily, but does not open Heaven to them ; conse- 
quently, as Baptism is an introduction into the Church, so the Holy 
Supper is an introduction into Heaven *719 

VI. Th it those approach the Holy Supper worthily, who are under the 

influence of Faith towards the Lord, and of Charity towards their 
Neighbor, thus who are Regenerate 722 

VII. That those who approach the Holy Supper worthily, are in the Lord, 

and he in them ; consequently, conjunction with the Lord is effected 
by the Holy Supper 725 

VIII. That the Holy Supper is, to the worthy receivers, as a signature and 

6eal that they are the Sons of God 728 

' » 

CHAP. XIV. 

The, Consummation of the Age, the Coming of the Lord, and the New 

Heaven and the New Church 753 

I. That the Consummation of the Age is the last time or end of the Church ib. 

II. That the present day is the last time of the Christian Church, which the 

Lord foretold and described in the Gospels, and in the Revelation 757 

III. That this last time of the Christian Church, is the very night, in which 

former Churches have set 76(1 

IV. That after this night, morning succeeds, and the Coming of the Lord is 

this morning 764 

V. That the Coming of the Lord is not a coming to destroy the visible Heav- 

en, and the habitable Earth, and to create a New Heaven and a 
New Earth, according to the opinions which many, from not under- 
standing the spiritual sense of the Word, have hitherto entertained 76-8 

VI. That this, which is the second Coming of the Lord, is for the sake of sep- 

arati ig the Evil from the Good, that those who have believed and 
who do believe in Him may be saved, and that there may be 
formed of them a New Angelic Heaven, and a New Church on 
Earth ; and without this coming no flesh could be saved 772 

VII. That this second Coming of the Lord is a coming not in person, but in 

tue Word, which is from him, and is himself. 776 

VIII. That this second Coming of the Lord is effected by the instrumentality 

of a man, before whom he has manifested himself in person, and 
whom he has filled with his spirit, to teach from him the doctrines 
of the New Church by means of the Word 772 

IX That this is meant by the New Heaven and the New Earth, and the 
New Jerusalem descending out of Heaven, spoken of in the Revela- 
tion 7 81 

X. That this New Church is the crown of all the Churches which have been 

until this time on the terrestrial globe 786 

mor andum 79! 

SUPPLEMENT 7 92 

Of the spiritual world ^ 

Of Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin in the spiritual world 796 

Of the Dutoi in the spiritual world 800 

Of the English in the spiritual world 806 

Of the Germans in the spiritual world 813 

Of the Papists in the spiritual world 817 

Of the Romish Saints in the spiritual world 822 


CONTENTS XT 

No. 

I)f the Maijomkdans in the spiritual world S28 

Of the Afmcans in the spiritual world, with some Observations respecting 

the Gentiles 8?.' 

Of the Jews in the spiritual world 841 


MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 

The false conceptions of certain spirits respecting the Trinity, as consisting of 

Tin •ee Divine Persons, refuted 16 

A discourse with the angels concerning the Divine Esse, and the Trinity in 

the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ 25 

On the Creation, supposed to be the work of nature ; also concerning the 

centre and expanse of nature and of life 35 

The entertainments of wisdom in the spiritual world — a discussion concern- 
ing the image of God and the likeness of God — The difference be- 
tween men and animals — On the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the 
Knowledge of Good and Evil 48 

On Order, in eight propositions, addressed to a satanic spirit 71 

On Imputation and Predestination, in a dispute between some Hollanders 
and Englishmen ; with a further elucidation of Order in relation 
to God 72 

On the nature of Order, and on Omnipotence, in a conversation held in the 

spiritual world with a body of the learned 74 

On the Creation of the Universe, in a conversation with some angelic 

spirits 76 

A debate concerning God and Nature, between some angels and satans .... 77 

On the Creation ; exemplified in the Correspondences in Heaven between the 

visible representations and the affections 78 

On the Creation, in a dispute with some philosophers 79 

Notions prevailing in Hell concerning the Creation, Religion, Heaven and 

Hell 80 

The faith of a spirit of the dragon respecting the Trinity 110 

On speech, which in the natural world is twofold, but in the spiritual world 
simple; also concerning the pronunciation of the words Divine 
Humanity Ill 

On the Trinity in the Lord; a conversation 112 

A description of Armageddon, Rev. xvi. 16 113 

On Redemption ; a discourse held in a temple 134 

On the Unity of God, and his habitation in the Heavenly Sun, together with 
a conversation held with those who entertained false ideas of the 
Trinity, and the attributes thereof ; also concerning the true mean- 
ing of the four terms expressive of Grace, viz., Mediation, Inter- 
cession, Atonement, and Propitiation 135 

The Five Gymnasia — The true signification of sitting on the right hand of 

God 136 

A Council convened of the learned, who debate concerning Faith and Justi- 
fication 137 

The origin of smoke and fire in the hells, in a conversation with angels ; 

together with a disputation between certain spirits concerning 

God 159 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


No. 

A Conversation with angels on the appearance ot stars in that world, and on 
the first entrance of spirits into that world, with their various sen- 
timents in relation to Heaven and Hell, and a life after death 160 

Trie spiritual signification of grinding ; and of the doctrine of the present 

Church on the nature of Justifying Faith 161 

A disputation among certain spirits concerning God the Father and the Son, 
and on Justifying Faith ; also a discourse between angels and spir- 
its of the bottomless pit on the comprehension of certain doctrinal 
truths by the latter — Concerning the Word : its power exemplified 162 

Concerning the frigid zones in the spiritual world : the origin of cold there, 

exemplified 185 

On the region of the human mind where things of a theological nature have 

their residence 186 

On the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet (Rev. xiii.), with the place 
of their abode, and the emblem of their faith ; succeeded by an ap- 
pearance of the tabernacle, the temple, and the Lord 187 

A description of a palace and a temple in the spiritual world, wherein was a 
council and a debate on the subject of the Divine Trinity in the 
Person of the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ 188 f 

Some representatives and appearances in the spiritual world explained in a 

natural sense 277 *3 

On Writings in Heaven 278 

Concerning the two Books mentioned by Moses, Numb. xxi. 14, 15, 27 — 30, 
called the Wars of Jehovah , and the Enunciations ; also of the Book 
of Jasher, mentioned in Joshua x. 12, 13; and in 2 Sam. i. 17, 18 ; 
which Books are still preserved in Great Tartary 279 

The difference between what is Spiritual and what is Natural ascertained in 

a conversation 280 ^ 

On the states of men after death 281 

On Justice in hell, exemplified 332 

On Learning in hell, exemplified 333 

On Wisdom in hell, exemplified 334 

Concerning connate ideas, and the nature of influx in brutes 335 

A visible representation of the nature of Faith and Charity, manifested by 

an angel 385 

A discussion whether Heaven in its essence be Love or Wisdom, held be- 
tween two angels, the one from the southern quarter, and the other 
from the eastern quarter of heaven 386 

The Temple of Wisdom, and the nature of genuine Wisdom 387 

The Delights of those meant by the Dragon in the Revelation 388 

An exhortation to a certain society in the spiritual world to acknowledge 
the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth ; and the consequence 
of their refusal 389 

A debate in the northern quarter of the spiritual world on Justification by 

Faith 390 

Two of the clergy questioned by an angel in relation to their opinions of 

Faith and Charity 891 

The true nature and meaning of charity, discussed in a Gymnasium, in the 

spiritual world 459 

A disputation between certain spirits on Faith and Charity separated 460 

> conversation in the southern quarter of the spiritual world concerning man 

as an organ receptive of’life, and of good and evil by influx 46 1 

Corresponding representations in the spiritual world of those who separate 

Charity from Faith ; and a discourse with those spirits 462 

V 


CONTENTS. XVli 

, No. 

A council of the learned convened in the spiritual world, to deliberate on 
Man’s Free-determination in spiritual things, and their false notions 
thereon refuted 503 

The sentiments of an evil spirit and a good spirit on Free-determination. . . . 504 

Concerning two spirits collecting proofs from the Word in favor of Justifica- 
tion by Faith 505 

A representation of a herd of goats and a flock of sheep, with the sentiments 

of those who separate, and of those who unite Faith and Charity. . 506 

A conversation with angels on the Concupiscence of Evil, which is in every 

man by birth 507 

A visible representation of the New Church, and its corresponding particu- 
lars, explained 508 

The great city called Sodom and Egypt destroyed ; and the nature of Repent- 
ance and Remission, explained 567 

The condition of Life after death, according to the life of the spirit in the 

Body, exemplified 668 

Of the spheres of the inhabitants of Heaven and Hell, when made sensible as 

odors 569 

Concerning the delights of hell, which show their nature and quality, exem- 
plified 570 

On Faith and Charity, on Repentance, on the Immortality of the Soul, on 
Regeneration, oft Baptism, and on the Holy Supper, as explained by 
three angels, who were sent by the Lord to a company of spirits, who 
had prayed earnestly to God to be instructed in Divine Truths. . . . 62 1 

Of the reception of spirits in heaven, after their final preparation for their 
respective states, and of the rejection of heaven by those who are 
in evils and falses 622 

Of the reception of certain spirits in heaven who believed it consisted in a 
mere external admission, without internal preparation ; with the 
corresponding representation of their ascent and descent, explained 623 

The Marriage of Goodness and Truth explained by an angel 624 

The Glorification of the Lord for his Advent, by the angels of Heaven 625 

Concerning the places of instruction in the spiritual world for novitiate spir- 
its ; with an inquiry into the general properties of Heaven and 
Hell, and their three universals, exemplified 661 

On Concupiscence, Phantasy, and Intelligence, explained by angels, and ex- 
emplified 662 

A discourse among angels on Intelligence and Wisdom in man, not the least 
portion of which is from himself, but only the faculty of receiving 
them 663 

Concerning the Elect and Election, explained in a conversation with certain 
angelic spirits; and a convocation of the clergy and laity, who de- 
liver their notions respecting conscience, the true nature of which 
is afterwards explained 664 

The City of Athenaeum — Its Entertainments of Wisdom — A discussion in a 
Palladium, why Man, created a form of God, could be changed into 
a form of a devil 692 

An assembly at Parnassium — The introduction of three Novitiate Spirits ; 

with a discourse on the New Revelation of the spiritual world. . . . 693 

Another assembly at Athenaeum; and Novitiate Spirits being introduced, 
they take into consideration the notions prevailing on earth re- 
specting man’s rest from his labors after death 694 

A discourse with the angels concerning Influx 695 

An interview with the disciples of Aristotle, Descartes, and Leibnitz; with 

their notions on influx 696 


SLVlii * CONTENTS. 

Ao 

A description of a Gymnasium, where young persons are initiated into various 
secrets of Wisdom; with a debate on the nature and quality of the 
Soul 697 

A body of the learned assembled in the spiritual world, to deliver their sen- 
timents on Heavenly Joy and Eternal Happiness : the true nature 
of which is afterwards manifested to ten of the body, who are in- 
troduced into a society in heaven, and view the wonders therein. . 731 

A conversation with the angels respecting the Arcana of the New Church now 


revealed to mankind, and their sentiments respecting them 846 

A Theorem propounded by a certain electoral Duke of Germany, who also 

filled a station of the highest rank in the Church Page 815 


Coronis, or Appendix - Page 817 

^ n( ^ ex Page 885 

The Author’s Index to the Memorable Relations “ 945 

Index of Texts of Scripture “ ggg 


THE 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 

CONTAINING 

THE UNIVERSAL THEOLOGY OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND 
THE NEW CHURCH. 


THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAYEN AND THE NEW CHURCH. 

1. The reader is first presented with a view of Faith, in its 
universal and in its particular form, that it may stand as a 
frontispiece to the work which follows, and as a gate of intro- 
duction to the temple, and as a compendium, or summary, 
wherein all the particulars that follow are in a measure included. 
It is called the faith of the new heaven and the new church, be- 
cause heaven, which is the abode of angels, and the church, 
which is constituted by men on earth, are one in operation, like 
the internal and external of man. Hence every member of the 
church, who is in the good of love derived from the truths of 
faith, and in the truths of faith derived from the good of love, 
is, with regard to the interiors of his mind, an angel of heaven ; 
and therefore after death he enters into heaven, and enjoys hap- 
piness therein, according to the state of the conjunction subsist- 
ing between his love and faith. It is to be observed, that in the 
new heaven, which is at this day being established by the Lord, 
this faith is cherished, and is the frontispiece, the portal, and 
the summary thereof. 

2. The faith of the new heaven and the new church, 
in its universal form, is, That the Lord from eternity, who 
is Jehovah, came into the world that he might subdue the 
hells, and glorify his humanity; that without him no flesh 
could have been saved ; and that all will be saved who believe 
in him. 

It is called faith in its universal form, because this is the 
universal of faith, and the universal of faith is what enters 
into all and every particular part thereof. It is a universal of 
faith, that God is one in essence and person, in whom there is 
a Divine Trinity, and that the Lord God the Saviour Jesus 
Christ is that God. It is a universal of faith, that no flesh 
could have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world. 
It is a universal of faith, that he came into the world to remove 

1 B 


2, 3 THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN 

hell from man, which he effected by combats against it, and 
victories over it ; whereby he subdued it, and reduced it to 
order, and under obedience to himself. It is a universal of 
faith, that he came into the world to glorify his. humanity, 
which he assumed in the world ; that is, to unite it with the 
Divinity of which it was begotten (. Divino a quo) ; thus lie 
keeps hell eternally in order, and under obedience. As this 
could not be effected except by means of the temptations where- 
with he suffered his humanity to be assaulted, even to the last 
and most extreme of all, which was his passion on the cross, 
therefore he endured that suffering. These are the universal of 
faith concerning the Lord. 

The universal of faith on man’s part is, that he should 
believe on the Lord : for by believing on him he has conjunc- 
tion with him, and by conjunction salvation. To believe on 
him is to have confidence that he will save ; and since no one 
can have such confidence, but he that leads a good life, there- 
fore this is also implied in believing on him. To this purpose 
the Lord testifies in John : “ This is the will of the Father, 
that every one that believeth on the Son may have everlasting 
life” (vi. 40) : and in another place : “ He that believeth on 
the Son hath everlasting life ; but he that believeth not the 
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” 
(iii. 36). 

3. The faith of the new heaven. and the new church, 
in its particular form, is, That Jeiiovaii God is essential 
love, and essential wisdom, or that he is essential good and 
essential truth; and that as to the divine truth, which is the 
Word, and which was God with God, he came down and took 
upon him human nature, for the purpose of reducing to order 
all things which were in heaven, and in hell, and in the church ; 
since at that time the power of hell prevailed over the power of 
heaven, and on earth the power of evil over the power of good 
in consequence whereof a total damnation was at hand, and 
threatened every creature. This impending damnation Jeiiovaii 
God removed by his humanity, which was the divine truth, and 
thus he redeemed both angels and men ; and afterwards he 
united in his humanity divine truth with divine good, or divine 
wfisdoin with divine love, and thus returned into his divinity, in 
which he existed from eternity, together with and in his glorified 
humanity. This is signified by these words in John: “The 
Word was with God, and the Word was God ; and the Word 
was made flesh” (i. 1, 14) : and in another place : “ I came 
forth from the Father, and am come into the world ; again, I 
leave the world and go to the Father” (xvi. 28) ; and again : 
“We know that the Son of God hath come, and hath given iis 
an understanding that we may know him that is true, and wg 
are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is 
2 


AND THE NEW CHURCH. 


3 


the true God and eternal life” (1 John v. 20). Hence it is man- 
ifest that unless the Lord had come into the world, no flesh 
could have been saved. The case is similar at this day ; and 
therefore, unless the Lord come again into the world in the 
divine truth, which is the Word, no person can be saved. 

The particulars of faith on man’s part are, 1. That God is one, 
in whom there is a Divine Trinity, and that he is the Lord God 
and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2. That a saving faith is to believe 
on him. 3. That evil actions ought not to be done, because they 
are of the devil and from the devil. 4. That good actions ought 
to be done, because they are of God and from God. 5. And 
that a man should do them as of himself ; nevertheless under 
this belief, that they are from the Lord operating with him and 
by him. The first two particulars have relation to faith ; the 
next two to charity ; and the last respects the conjunction of 
charity and faith, and thereby of the Lord and man. 

3 


4 


GOD THE CREATOR. 


CHAPTER I. 

GOD THE CREATOR. 

4. The Christian Church, since the time ot the Lord’s 
coming into the world, has passed through its several periods 
from infancy to extreme- old age. Its infancy was in the days 
of the apostles, when they preached throughout the world, re- 
pentance, and faith in the Lord God the Saviour. That this 
was the substance of their preaching is plain from these words 
in the Acts of the Apostles : “ Paul testified both to the Jews 
and also to the Greeks, repentance towards God, and faith 
towards our Lord Jesus Christ” (xx. 21). It is here worth 
remarking as a memorable circumstance, that not many months 
ago the Lord called together his twelve disciples, now angels, 
and sent them throughout the spiritual world, with a commis- 
sion to preach the gospel there anew, since the church which 
he had established by their labors, is at this day brought to 
such a state of consummation, that scarcely any remains of it 
are left. This has come to pass in consequence of separating 
the Divine Trinity into three persons, each of which is declared 
to be God and Lord! Hence a sort of frenzy has infected the 
whole system of theology, as well as the Christian church, so 
called from its divine founder. This disorder of the church is 
called a frenzy, because men’s minds are reduced by it into 
such a state of delirium, that they do not know whether there 
is one God, or whether there are three. They confess but 
one God with their lips, while they entertain the idea of three 
in their thoughts ; so that their lips and their minds, or their 
words and their ideas, are at variance with each other the 
consequence whereof is, that they deny the existence of any 
God. This is the true source of the naturalism which is now 
so prevalent in the world. For I appeal to experience, while 
the lips confess but one God, and the mind entertains the idea 
of three, whether such confession of the lips, and such idea in 
the mind, do not mutually tend to destroy each other? Hence, 
if there be any conception of God left in the understanding, 
it is that of a mere word or name, destitute of any true per- 
ception which implies a knowledge of him. Since then the idea 
of God, with all knowledge of him, is thus rent asunder, it is 
my design, in an orderly series, to enter into an inquiry con- 
cerning God the Creator, the Lord the Redeemer, and the 
Holy Spirit the Operator, and lastly, concerning the Divine 
Trinity ; to the end that what is thus torn to pieces may be re- 
united, as it assuredly will be, whenever human reason is 
convinced from the Word, and the light thence proceeding, 
4 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


4—6 


that there is a Divine Trinity, and that this Trinity exists in 
the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, as the soul, bod}^, and 
proceeding operations exist together in a man ; and that there- 
fore this article in the Athanasian creed is true : “ That in 
Christ God and Man, or the divine and human natures, are 
not two, but in one Person ; and that as the reasonable soul 
and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.” 

THE UNITY OF GOD. 

5. Since the acknowledgment of God arising from a true 
knowledge of him, constitutes the essence and soul of every 
part of theology, it is expedient to begin with the Unity of 
God ; which shall be proved methodically, in the following 
articles : I. That the Holy Scriptures throughout , and the doc- 
trines of all Christian churches thence derived , maintain that 
there is a God , and that he is one. II. That there is an influx 
universal into the souls of men , teaching them there is a God , 
and he is one. III. That hence , there is no nation throughout 
the world , possessed either of religion or sound reason , but that 
acknowledges a God , and that he is one . IV. That the nature 
and qualities of this one God , a/re subjects concerning which 
various nations and people have differed , and do still differ ; 
and this from several causes. V. That human reason , if it be. 
so disposed , may collect and be convinced , from the various ob- 
jects in the visible world, that there is a God , and that he. is one. 
VI. That unless God was one , the universe could not have been 
created or preserved. VII. That every man who does not ac- 
knowledge the being of a God , is excommunicated from the 
Church , and in a state of condemnation. VIII. That no doc- 
trine or worship of the Church , can be consistent or coherent , 
with those who acknowledge not one God , but many. But we 
will proceed to a particular explanation of each article. 

6. That the holy scriptures throughout, and the doc- 
trines OF ALL CHRISTIAN CHURCHES THENCE DERIVED, MAINTAIN 
THAT THERE IS A GOD, AND THAT HE IS ONE. 

That the Holy Scriptures throughout maintain the being of 
a God, is plain from this consideration, that in their inmost 
contents they are nothing but God, that is, the Divine which 
proceeds from God, they being dictated by God ; and nothing 
can proceed from God, but what is himself, and is called the 
Divine. Such are the Holy Scriptures as to their inmost con- 
tents : but in their derivative and subordinate contents, they 
are accommodated to the understandings of angels and men ; 
and in these contents the Divine is alike present, but in another 
form, wherein it is called the Divine Celestial, the Divine-Spi- 
ritual, and the Divine-Natural, all which forms are so many veils 
or coverings of God : for God himself, as he dwells in the inmost 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


6,7 

contents of the Word, cannot be seen by any creature. Thus, 
when Moses desired to behold the glory of Jehovah, he was in- 
formed, that no one can see God and live ; which is equally 
true of the inmost contents of the Word, wherein God is in his 
being (esse) and in his essence. Nevertheless, the Divine which 
is in the inmost of the Word, and is clothed with such veils as 
are accommodated to the perceptions of angels and men, emits 
thence its brightness, like light through crystalline forms, but 
with infinite varieties, according to the state of mind which a 
man has formed for himself, either from himself or from God. 
Where the mind is framed in conformity to the divine will, the 
Holy Scriptures are as a mirror, wherein men see God, every 
one after a manner and measure peculiar to himself : this mirror 
is composed of those truths that a man learns from the Word, 
and imbibes into his soul by a suitable life and conversation ; 
from whence it is evident, that the Holy Scriptures are the ful- 
ness of God. And as they maintain the existence of God, so 
do they also maintain his unity ; for the truths, which form the 
fore-mentioned mirror, cohere in one series, and do so affect 
the understanding, that a man cannot possibly frame an idea of 
God but as one. Hence, every one, whose reason is at all 
imbued w T ith sanctity from the Word, knows in himself, as it 
were, that God is one, and deems it madness to affirm that there 
are more. Angels cannot open their lips to pronounce the word 
gods\ by reason of a continual resistance arising from the state 
and quality of the heavenly atmosphere which they breathe. 
The Divine Unity, however, is taught, not only by the general 
tenor of the Holy Scriptures, but also by a variety of particular 
passages; as for example: “Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God 
is one Jehovah” (Deut. vi. 4 : and in like manner, Mark xii. 
29) : “ Surely God is in thee, and there is none else” (Isaiah 
xlv. 14) : “ Am not I Jehovah ? and there is no God else beside 
me” (xlv. 21) : “I am Jehovah thy God ; and thou shalt know 
uo other God but me” (Hosea xiii. 4). “ Thus saith Jehovah 

the King of Israel, I am the First, and I am the Last, and 
beside me there is no God” (Isaiah xliv. 6) : “ In that day Je- 
hovah shall be king over all the earth : in that day there shall 
be one Jehovah, and his name one” (Zech. xiv. 9). 

7. It is well known that all Christian churches assert the 
unity of God as an established point of doctrine. The reason 
of this is, because all their doctrines are derived from the Word 
of God : and they are all consistent with themselves, so far as 
on e God is acknowledged, not only with the lips, but with the 
heart also. But where one God is acknowledged with the lips 
only, while the heart acknowledges three, as is the case with 
-many Christians at this day, God with such persons is little else 
than a mere name, and the whole system of religion is no other- 
wise regarded than as an idol of gold inclosed in a shrine, the 
6 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


7. 8 

Key to which is m possession of the priests alone; so that while 
they read the Word, they have no perception of any light con- 
tained in it, or derived from it, and do not even discover therein 
that God is one ; for with such persons the Word is as if it were 
covered with blots, by which the unity of God is entirely con- 
cealed. These are the persons w r hom the Lord thus describes 
in the gospel : “ Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand ; 
and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this peo- 
ple’s heart is w r axed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, 
and their eyes they have closed ; lest at any time they should 
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should under- 
stand with their heart, and should be converted, and 1 should 
heal them” (Matt. xiii. 14, 15). All such persons are like men 
that shun the light, and enter into dark chambers where there 
are no windows for its admission, and grope about the walls 
in search of food or money ; till at length they acquire a sort ol 
vision like that of owls, whereby they are enabled to see in 
darkness ; or they may be compared to a woman with several 
husbands, who is not a wife, but a lascivious harlot ; or to a 
virgin, who accepts rings from several suitors, and after her 
marriage with one, makes no scruple of bestowing her favors 
upon the rest. 

8. II. That there is an influx universal from god into 

THE SOULS OF MEN, TEACHING THEM THERE IS A GOD, AND HE 
IS ONE. 

The existence of an influx from God into man, is implied in 
the general acknowledgment, that all good which is in a man, 
or which is done by him, if it be really good, is from God ; and 
in like manner, that all charity and all faith are from God ; for 
it is written, “ A man can receive nothing except it be given 
him from heaven” (John iii. 27) ; and Jesus saith, “Without 
me ye can do nothing” (John xv. 5) ; that is, nothing which 
has regard to charity or faith. This influx is into the souls of 
men, by reason that the soul is the inmost and supreme part of 
a man ; and the influx from God enters therein, and descends 
from thence into the inferior parts, which it quickens and en- 
livens in proportion to its reception. Those truths which are 
the future materials for the building of faith, enter indeed by 
the organs of hearing, and so are implanted in the mind, thus 
in a region below the soul ; but the effect of these truths is, 
only to dispose a man for the reception of the divine influx 
through the soul ; and according as this disposition is produced, 
in the same proportion the divine influx is received, and the 
faith which was before only natural, is transformed into spiritual 
faith. This divine influx into the souls of men inspires the idea 
of one God alone, because all that is divine, whether it be con- 
sidered in a general or a particular view, is God; and since ah 
that is divine coheres together as a one, it cannot but inspire a 
7 


8,9 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


man with an idea of the unity of God ; which idea is every day 
confirmed, in proportion as a man is elevated by the divine 
influence into the light of heaven : for the angels, in the light 
of their world, cannot compel themselves to pronounce the 
word gods ; therefore all their speech, at the close of every sen- 
tence, has its termination in unity of accent, which is merely 
in consequence of the divine influx into their souls respecting 
the unity of God. The reason why so many people conceive the 
Godhead to be separated into three persons of the same essence, 
notwithstanding this general influx into the souls of all men 
inspiring an idea of the divine unity, may be thus explained. 
That influx, as it descends, enters into forms that are not in a 
state of correspondence with it ; and the recipient form causes 
a change in the influx, according to the prevailing law in all the 
subjects of the three kingdoms of nature. It is the same God 
that communicates life to man and to beast ; but that this life 
in the former case is human, and in the latter bestial, is owing 
to the different natures of the recipient forms. The case is sim- 
ilar with a man, when he induces on his mind the form of a 
beast, the change not being in the influx from God, but in the 
man’s reception. Thus also the influx of light and heat from the 
sun into every plant is alike, but it is varied according to the 
particular form of each : it is the same in a vine that it is in a 
thorn ; but if the thorn be ingrafted into the vine, the influx is 
then inverted, and proceeds according to the form of the thorn. 
So again in the subjects of the mineral kingdom : it is the same 
influx of light which shines upon a piece of chalk, and upon a 
diamond ; but it is owing to their different contextures, that in 
the former case it is rendered opaque, and in the latter it is 
transmitted with brightness. With respect to the minds of 
men, they are various according to their forms, which are in- 
wardly spiritual, in proportion to their belief in God, if it be 
attended at the same time with life derived from God. Those 
forms become transparent and angelical by a faith in one God ; 
but, on the contrary, dark and bestial by a faith in several gods, 
which differs but little from a faith in no God. 

9. III. That hence, there is no nation throughout the 

WORLD, POSSESSED EITHER OF RELIGION OR SOUND REASON, 
BUT THAT ACKNOWLEDGES THE BEING OF A GOD, AND THAT 
HE IS ONE. 

From what has been said concerning the divine influx into 
the souls of men, it follows, that there is an internal impression 
on the heart of every man, dictating to him the existence and 
the unity of God. It is true, indeed, there are some men 
who deny the being of a God, and who set up nature in his 
stead; and others who worship more Gods than one, and like- 
wise pay divine adoration to images ; but this is because they 
have closed up the interiors of their reason, or understanding, 
S 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


9, 10 

with worldly and corporeal things, and have thereby obliterated 
the primitive idea of God, or that which was impressed upon 
them in their infancy ; and, at the same time, have banished 
all religion from their bosoms, casting it behind them. That 
Christians acknowledge one God, but in a certain manner, 
appears evident from this general confession in their Creed : 
“ The Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in trinity, 
and trinity in unity ; neither confounding the persons, nor divid- 
ing the substance : for there is one person of the Father, another 
of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost ; and yet there are 
not three gods, but one God ; although the Father is God, the 
Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. For like as we are 
compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person 
by himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the 
Catholic faith to say there be three gods or three lords.” Such 
is the faith of Christians concerning the unity of God ; but 
that the trinity and unity of God are at variance with each 
other according to this confession, will appear, when we come 
to treat of the Divine Trinity. The other nations of the 
world, that are influenced either by religion or sound reason, 
are all agreed in their acknowledgment of one God alone ; as 
all the Mahometans in their several empires ; the Africans, 
throughout many kingdoms in their continent ; the Asiatics, for 
the most part, throughout in theirs ; and likewise the modern 
Jews. Among the most ancient people in the world, who lived 
in the time wnich is called the golden age, such as professed 
any sort of religion, worshipped one God, whom they called Je- 
hovah. The people of the succeeding age agreed in the same 
worship, until the establishment of monarchical power, when 
worldly and at length corporeal affections began to close up the 
superior parts of the understanding, which heretofore had been 
opened towards heaven, as so many temples and sacred recesses 
for the, worship of one God. It was to open again those inte- 
riors of the human mind, and thereby to restore the worship of 
one God, that the Lord established a church among the posterity 
of Jacob, and prefixed to all their religious precepts this com- 
mandment, “ Thou shalt have no other Gods before me” (Exod. 
xx. 3). The name Jehoyaii, also, which he assumed anew upon 
this occasion, signifies the supreme and only being, from whom 
all other beings in the universe derive their essence and exist 
ence. The ancient Gentiles worshipped the supreme God under 
the name Jove, possibly so called from Jehovah, and they ad- 
mitted also many subordinate deities, who composed his court ; 
but the philosophers of succeeding ages^ as Plato and Aristotle, 
would not allow these to be separate gods, but only distinct prop- 
erties, qualities, and attributes of one God, which had gained 
the name of gods from their partaking of divinity. 

10. Sound reason also, though it be not under any religious 

9 


THE UNITY OF GOO. 


10, 11 

influence, can discern plainly, that where things aie in a state 
of separation, and without dependence on one first cause, they 
must instantly fall to pieces, and be dissolved ; as the various 
members, viscera, and other organs of motion and sensation, 
whereof the human body is composed, could only be preserved 
in their state of life and activity, by their dependence upon one 
soul ; and the body itself must come to dissolution, if it were 
not connected with, and dependent on, one heart. In like man- 
ner, every kingdom derives support from one king, and every 
family from one master, and every various function and office 
in each kingdom, from one officer or chief. What could an 
army do in the field of battle without a commander-in-chief, to 
whom the other officers are subordinate, each of whom exercises 
his j>articular authority over the common soldiers ? From this 
reasoning, then, we may conclude what would befall the church 
without the acknowledgment of one God, and also what would 
befall the whole angelic heaven, which is as the head of the 
church on earth, animated by the Lord, who is the life and soul 
of both: therefore heaven and the church are called his body; 
which, in case they did not acknowledge their dependence upon 
one God, would become like a lifeless corpse, fit only to be cast 
out and buried. 

11. IV. That the nature and qualities of this one god, 

ARE SUBJECTS RESPECTING WHICH VARIOUS NATIONS AND PEOPLE 
HAVE DIFFERED, AND DO STILL DIFFER ; AND THIS FROM SEVERAL 
CAUSES. 

The first reason is, because the knowledge of God, and a 
consequent acknowledgment of him, are not attainable without 
a revelation ; and a knowledge of the Lord, and a ‘consequent 
acknowledgment that u in him dwelletli all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily,” is not attainable, except from the Word of 
God, which is the crown of revelations. For by the help of 
revelation a man is enabled to approach unto God, and to re- 
ceive influx from him, and thereby from natural to become sjfir- 
itual. In the earliest ages of the world, therefore, a revelation 
was published and made universal ; but it was perverted by 
various artifices of the natural man, whence have arisen all the 
disputes, dissensions, heresies, and schisms, that have in all 
times divided the church. A second reason why men have dif- 
fered in their opinions concerning God is, because the natural 
man cannot perceive, or apply to himself, the things of God, but 
only the things of the world ; therefore it is an established doc- 
trine in the Christian church, that the natural man and the spir- 
itual man are at enmity with each other. Hence those who have 
discovered the being of God, from his Word and other revelations, 
have yet differed, and do differ, concerning his nature, and con- 
cerning his unity. Where the intellectual sight has been made 
dependent on the bodily senses, and yet men have been desirous 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


11 , 15 


to see God, they have formed for themselves images of gold, 
silver, stone, and wood, that they might worship God under such 
appearances as were adapted to the senses of the natural man. 
Others again, who saw the absurdity of such image-worship, 
fell into another species of idolatry, and fancied they could dis- 
cern God in the sun, the moon, the stars, and other parts of 
the visible creation. A third sort, who had a fond opinion of 
their own superior wisdom, and yet remained in a natural or 
unregenerate state, seeing the immensity and omnipresence of 
the Deity in the creation of the world, conceived nature to be 
God, and acknowledged her as such, either in her more secret 
and inward operations, or, according to others, in her visible 
and external manifestations. Others again, to make a distinc- 
tion between God and nature, conceived to themselves some 
most universal principle as entering into the composition of all 
creatures, which they called the Being ( Ens ) of the universe, 
and this they supposed to be God ; but since they had no further 
knowledge of God, than of some such ideal principle, this was 
in fact no knowledge of God at all. For how plain is it to per- 
ceive, that knowledges concerning God are the only mirrors 
wherein to see God ? and that those who have no knowledge 
concerning God, do not see him, as it were, in a mirror with its 
face turned towards them, but look for him on the back, which, 
being covered with mercury, or some other thick substance, 
does not reflect, but suffocates, the image presented to it ? The 
faith of God enters into a man by a prior or interior way, that 
is, from the soul into the superior regions of the understanding ; 
but knowledges concerning God are received by a posterior or 
external way, that is, from the revealed Word of God by the 
understanding, through the channels of the bodily senses ; and 
these influences meet in the understanding as in a common cen- 
tre, where natural faith, which at first is no more than a mere 
persuasion, is changed into spiritual faith, which is a real con- 
sent and acknowledgment. The human understanding is, as 
it were, the refining vessel wherein this change is wrought. 

12. Y. That human reason, if it be so disposed, may col- 
lect, AND BE CONVINCED, FROM THE VARIOUS OBJECTS IN THE 
VISIBLE WORLD, THAT THERE IS A GOD, AND THAT HE IS ONE. 

This truth may be confirmed by innumerable testimonies in 
the visible creation ; for the universe is as a theatre, on which 
the evidences of the existence of a God, and his unity, are con- 
tinually exhibited. But for the illustration of this truth I shall 
produce the following memorable relation from the spiritual 
world. Being on a time in conversation with angels, there 
joined us some spirits who were lately arrived from the natural 
world ; to whom, having wished them much joy in their new 
state, I related many particulars, before unknown to them, 
respecting the world of spirits. After some discourse I began 
11 


12 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


to inquire of them, what opinions they had brought from their 
world concerning God and nature? They replied, that they 
had heard in the world, that nature is the sole operatrix in 
the universe of creation, and that God, after creation, gave or 
impressed upon nature this power and faculty of operation^ 
while he himself only supports and preserves things from de- 
struction, and therefore the life, the growth, and the increase 
of every thing, were at this day ascribed to nature. But in an- 
swer to this I objected, that nature of herself can do nothing, 
but that God is the sole operator, by and through nature ; and 
for their further satisfaction on this point, I argued, that who- 
ever believes in a divine operation throughout the particular- 
parts of nature, may confirm himself, by many arguments de 
rived from the visible things of the creation, in favor of the 
operation of God, rather than of nature. For let him but attend 
to the wonders conspicuous in the productions of both vegetables 
and animals ; and first in the productions of vegetables ; that 
from a small seed sown in the ground there is emitted a root, 
and by means of the root a stem, and afterwards branches, buds, 
leaves, flowers, and fruits, till at length new seeds are produced 
by such a regular process, as if the first seed was acquainted 
with all the orderly steps and successive stages, through which 
it must pass to its self-renewal in the second seed. What reason 
able man can suppose that the sun^ which is pure fire, is ac 
quainted with this wonderful process ; or that he can instruct 
his heat and light how to effect it ; or can design and intend 
such purposes ? Were the rational faculty in a man but in any 
degree elevated above the objects of sense, he must be forced to 
confess, from a sight and consideration of such things, that they 
are derived from a being of infinite wisdom, and of consequence 
from God. Such persons as acknowledge the divine operation 
in every particular part of nature, confirm themselves in such an 
acknowledgment by the observation of these wonders ; but on 
the other hand, such as do not acknowledge the divine opera- 
tion, behold these wonders with an inverted sight, and not with 
the clear and direct eye of reason ; forming all their ideas and 
conclusions according to the suggestions of the bodily senses, 
and confirming their fallacies by the most trivial arguments ; 
asserting the light and heat of the sun to be the principal and 
first operating causes of all effects, and denying the existence of 
such things as do not fall under the notice of the bodily eyes. 
Those who are willing to believe in a divine principle operating 
in nature, confirm this belief further, by attending to the various 
wonders which they behold in the productions of animals ; as 
first, when they consider an egg, wherein the young chicken lies 
hid, as in its seed, with all things requisite for its formation, and 
likewise for its future growth, from the time of incubation till it 
becomes a complete bird of its own peculiar kind and form. A 
12 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


12 

farther attention to the general nature and instincts of the 
feathered race exhibits to the contemplative mind, such a scene 
of wonders as begets astonishment ; to observe in the least as 
well as in the largest species, in the invisible as well as in the 
visible, that is, in the most minute insects as well as in birds 
and other large animals, that they are all endowed with organs 
of sense, such as seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling ; as like- 
wise with organs of motion, such as muscles, whereby they are 
enabled to walk and fly; and lastly, with viscera adhering to the 
heart and lungs ; all which derive their life and action from the 
brain. Those who ascribe all things to nature, observe indeed 
these wonderful phenomena, but then they reflect little upon 
their real causes, and resolve all into mere natural agency ; and 
this in consequence of having turned their minds from thinking 
about God, in which case they disqualify themselves for think- 
ing rationally, and much more for thinking spiritually, upon the 
natural wonders which they behold : thus they fall into a sen- 
sual and material way of thinking and concluding, never rising 
above the sphere of nature, and differ from beasts in this respect 
alone, that they still enjoy the faculty of rationality, and are 
capable of understanding if they would. Men who are thus 
averse from thinking of (jrod, and are become thereby mere sen- 
sual corporeal beings, do not consider how gross and material 
the sight of the bodily eye is, which, when applied to discern the 
minute parts of animated nature, sees a heap of small insects as 
one obscure confused spot without form or order ; whereas every 
one of these insects is endowed with organs of sense and motion, 
and of consequence with fibres and vessels ; and likewise with 
a heart and pulmonary tubes, minute viscera, and brains ; all 
which are contextures of the purest substances in nature, and 
correspond to life in its ultimate degree, by which their most 
minute parts are distinctly acted upon and enlivened. Since 
the sight of the bodily eye is so gross and defective, that many 
insects, with the innumerable component parts of each, appear 
to it as a small confused spot, and yet sensual men form their 
reasonings and conclusions from such vision, it is manifest how 
very gross and defective the vision of their understandings must 
be, and in what darkness they dwell with respect to the percep- 
tion of spiritual things. 

Every man, if he be so disposed, may confirm himself in filvor 
of a divine agency, from beholding the visible things of the crea- 
tion ; and that man does so confirm himself who reflects upon 
the existence of a God, together with his omnipotence in crea- 
ting the universe, and his omnipresence in preserving it ; while, 
for instance, he observes the fowls of the air, how every species 
knows its own proper food, and where it may be found ; that it 
distinguishes those of its own kind by their voice and figure ; 
that each bird can distinguish its friends from its enemies ; that 
13 


12 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


the) ah, at certain seasons, join in pairs, and celebrate connu- 
bial . ites ; how artfully they build their nests, lav their eggs, sit 
upon them, are acquainted with the time of hatching; at which 
time they help their young out of the shell, love them with the 
utmost tenderness, cherish them under their wings, and provide 
them with food, with which they nourish and support them until 
they are able to provide for themselves, and go through a similar 
progression. Every man who is disposed to think of a divine 
influx through the spiritual world into that of nature, may 
surely behold a full proof of it in these wonders, and also con- 
fess in his heart that such skill and science as is discoverable in 
these animals cannot possibly be communicated from the sun, 
by means of its heat and light ; since that sun, from which 
nature derives its birth and essence, is pure fire, and of con- 
sequence the effluxes of its light and heat are altogether void of 
life ; and lienee he may conclude that such effects are produced 
by a divine influx, through the spiritual world, into the ulti- 
mates of nature. 

Every man may also confirm himself in favor of a divine 
agency, if he but attends to the history of caterpillars and silk- 
worms ; how, under the impulse of pleasure, arising from some 
innate affection, they seek and aspire after a change of their 
earthly state for one analogous to a heavenly state ; and for this 
purpose they creep into suitable places, where they infold them 
selves in a covering, and so return again, as it were, into the 
womb, from whence they look for a new birth, to become chry 
salises, aureliae, nymphs, and at length butterflies ; and when 
they have passed through these several changes, and put on 
their beautiful wings, according to their species, they fly abroad 
into the open air, as into their proper heaven, where they in 
dulge in all festive sports, solemnize their connubial rites, and 
lay their eggs, with a view of continuing their kind to future 
generations ; and then they feed upon a sweet and pleasant food, 
extracted from the flowers of the field. Where the mind is con- 
firmed in favor of a divine agency, by the visible things of 
nature, how plainly may it discern in these wonders an image 
of the earthly and heavenly states of man ! of his earthly state 
in the dull creeping worm, and of his heavenly and regenerate 
state in the sportive and exulting butterfly 1 But those who con- 
firm themselves in favor of nature’s agency, though they behold 
these wonders, still call them mere natural effects, in conse- 
quence of having rejected from their minds the heavenly state 
of man. 

Every one, again, may confirm himself in favor of a divine 
agency by the visible things of nature, if he but attends to the 
well-known facts relating to bees ; that they have the art to 
gather wax and suck honey from the flowers of the field, and 
build themselves cells for their little habitations, which they dis 
14 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


Yj 

pose in the manner of a regular city, with streets and passages 
for their coming in and going out ; that they can smell out 
flowers and plants at a distance, from which they collect wax for 
their houses, and honey for their food ; and that, when laden 
with these treasures, they find their way back to their hives, 
where they store up their food to be a supply during winter, as 
if they foresaw its approach. It is further remarkable of these 
animals, that they choose themselves a queen, to be at once their 
sovereign, and the parent of a future race, whom they provide 
therefore with a palace in an elevated situation, which they fur- 
nish with proper guards and attendants ; and when the time 
comes that she should be the mother of a new offspring, she is 
accompanied by these guards, called drones, from cell to cell, 
wherein she deposits her eggs, while her attendants cover them 
with a sort of ointment, to secure them from the inclemencies of 
the air. Hence arises a new generation, which, when it is old 
enough to provide for itself, is expelled the hive, and forced to 
look out for a new habitation, not however till they have first 
collected themselves in a swarm, to prevent their disunion. 
About the time of autumn, the indolent drones, who have added 
nothing to the common stock, either of wax or honey, are led 
away from the hive, and deprived of their wings to prevent their 
return, lest they should consume that provision which they had 
taken no pains to collect. Many other surprising facts are re- 
lated of these animals ; but the fore-mentioned are a sufficient 
proof that, on account of their uses to mankind, they are in- 
structed by a divine influx, through the spiritual world, to model 
for themselves such a form of government as exists among men 
on earth, and even among angels in heaven. How plainly must 
every man of uncorrupted reason perceive that such instincts are 
not communicated to bees from the natural world ! for what 
virtue is there in the sun of the natural world, to contrive a 
form of government so exactly corresponding with the celestial ? 
From these, then, and the like wonders observable in the animal 
creation, the advocate and worshipper of nature confirms himself 
in favor of nature, while the advocate and worshipper of God, by 
a contemplation of the same wonders, confirms himself in favor 
of God ; for the spiritual man in such things sees what is spirit- 
ual, but the natural man sees only what is natural ; thus every 
one according to his quality. As to myself, I must confess that 
the consideration of such wonders has long been a testimony 
with me in favor of an influx from God, through the spiritual 
world into the natural. Consider also, whether you feel it pos- 
sible to reason analytically concerning any particular form ol 
government, or any law of civil society, or any moral virtue, or 
any spiritual truth, except by means of an influx of divine wis- 
dom from God, through the spiritual world. For my own part 
I have long felt and still, feel it to be impossible, having had a 
15 


12, 18 


THE UNTTY OF GOD. 


sensible and manifest perception of such influx, without inter 
ruption, for six and twenty years past ; therefore I speak from 
my own experience. 

Can nature, let me ask, regard uses as the end of her opera- 
tions, or dispose such uses into their orders and forms ? This is 
in the power of no one but a wise being; and so to order and 
form the universe is in the power of no one but God, whose 
wisdom is infinite. Who else could foresee and provide for 
mankind what is necessary for their food and clothing, or make 
the herbs, fruits, and animals which the earth produces subser- 
vient to such provision ? It is surely a most wonderful consid- 
eration that those vile reptiles, called silkworms, should supply, 
with comfortable and elegant clothing, all ranks of men, from 
monarchs on their thrones, down to the lowest of their vassals ; 
and that those small animals, the bees, should furnish wax to 
illuminate both our temples and our palaces. These, with 
several other similar considerations, are standing proofs that 
God, by his own operation through the spiritual world, effects 
whatever is done in nature. 

It may not be amiss here to subjoin the extraordinary appear- 
ance of those persons in the spiritual world, who, from a contem- 
plation of things here below, have confirmed themselves in favor 
of nature against God, and have thereby become atheists. Their 
intellects, when viewed by spiritual light, appear open below, but 
closed above, in consequence of their having, in their reasonings 
and reflections, looked downwards towards the earth, and not 
upwards towards heaven. Above their sensual principle, which 
is the lowest region of the understanding, there appears as it 
w’ere a veil, sparkling with infernal fire ; in some cases black as 
smoke, and in others pale and livid as a corpse. Let every one, 
therefore, take heed to guard himself against confirmations in 
favor of nature, and to confirm himself in favor of God ; for this 
is at least the safer side. 

13. YI. That unless god was one, the universe could not 

HAVE BEEN CREATED OR PRESERVED. 

The unity of God may be inferred from the creation of the 
universe, since the universe being a coherent and uniform work, 
from first to last, depends upon God, as the body depends upon 
the soul. The universe is so created, that God may be every- 
where present therein, and keep the whole, with ail its parts, 
under his government and observation, and may thus maintain 
it in perpetual unity, which is to preserve it. It is for this reason 
that Jehovah God declares that he is “ the First and the Last, 
the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega’’ (Isaiah 
xliv. 6; Rev. i. 8, 17); and in another place, “I am the Lord 
that maketh all things ; that' stretcheth forth the heavens alone ; 
(hat spreadeth abroad the earth by myself” (Isaiah xliv. 24L 
Thjs great system, which we call the universe, is a coherent and 
16 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


13, 14 

uniform work, from first to last, by reason that God intended 
but this one end in its creation, — to form an angelic heaven from 
the human race; and all things whereof the world consists are 
means to promote this end ; for the desire of any end implies 
also a desire of the means requisite for its promotion. If, there- 
fore, we regard the world as a work containing means adapted to 
such an end, we may also regard the universe of creation as a 
coherent and uniform work, and may perceive that it is a com- 
plex of uses, in successive order, for the service of the human 
race, out of which is formed the angelic heaven. For the divine 
love cannot design any other end than the eternal happiness of 
men, by a communication of itself; and the divine wisdom can- 
not produce any thing but uses, as means for the promotion of 
that end. By contemplating the world, according to this en- 
larged and universal idea, every wise man may discern that the 
Creator of the universe is one, and that his essence is love and 
wisdom ; of consequence, there is not a single thing existing in 
the world but that contains some hidden use, more or less 
remote, for the service of man. While people consider only 
particular parts of the creation, and do not take a view of the 
whole, in its connected series, as consisting of ends, mediate 
causes, and effects ; or while they do not refer creation to its 
true source, as an effect derived from the divine love, by means 
of the divine wisdom, it is impossible they should see that the 
universe is the workmanship of one God, and that he has his 
abode in the uses of every particular thing, being the end for 
which it was created. For whatever is in the end is also in the 
means conducive thereto, inasmuch as the end itself is in all the 
means, acting in them, and producing its own ultimate pur- 
poses. While men consider the universe, not as the workman- 
ship of God, and the habitation of his love and wisdom, but as 
the workmanship of nature, and the habitation of the sun’s light 
and heat alone, they close up the superior parts of their mind3 
against the admission of God, and open the inferior parts thereof 
for the admission of the devil, whereby they divest themselves 
of the nature of men, and acquire the nature of beasts, not only 
believing, but actually making, themselves like unto them ; for 
they become foxes in cunning, wolves in fierceness, leopards in 
treachery, tigers in cruelty, and crocodiles, serpents, owls, and 
bats, as to the respective natures of those animals. In the 
spiritual world such persons appear also, at a distance, in the 
proper shapes of such beasts as they represent in disposition ; 
for it is their love of evil which thus represents itself in the par- 
ticular figure of each. 

14. VII. That every man who does not acknowledge a 

GOD IS EXCOMMUNICATED FROM THE CHURCH, AND IN A STATE OF 
CONDEMNATION. 

Whoever does not acknowledge the being of a God, is of 
17 c 


14 


THE UNITY -F GOD. 


necessity excommunicated from the church : since as God is the 
all in all of the church, and divine subjects which are called 
theological, are what constitute its existence, therefore a denial 
of God is a denial also of the church, and of all things which be- 
long to it ; and it is this denial which excommunicates, so that 
man, and not God is the author of such excommunication. By 
the same act the man is brought into a state of condemnation ; 
because whoever.is excommunicated from the church, is excom- 
municated also from lieaven ; for the church on earth and the 
angelic heaven are one in operation, just as the internal and ex- 
ternal and as the spiritual and natural principles of man are 
one ; for man was so created by God as to be, with respect to 
his internal, an inhabitant of the spiritual world, and with re- 
spect to his external, an inhabitant of the natural world : thus 
he was created a native of both worlds, to the intent that a 
spiritual principle, which is of heavenly extraction, might be im- 
planted in his natural principle, which is of earthly extraction, 
like seed sown in the ground, that so he might acquire a fixed 
and everlasting existence. Whoever, by a denial of God has 
excommunicated himself from the church, and thereby from 
heaven, has also by the same act closed up his internal man, 
with respect to the faculty of the will, and thereby with respect 
to his genial love; for a man’s will is the receptacle of his love, 
and becomes its habitation. But the internal man cannot be 
closed up with respect to the faculty of the understanding ; for 
were this practicable, and to take place, then a man would be 
no longer a man. The love principle of the will, however, in- 
fatuates the superior regions of the understanding with falses, in 
which case the understanding becomes as it were closed against 
the reception of the truths which are of faith and the goods 
which are of charity, and thereby more and more against the 
reception of God, and of the spiritual things of the church. 
Thus the man is excluded from communion with the angels of 
heaven, and when excluded he introduces himself into com- 
munion with the satanic spirits of hell, and thinks in unity with 
them ; and as all satanic spirits deny God, and are infatuated in 
their conceptions concerning him and the spiritual things of the 
church, so also does every man who is joined in fellowship with 
them. When he thinks according to the dictates of his spirit, 
or internal man, as is the case when he is left alone to his own 
reflections, he suffers his thoughts to be led by the pleasures of 
the evil and the false which he has conceived and brought forth 
in himself, and he then fancies that there is no God, and that 
the name of such a Being is a mere fiction, devised by priests, 
for the purpose of keeping the vulgar in obedience to the laws 
of civil society. He further imagines that the Word of God, 
from whence the ministers of God proclaim aloud his divine 
majesty, is a mere visionary collection of records, void of al] 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


14,15 


sanctity, but what has been stamped upon it by public author- 
ity ; and that the decalogue, or catechism, is a book fit tor little 
children, but which may afterwards be thrown aside, as con- 
taining no precepts but what are taught by the civil laws ot 
every country, as, that men should honor their parents, and do 
no murder, neither commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false 
witness, &c. His notions concerning the church are of the 
same character ; that it is a congregation of weak, simple, and 
credulous people, who fancy they see things which have no real 
existence. Respecting man, and himself as a. man, he has the 
same ideas as respecting brute beasts ; and concludes that both 
will experience a similar fate after death. These are the opin- 
ions of his internal man, whatever contrary professions he may 
make with his external man ; for, as was observed above, every 
man has both an internal and an external part, and it is the in- 
ternal which properly constitutes the man, and which is called 
his spirit, and survives the death of the body ; whereas the ex- 
ternal part is buried at death, and however the internal may 
thereby have played the hypocrite by a semblance of virtue, yet 
by reason of his denial of God he is then in a state of condem- 
nation. Every man, as to his spirit, is consociated with his like 
in the spiritual world, and is as one with them ; and I have fre- 
quently been permitted to see the spirits of persons now alive 
on earth, in the spiritual societies, both angelic and infernal, 
whereto they respectively belong. I have also conversed with 
them for several days together, and it has often been matter ot 
wonder with me, that a man, wdiile in the body, is totally unac- 
quainted with this state of his spirit. Hereby I was fully as- 
sured that w T hoever denies God, is already among the condemned, 
and after death is gathered to his companions. 

15. VJ1I. That no doctrine or worship of the church can 

BE CONSISTENT OR COHERENT, WITH THOSE WHO ACKNOWLEDGE NOT 
ONE GOD, BUT MANY. 

Whoever acknowledges one God in faith, and worships him 
in heart, is in the communion of saints on earth, and in the com- 
munion of angels in heaven. These are called communions, and 
in reality are so ; since they are in one God, and one God is in 
them. Whoever also is in these communions, is in conjunction 
with the universal angelic heaven, and, I will venture to affirm, 
with all and every particular angel therein ; because they are 
all as the children and offspring of one father, whose minds, 
manners, and countenances, bear such a resemblance, that they 
thereby mutually recognize each other. The angelic heaven is 
arranged into societies, according to all the varieties of the love 
of good, which varieties all concentre in one most universal love, 
the love of God ; from which love all derive their birth and de- 
scent, who in faith acknowledge, and in heart worship, one God, 
who is both the Creator of the universe, and at the same time 
19 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


15, 16 

the Redeemer and Regenerator of mankind. But the case is 
altered, if, instead of one God, men address and worship more 
than one ; or if they acknowledge but one God with their lips, 
while they have the idea of three in their thoughts ; as is done 
by those in the church of the present day who divide God into 
three persons, and declare each person, by himself, to be God, 
and attribute to each distinct qualities and properties, which 
they do not allow to the other. Hence not only is the unity of 
God actually divided, but the whole theological system, and also 
the human mind, in which it should reside, are divided with it ; 
and what can thence result but perplexity and incoherency in 
all things appertaining to the church ? That such is the state of 
the present church, will be proved in the appendix to this work. 
The truth is, that the division of God, or of the Divine Essence, 
into three persons, whereof each singly, or of himself, is God, 
leads to a denial of God ; and implies the same as if a man 
should go into a temple to perform his devotions, and should 
there see painted over the altar one God, as the ancient of days, 
another as a great high priest, and a third as a flying Hlolus, 
with this inscription, “ These three are one God or, as if he 
should see there the unity and trinity described as a man with 
three heads upon one body, or with three bodies under one 
head, which is the form of a monster. Should any one enter 
heaven with such an idea, he would assuredly be cast out, how- 
ever he might excuse himself by saying, that the head or heads 
signified essence, and the body or bodies different properties. 


16 . To the above I shall add a memorable relation. I 
once observed some persons, lately arrived out of the natural 
world into the spiritual, who were conversing together about the 
existence of three Divine Persons from eternity. They were 
dignitaries of the church, and one of them was a bishop. On 
their approach, after some discourse about the spiritual world, 
with which they were before utterly unacquainted, “I overheard 
you,” said I, “ conversing respecting three Divine Persons exist- 
ing from eternity, and I beseech you to unfold this great mys- 
tery to me, according to the ideas which you had conceived in 
the natural world, from whence you are lately come.” Then the 
primate, looking attentively at me, replied, “ I perceive that 
you are a layman, and therefore I will unfold to you the ideas 
of my mind concerning this great mystery for your instruction. 
It always was, and is still, my notion*, that God’the Father, God 
the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, sit in the midst of heaven 
upon magnificent and lofty seats or thrones ; God the Father on 
a throne of the finest gold, with a sceptre in his hand ; God the 
Son at his right hand, upon a throne of the purest silver, with a 
crown on his head ; and God the Holy Ghost beside them, upon 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


16 


a throne of shining crystal, holding in his hand a do\e; and that 
round about them there hangs a triple row of burning lamps, 
glittering with precious stones ; and at a distance there stand 
innumerable companies of angels, worshipping and singing 
praises, I conceive further, that God the Father holds continual 
conference with the Son, concerning those who are to be justified, 
and that they determine and decree together who upon the earth 
should be worthy to be received among the angels, and to be 
crowned with eternal life ; and that God the Holy Ghost, having 
heard the names of such, hastens instantly to them over all parts 
of the earth, carrying with him the gifts of righteousness, as sc 
many tokens of salvation, to those who are justified ; and imme- 
diately on his coming and breathing upon them, he disperses 
their sins, as a ventilator does the smoke out of a furnace, and 
also removes the stony hardness from their hearts, and makes 
them soft as flesh, and at the same time renews their spirits or 
minds, and begets them to newness of life, and gives them the 
innocent countenances of little children ; and lastly, signs them 
in their foreheads with the sign of the cross, and calls them the 
elect, and the children of God.” The primate having thus ex- 
plained himself, further added, addressing himself to me, “Tlius 
did I unravel this great mystery while I lived upon the earth ; 
and because several of our order did then much applaud my 
opinions herein, I am persuaded that you also, being a layman, 
will join in the same approbation.” Here the primate ended ; 
and I then, looking attentively at him and the dignitaries with 
him, observed that they all gave tokens of favorable assent to 
what he had advanced ; whereupon I prepared to reply, and said, 
“I have well weighed the exposition of your faith, and have 
thence collected, that you have conceived and cherished a merely 
natural and sensual, yea, a material idea concerning the triune 
God, from which there inevitably flows the idea of three gods. 
Is it not a sensual conception of God the Father, to think that 
he sits upon a throne with a sceptre in his hand ? and of the 
Son, that he is on a throne with a crown upon his head ? and of, 
the Holy Ghost, that he also sits upon his throne, with a dove 
in his hand ; and that in obedience to the decrees of the two 
former, he runs to and fro through the whole earth ? Where- 
fore, since there hence results such an idea, I cannot possibly 
accord with this exposition of your faith. For, from my earliest 
years, I could never admit into my mind the idea of more gods 
than one ; and as I have always received, and do still retain, this 
idea of one God alone, therefore all that you have said is of no 
'weight with me. I then plainly perceived, that by the throne 
whereon Jehovah is said to sit, according to the letter of Scrip- 
ture, is signified the kingdom ; by the sceptre and crown, 
government and dominion ; by sitting on the right hand, the 
omnipotence of God by his humanity ; and that by all the ex- 
21 


THE UNIfY OF GOD. 


16, 17 

pressions relating to the Holy Ghost, are signified the operations 
of the divine omnipresence. Be pleased only, my lord, to adopt 
the idea of one God, and give your reason time to digest it well ; 
and then you will plainly apprehend the truth of what I say. 
Indeed you yourselves also declare God to be one, inasmuch as 
you make the essence of those three persons to be one, and also 
indivisible ; nevertheless you do not allow any to maintain that 
one God to be one single person, but you insist that there are 
three; and this you do from an apprehension lest the idea ot 
three gods, according to your conception, should be lost. You 
likewise ascribe to each person separate and distinct properties; 
and do not you thereby separate the Divine Essence ? and how 
then can you say, and at the same time think, that God is one ? 
I could excuse you if you should assert that the Divine is one. 
How is it possible, when a man is told, that ‘the Father is God, 
the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and that each per- 
son by himself is God,’ that he should conceive there is only 
one God ? Is not there a contradiction herein, which cannot be 
reconciled ? It may, indeed, be said, that they partake of 
Divinity alike ; but to call them one God is highly improper ; 
and this may be illustrated by these considerations :■ — It would 
be improper to say of several men, who compose one senate, con- 
gregation, or council, that they are one man ; when v neverthe- 
less, on a supposition that they all agree in sentiment, it may 
properly enough be said, that they think alike, and are of one 
opinion ; so likewise, in the case of three diamonds of one and 
the same substance, it cannot properly be said that they are one 
diamond, but that they are one with respect to substance, and 
that each diamond differs from the other in value, according to 
its particular weight ; whereas it would not be so, supposing 
there was only one, and not three. But I perceive the true 
reason why you call the three Divine Persons but one God, and 
insist upon every member of the church using the same lan- 
guage, notwithstanding you declare each singly' and by himself 
to be God : you are ashamed to contradict herein the common 
sense and reason of all mankind, which will not allow of more 
gods than one ; and yet you are not ashamed, while you profess 
with your lips only one God, to entertain the idea of three in 
your thoughts.” On hearing this, the bishop, with his clerical 
attendants, retired ; and as he went away, he turned about, and 
endeavored to say, “There is one God;”, but he was not able, 
for his thought drew his tongue back again ; and then he vocif- 
erated, “ Three gods.” All who stood by smiled at the strange 
sight, and departed. 

17. Afterwards I inquired where I might meet with some of 
those learned men who have most distinguished themselves by 
their acuteness and arguments, in maintaining the separation of 
the Divine Trinity into three persons ; and there appeared before 
22 


THE UNITY OF GOD. 


17 


me three, whom 1 thus addressed : “ How can you separate the 
Divine Trinity into three persons, and assert each person by 
himself, or singly, to be God and Lord ? Is not the confession 
of your lips, concerning the Divine Unity, as distant herein 
from the thought of your minds, as the north is from the 
south ?” “ Hot in the least,” they replied ; “ because we allow 

but one essence to the three persons, and the divine essence is 
God. "VYe were formerly, while on earth, tutors of a trinity ol 
persons, and the pupil under our care was this our faith, by 
which we allow to each divine person his respective office ; to 
God the Father, that of imputation and donation ; to God the 
Son, that of intercession and mediation ; and to God the Holy 
Ghost, that of effecting the purposes of imputation and media- 
tion.” “ But,” I asked, “ what do you mean by the Divine 
Essence?” They answered, “We mean omnipotence, omni- 
science, omnipresence, immensity, eternity, equality of majesty.” 
I replied, “ According to this supposition, that such essence can 
make one God of several distinct gods, you may still keep adding 
to the number, and may take in a fourth, as for example, the 
God Schaddai,*. mentioned by Moses, Ezekiel, and Job. For 
thus did the old philosophers in Greece and Italy, who assigned 
equal attributes, and thereby a like essence, to their several 
gods, Saturn, Jupiter, Heptune, Pluto, Apollo, Juno, Diana, 
Minerva ; nay, even to Mercury and Venus ; but still they never 
pretended, that all those were but one God. You yourselves 
also are three distinct persons, and, as I perceive, of similar eru- 
dition, and therefore of similar essence in that respect ; and yet 
you cannot, by any combination, become but one scholar.” 
Hereupon they smiled, and replied, “ You are surely not in 
earnest ; the case is very different with the Divine Essence, 
which being one, and not tripartite, and being individual, and 
so not divided, cannot possibly be an object of partition and 
division.” To this I rejoined, “ On this ground let us rest the 
dispute ; and let me ask you, what you mean by person, and 
what the word signifies ?” They answered, “ The word person 
signifies, not any part or quality in another, but what properly 
and distinctly subsists in itself ; thus do the most celebrated 
writers in the church define the word person, and we abide by 
their definition.” “ And is this,” said I, “ your signification of 
the word?” They said, “It is.” Then I replied, “ According 
to this definition, there is not any part of the Father in the Son, 
or any part of either in the Holy Ghost ; from which it follows, 
that each of the three is independent of the rest in respect of 
authority, power, and jurisdiction, and therefore nothing unites 
them but the will, which is distinct in each, and of consequence 
communicable only at the pleasure of each ; and is not this 

* It is to b,e observed, that no mention is to be found, in the English Bible, of the 
'Sod Scbaddai, our translators having substituted the term u God Almighty.’' 


THE DIVINE ESSE 


XT, 18 

making the three persons into three separate gods? Again, you 
have further defined the word person to signify, that which has 
a distinct subsistence ; consequently you make fhree substances, 
into which you separate the Divine Essence ; and yet you say 
that this essence is incapable of division, because it is one and 
individual : you moreover attribute to each substance, that is, to 
each person, properties which do not belong to the other two, 
and which cannot even be communicated to them ; such as im- 
putation, mediation, and operation ; and what conclusion must 
follow from this, but that the three persons are three, distinct 
gods ?” On hearing these wmrds they withdrew, saying, “ W e 
will consider this reasoning, and, after consideration, we will 
make our reply.” There was present at the debate a certain 
wise man, who, when it w r as ended, said to the three learned dis- 
putants, “ I have no inclination to examine this high subject 
through the medium of such subtle arguments ; but, setting 
them aside, I can see as clear as the light, that in the ideas of 
your minds there are three gods ; yet since you are ashamed to 
publish them to the world, for fear of being called madmen and 
idiots, which w T ould certainly be the case, therefore, to avoid that 
ignominy, you confess but one God with your lips.” The three 
disputants gave little attention to these words, continuing firm 
to their own opinions ; and as they departed, they muttered 
some metaphysical terms, w r hich they had learned by rote ; 
whence I perceived that that science was the tripod, from wEich 
they were desirous to give their answers. 


THE DIVINE ESSE, WHICH IS JEHOVAH. 

18 . We shall first speak of the Divine Esse, and afterwards 
of the Divine Essence. It appears as if they were one and the 
same thing, w 7 hen nevertheless the term esse is of more universal 
signification than essence ; for an essence supposes an esse, and 
an esse is the cause of an essence. The Esse of God, or the 
Divine Esse, cannot be described, since it transcends every idea 
of human thought ; for human thought can comprehend nothing 
but what is created and finite, and not w T hat is uncreate and in- 
finite ; consequently it can form no conception of the Divine Esse. 
The Divine Esse is Esse itself, from which all things have their 
being, and which must needs be in all things to give them being. 
An ulterior notion of the Divine Esse'may be formed from 
the following articles : — I. That the one God ' is called Jehovah 
from his Esse , because he alone Is , Was, and Will be, and because 
he is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the 
Alpha and the Omega. II. That the one God is substance itself, 
and Form itself / and angels and men are substances and forms 
by derivation from him; and so far as they are in him, and he 
in them, they are images and likenesses of him . III. That tht 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


18, 10 

Divine Esse is Esse in itself, and at the same time Existere in 
itself. IV. That the Divine Esse and Existere in itself cannot 
produce another Divine that is Esse and Existere in itself / 
consequently there cannot be another God of the same essence . 
V. That a plurality of gods among the ancients , and also among 
the moderns , had its rise solely in co7isequence of the Divine 
Esse not being understood. But we will proceed to explain each 
article particularly. 

19. I. That the one god is called jeiiovaii from his esse, 

BECAUSE HE ALONE IS, WAS, AND WILL BE ; AND BECAUSE HE IS THE 
FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END, THE ALPHA AND 
THE OMEGA. 

That Jehovah signifies I AM and TO BE {Sum et Esse), is 
well known ; and that God was so called from the earliest ages, 
appears from the book of creation, or Genesis, where, in the 
first chapter, he is called God ; but, in the second and the suc- 
ceeding, Jehovah God ; and afterwards, when the descendants ot 
Abraham, out of the loins of Jacob, forgot the name of God, by 
reason of their sojourning in Egypt, it was thus recalled to their 
remembrance : “ Moses said unto God, what is thy name? And 
God said, I AM THAT I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the 
children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you ; and thou shalt 
say, JEHOVAH GOD of your fathers hath sent me unto you. 
This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all 
generations” (Exod. iii. 14, 15). Forasmuch as God alone is 
the I AM, and the ESSE, or JEHOVAH, therefore nothing 
exists in the universe of creation, but what derives its • being 
{esse) from him ; the manner of which derivation will be shown 
presently. This also is signified by the following words : “ I 
am the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the 
Alpha and the Omega” (Isaiah xliv. 6 ; and Bev. i. 8, 11 ; xxii. 
13) ; by which words is signified, that he is the essential Self, 
and the One only Being ( Ipsum et Unicum ) from first to last, 
and that all things are from him. The reason why God is called 
the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, is, be- 
cause Alpha is the first, and Omega the last letter in the Greek 
alphabet ; and thence they signify all things in the complex. 
The true ground of this signification lies in the nature of alpha- 
betic letters in the spiritual world, each of which is expressive of 
some particular sense or thing ; wdiile every vowel, as serving to 
direct the tone of expression, is significative of something that has 
relation to affection or love. The spiritual or angelic speech and 
writing have their birth from this origin, but this is an arcanum 
hitherto unknown ; for there is a universal language, natural to all 
angels and spirits, and which has nothing in common with any 
language spoken by men on earth. Every man, after death, 
comes into the use and understanding of this language ; for it is 
implanted in every one from creation ; and therefore throughout 
25 


19, 20 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


the whole spiritual world each understands another’s speech. 1 
have frequently been permitted to hear that language, and, hav- 
ing compared it with those spoken among men, I have found that 
it has not the slightest agreement or connection with any natural 
language on earth ; for it differs from them in this first principle, 
that every single letter of each word has its particular sense and 
signification. Hence then it is that God is called the Alpha and 
the Omega ; whereby is signified, that he is the essential Self, and 
the one only Being {Ipsum et Unicurn ), from first to last, and that 
all things are from him. But concerning this language, and the 
writing thereof, as it flows from the spiritual thought of angels, 
more may be seen in a treatise written by me on Conjugial 
Love, n. 326—329 ; and also in the following pages. 

20. II. That the one god is substance itself and fokm it- 
self; AND ANGELS AND MEN ARE SUBSTANCES AND FORMS BY 
DERIVATION FROM HIM, AND SO FAR AS THEY ARE IN HIM, AND HE 
IN THEM, THEY ARE IMAGES AND LIKENESSES OF HIM. 

Since God is Esse, # he is also substance ; for an esse without 
a substance is a mere imaginary entity, substance being a sub- 
sisting entity ; and whatever is a substance is likewise a form, 
for substance too, without form, is a mere imaginary entity ; 
therefore both substance and form may be predicated of God, 
but with this distinction, that he is. the only, the very, and the 
first substance and form {substantia et forma , unica , ipsa, et 
prima). That this form is truly and verily human, that is, that 
God is true and very man, in whom all things are infinite, is 
proved in a work entitled Angelic Wisdom concerning the 
Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, published at Amster- 
dam in the year 1763 ; as also that angels and men are sub- 
stances and forms, created and organized for the reception of 
the divine influences through the heavens ; therefore in the book 
of Genesis they are called images and likenesses of God (i. 26, 
27) ; and in other places, his sons, and born of him ; but in the 
course of this work it Will be abundantly proved, that in propor- 
tion as a man lives under the divine government, that is, suffers 
himself to be led by God, so far he becomes his image more and 
more interiorly. Unless an idea be formed of God, as being the 
primary substance and form ; and of his form, as being truly 
and verily human, the minds of men would readily imbibe idle 
fancies, like so many imaginary spectres, concerning God him- 
self, the origin of mankind, and the creation of the world. Of 
God they would conceive no other notion, than as of the nature 
of the universe in its first principles, that is, as of the expanse ot 
the universe, or as of an empty shadow or a mere nothing ; con- 
cerning the origin of mankind they would conceive, as of a for- 
tuitous conflux of the elements into such a form ; and concern- 
ing the creation of the w r orld, that the origin of its substances 
and forms is first from points, and afterwards from geometrical 
26 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


20, 21 

lines, which as they are not predicated of any substance, are in 
fact mere nothings. , To minds clouded with such notions, every 
thing respecting the church appears as dark and obscure as the 
river Styx or the gloom of Tartarus. 

21. III. That the divine esse is esse in itself, and at the 

SAME TIME EXISTERE IN ITSELF. 

That Jehovah God is Esse in itself, is a consequence of his 
being the I AM, the essential Self, the one only Being, and the 
First (Sum, Ipsum, Unicum , et Primum ) from eternity to eter- 
nity, from whom every thing that is derives its being, and with- 
out whom it could not be any thing. In this, and no other sense, 
he is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the 
Alpha and the Omega. It cannot be said, that he had his own 
Esse from himself ; because this term from himself, supposes 
priority, and thereby time, which is not predicable of the In- 
finite, therefore it is said, from eternity ; it likewise supposes 
another God, who is God in himself, and thereby God from 
God, or that God formed himself, in which case he would neither 
be uncreate nor infinite, because hereby he must have limited 
and determined himself, either from himself or from another. 
From this cause, that God is Esse in itself, it follows, that he is 
Love in itself, Wisdom in itself, and Life in itself; and that he 
is the very essential Self (Ipsum), from whom are all things, and 
to whom all things bear relation, as the sole ground of their 
being. That God is Life in itself, and thereby God, appears 
from the words of the Lord, in John v. 26 ; and in Isaiah : “ I 
Jehovah make all things ; I stretch forth the heavens alone, and 
spread abroad the earth by myself” (xliv. 24): and that he is 
“ God alone, and besides him there is no God” (Isaiah xlv. 14, 
21 ; Hosea xiii. 4). That God is not only Esse in itself, but 
likewise Existere in itself, results from this, that an esse unless 
it exist is nothing, and in like manner an existere is nothing 
unless it be derived from its esse ; wherefore, granting one, we 
must also grant the other. The same reasoning is applicable to 
substance and form : a substance is nothing without a form, and 
a form cannot exist unless it be derived from a substance ; for 
nothing is predicable of a substance without a form ; and a form 
without a substance must be a mere nothing, because it is with- 
out that which is necessary to give it quality or distinction. The 
reason of using the terms esse and existere, and not essence and 
existence, is, because there is a distinction to be made between 
esse and essence, and consequently between existere and exist- 
ence, just as between what is prior and what is posterior, what 
is prior being more universal than what is posterior. Infinity 
and eternity are applicable to the Divine Esse ; but to the Divine . 
Essence and Existence, divine love and divine wisdom are appli- 
cable, and thereby omnipotence and omnipresence : of which 
therefore we shall speak in their order. 

27 


22 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


22. That God is the very essential Self, the one only Being 
and the First (Ipsum, Unicram , et Primum ), which is called the 
Esse and Existere in itself, from which are all things which are, 
and exist, the natural man by his own reason cannot possibly 
discover ; for the natural man by his own reason can apprehend 
nothing blit what belongs to nature ; this being consonant with 
his essence, into which nothing else has gained admission from 
his earliest years. But as a man is created to become a spiritual 
being also, by reason that he is to- live after death, and then to 
dwell among spiritual beings in their world, therefore God has 
provided the Word, wherein he has not only revealed liimsell 
and his own existence, but likewise the existence of a heaven 
and a hell ; and that in one or other of these, every man must 
live to all eternity, each according to his life and faith conjointly. 
God has also revealed in his Word, that he is the I AM, or 
ESSE, the very essential Self, and the one only Being, which is 
sell-essent {Ip sum et TJnicum quod in Se). and thereby the First, 
or Beginning, from whom are all things. It is by means of this 
revelation, that the natural man is enabled to elevate himself 
above nature, and thereby above himself, and to contemplate 
such things as have relation to God, but yet as at a distance, 
notwithstanding that God is nigh to every man, being in him 
with his essence; and for this reason he is nigh to those who 
love him ; and those love him who live according to his com- 
mandments, and believe on him ; and these do, as it were, see 
God. For what is faith but a spiritual sight or perception of 
God’s existence ? And what is a life according to his command- 
ments, but an actual acknowledgment that salvation and eternal 
life are from him ? Where, however, the faith is not spiritual, 
but only natural, which is nothing more than a sort of science, 
and where the life is similar, in such a case men indeed see God, 
but then it is at a great distance, and that only while they are 
talking of him. And the difference between these two descrip- 
tions of men, is the same as between persons who stand in clear 
daylight, and see people near them, and touch them, and others 
who stand in a thick mist, wherein they cannot distinguish men 
from trees or stones. Or they may be compared, in the former 
case, with persons elevated on a high mountain, whereon a city 
is built, through the streets of which they walk at pleasure, and 
'converse with their fellow-citizens ; and in the latter case, with 
persons who lobk downwards from that mountain, and cannot 
discern whether the objects they look upon be men, beasts, or 
statues. Hay, the difference is as great, as between those who 
live in some planetary orb, and see their friends and acquaint- 
ance therein, and those who only look upon that orb, from another 
planet, through optical glasses, and say that they perceive men 
therein, when yet they can discover nothing but a general con- 
fusion of earth and water, as in the bright and dark spots of thy 
28 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


22, 23 

moon. Sucli is the difference between seeing God and .the 
divine things which proceed from him, as they exist in the minds 
of those who are living in a right faith and at the same time in 
a life of charity, and as they exist in the minds of those who 
have only a scientific knowledge of such subjects ; and hence also 
is the difference between natural and spiritual men. But where 
men deny the divine sanctity of the Word, and yet load them- 
selves with religious notions and opinions, which they carry as 
iii a bundle tied upon their backs, in such case they have no 
sight or perception of God, but only learn to talk about him, 
like a parrot taught to speak by rote. 

23. IV. That THE DIVINE ESSE AND EXISTERE IN ITSELF CAN- 
NOT PRODUCE ANOTHER DIVINE THAT IS ESSE AND EXISTERE IN 
ITSELF ; CONSEQUENTLY THERE CANNOT BE ANOTHER GOD OF THE 
SAME ESSENCE. 

It has been shown above that the one God, who is the Crea 
tor of the universe, is Esse and Existere in itself, thus God in 
himself. Hence it follows that the production of a God from a 
God is a thing impracticable, and not to be supposed, inasmuch 
as Essential Divinity, which is Esse and Existere in itself, could 
not possibly have place in such a production. It is the same 
thing whether we use the terms begotten by God, or proceeding 
from him : in both cases we must suppose a God to be produced 
by a God, and this differs little from the creation of a God 
Therefore to introduce into the church a belief that there are 
three divine persons, each of whom singly and by himself is 
God, and of the same essence, and one born from eternity, and 
the third proceeding from eternity, is utterly to destroy the idea 
of God’s unity, and thereby every just apprehension of the God- 
head, and thus to banish all the spirituality of reason from the 
mind. The consequence is, that a man is no longer a man, but 
becomes entirely a merely natural being, differing from the 
brute creation only in the power of speech, and opposed to all 
the spiritual things of the church, which the natural man calls 
foolishness. Hence, and hence alone, have arisen such enor- 
mously heretical opinions concerning God ; therefore a division 
of the Divine Trinity into persons has introduced not only night, 
but also death into the church. That an identity of three Divine 
Essences is an offence to reason, appeared evident to me from 
the angels, who declared that they could not utter the expression 
of three equal Divinities ; and that if any one should approach 
them with an intent to utter it, he would be forced to turn his 
face away ; and when he had given it utterance, he would be- 
come like a human log, and be cast out, and would afterwards 
betake himself to those spirits in hell who acknowledge no God. 
It is a truth, that to implant in children and young people the 
idea of three divine persons, to which is unavoidably annexed 
the idea of three Gods, is to deprive them of all spiritual milk 
29 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


23, 24 

and afterwards of all spiritual meat, and lastly of all spiritual 
reason ; and the consequence is spiritual death to all those whc 
confirm themselves in such an opinion. The church therefore, 
which in faith and heart worships one God, the Creator of the 
universe, and the same God the Redeemer and Regenerator, 
may be compared with the city of Zion in the time of David, 
and with the city of Jerusalem in the time of Solomon, after the 
temple was buiit ; but the church which believes in three per- 
sons, and in each as a distinct God, is like the city of Zion and 
Jerusalem when they were destroyed by Yespasian, and the 
temple w~as burnt down. Moreover, the man who worships one 
in whom is the Divine Trinity, and who is thus one person, 
becomes more and more a living and angelic man ; but he who 
confirms himself in a plurality of Gods, by a plurality of persons, 
becomes by degrees like a statue formed with movable joints, in 
the midst of which Satan stands, and speaks through its artifi- 
cial mouth. 

24. Y. That a plurality of gods among the ancients, and 

ALSO AMONG THE MODERNS, HAD ITS RISE SOLELY IN CONSEQUENCE 
OF THE DIVINE ESSE NOT BEING UNDERSTOOD. 

It has been shown already, n. 8, that the unity of God is 
most intimately inscribed on the minds of all mankind, since it 
is in the centre of all influxes from God into the human soul ; 
but the reason why it has not descended thence into the human 
understanding, is, because hitherto there has been a deficiency of 
those knowledges whereby a man ought to ascend to meet God, 
it being every man’s duty to prepare a way for God, that is, to 
prepare himself for his reception, which must be done by know- 
ledges. The knowledges hitherto wanting to enable the human 
understanding to penetrate where it might perceiye the divine 
unity, and see that there can be but one only Divine Esse, and 
that all things in nature are from that Esse, are the following: 
1. No one has hitherto known any thing of the spiritual world, 
where spirits and angels have their abodes, and into which every 
man enters after death. 2. Or that, in that world, there is a 
sun which is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in its centre. 
3. Or that from that sun proceed heat, which in its essence is 
love, and light, which in its essence is wisdom. 4. Or that of 
consequence all things in that world are spiritual, and affect the 
internal man, and form his will and understanding. 5. Or that 
Jehovah God, out of his sun, not only produced the spiritual 
world, and all its spiritual contents, which are innumerable and 
substantial, but that he also produced the natural world, with 
all its natural contents, which are likewise innumerable, but 
material. 6. Hitherto no one has known the distinction be- 
tween what is spiritual and what is natural, or even what the 
spiritual principle is in its essence. 7. It has also been hitherto 
unknown that there are three degrees of love and wisdom, 
30 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


24, 25 

according to which the angelic heavens are arranged. 8/ That 
the human mind is divided into as many degrees, to the intent 
that it may be exalted after death into one of the three heavens, 
which is effected according to the man’s life and faith conjointly 
9. And, lastly, that not a single atom of all these things could 
have existed but from the Divine Esse, which in itself is the 
essential Self (Ipsum), and thus the First and the Beginning, 
from which are all things. These knowledges have hitherto 
been wanting, which nevertheless are the necessary means of a 
man’s ascent to know the Divine Esse. We speak of a man’s 
ascent, but we would be understood to mean that he is elevated 
by God ; for by virtue of his free will every man is at liberty to 
collect for himself knowledges ; and as he collects them from 
the Word, by means of the understanding, he thereby prepares 
and makes ready a way for God to descend and elevate him. 
The knowledges by which the human understanding ascends, 
while supported and led by the hand of God, may be compared 
with the steps of Jacob’s ladder, which was “ set upon the earth, 
and the top of it reached to heaven, and the angels of God 
ascended and descended upon it : and behold, Jehovah stood 
above it” (Gen. xxviii. 12, 13). But the case is quite otherwise 
when those knowledges are wanting, or where a man despises 
them ; for when this happens, the elevation of the understand- 
ing may be compared with a ladder raised from the ground up 
to the windows of the first story of a magnificent palace, where 
men have their apartments, but not to the windows of the 
second story, where spirits have theirs, much less to the windows 
of the third story, where angels have theirs. Hence it is that 
mankind abide merely in the atmospheres and material forms ot 
nature, to which they confine their eyes, ears, and nostrils, and 
from which they collect no other ideas of heaven, and of the esse 
and essence of God, than such as are atmospherical and mate- 
rial ; and while such ideas are the subjects of a man’s thought, 
he is not in a capacity to form any judgment concerning God, 
whether he exists or not, or whether he is one or more, and still 
less what his nature is with respect to his esse and his essence. 
Hence arose a plurality of gods among the ancients, and like* 
wise among the moderns. 


25. To the above I shall add this memorable relation. — 
Awaking on a time out of sleep, I fell into a profound medita- 
tion about God, and when I looked upwards I saw in the heaven 
above me a most clear shining light in an oval form. As I fixed 
my eyes attentively upon that light, it gradually receded from 
the centre towards the circumference ; and lo ! heaven was then 
opened before me, and I beheld magnificent scenes, and saw 
angels standing in the form of a circle, on the southern side of 
31 


25 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


the Opening, in conversation with each other ; and because I 
earnestly desired to know what they were conversing about, it 
was permitted me first to hear the sound of their voices, which 
was full of celestial love, and afterwards to distinguish their 
speech, which was full of wisdom flowing from that love. They 
were conversing respecting the one God, of conjunction with 
him, and salvation thereby. The matter of their discourse 
was for the most part ineffable, there being no w 7 ords in any 
natural language adapted to convey its meaning ; but as" I had 
oftentimes been in consort with angels in their heaven, and 
being at such times in a similar state with them, and also in the 
use and understanding of their language, therefore I was now 
able to comprehend what they said, and to collect some par- 
ticulars from their conversation which may be intelligibly ex- 
pressed in the words of natural language. They said, the 
Divine Esse is one, immutably the same, the very essen- 
tial Self, and the Indivisible (idem, ipsum , et individuum). 
Tin's they illustrated by spiritual ideas, saying, the Divine Esse 
cannot possibly belong to several, so as to be a Divine Esse 
in each of them, and yet remain one, immutably the same, the 
very essential self, and indivisible ; for on such a supposition 
each would think from his own particular esse, and singly by 
himself ; in which case, although the thoughts of each might be 
influenced from and by the rest to agreement and unanimity, 
yet it is plain they w r ould be several unanimous gods, and not 
one God ; because unanimity, being the consent of several, and 
at the same time of each separately from and by himself, does 
not agree with the unity of God, but implies plurality. They 
did not say of gods , because they could not ; since the light ol 
heaven, which gave birth to their thought, and the atmosphere 
which conveyed their words, were in opposition to that expres- 
sion. They added further, that w 7 hen they had a desire to pro- 
nounce the word gods , and each as a distinct person by himself, 
the power of pronunciation was diverted immediately to utter 
one God, yea, one only God. Again, they proved that the 
Divine Esse is a Divine Esse in itself, not from itself ; be- 
cause to be from itself supposes an esse in itself from another 
prior to it ; thus it supposes a God from God, which is im- 
possible. What is from God is not called God, but is called 
divine ; for what is a God from God ; consequently, what is God 
born of God from eternity ; and what is God of God proceeding 
through a God born from eternity, but obscure words that have 
no light in them from heaven’? They said further, that the 
Divine Esse, w T hich in itself is God, is immutably the same 
(idem ) ; not simply the same, but infinitely the same, that is, 
the same from eternity to eternity. It is the same everywhere, 
with every one, and in every one ; but that all variableness and 
changeableness is in the recipient, occasioned by its peculiar 


THE DIVINE ESSE. 


25, 26 


state. That the Divine Esse, which is God in himself, is the 
essential Self (ijqsum), they thus explained : God is the essen- 
tial Self, because he is love itself and wisdom itself; or because 
he is good itself and truth itself, and of consequence life itself ; 
which, unless they were the essential self in God, could have no 
existence in heaven and earth, since there would be nothing in 
them that had relation to the essential self; for all quality has 
its quality from this condition of its existence, that there be an 
essential self from whence it is derived, and to which it has 
relation, as the cause of its peculiar quality. This essential self, 
which is the Divine Esse, is not in place, but with and in those 
who are in place, according to its reception ; since neither place, 
nor progression from one place to another, is predicable of love 
and wisdom, or of good and truth, or of life derived thence, 
which are the essential self in God, yea God himself; and this 
is the foundation of the divine omnipresence ; and therefore the 
Lord says, that “ he is in the midst of them, and that he is in 
them, and they in him.” But since he cannot be received by 
any creature according to his quality in his esse, he appears 
according to his quality in his essence, as a sun above the 
angelic heavens, being manifested, with respect to his wisdom, 
in the proceeding light thereof, and with respect to his love, in 
the proceeding heat. He himself is not that sun ; but divine 
love and divine wisdom, in their proximate emanation from him, 
and round about him, appear as a sun before the angels. Him- 
self in the sun is a man, our Lord Jesus Christ, with re- 
spect to both the all-begetting Divinity (Divinum a quo), 
and the divine human; since the essential self, which is love 
itself and wisdom itself, was a soul to him from the Father, and 
thus divine life, which is life in itself. The case is otherwise 
with a man ; for in him the soul is not life, but the recipient ol 
life. This the Lord also teaches when he says, u I am the way, 
the truth, and the life and in another place, “ As the Father 
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have 
life in himself” (John v. 26). Life in himself is God. They 
further added, that whoever is under the influence of any spi- 
ritual light, may plainly see from what has been said, that the 
Divine Esse being one, immutably the same, the very essential 
self, and of consequence indivisible, cannot possibly exist in 
more than one ; and that if it should be supposed to exist in 
more, manifest contradictions would follow such a supposition. 

26. As I listened to this conversation, the angels perceived 
in my thought the common ideas entertained in the Christian 
church of a trinity of persons in unity, and of their unity in 
trinity, with respect to God ; and also of the birth of the Son 
of God from eternity ; whereupon they said to me, “ What no- 
tions are these which you entertain ? Are not they the offspring 
of natural light, wherewith our spiritual light has no agreement 1 
33 n 


‘26, 27 


THE INFINITY OF GOD. 


Unless therefore you remove these ideas from your mind, we 
must shut heaven against you, and take our ieave.” But I 
replied, “ Enter, I beseech you, more deeply into my thought, 
and possibly you will find it to be in agreement with your own.” 
They accordingly did so, and perceived that by three persons I 
understood three proceeding divine attributes, which are crea- 
tion, redemption, and regeneration, and that those attri- 
butes belong to one God ; and that by the birth of the Son of 
God from eternity, I understood his birth foreseen from eternity 
and provided in time ; and that it is not above what is rational 
and natural, but contrary thereto, to conceive that any Son was 
born of God from eternity ; but not so, to conceive that the Son, 
who was born of God by the Virgin Mary in time, is the only, 
and the only begotten, Son of God ; and that to suppose other- 
wise is an insane error. I further acquainted them, that I had 
acquired my natural idea of a trinity of persons, and of the 
unity, and of the birth of the Son of God from eternity, from 
that doctrine of faith in the church which has its name from 
Athanasius. Then said the angels, “ It is well and they de- 
sired me to declare upon their testimony, that whoever does not 
approach the true God of heaven and earth, cannot have entrance 
into heaven, because heaven is heaven from that one only God, 
and that God is Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah the Lord, 

FROM ETERNITY THE CREATOR, IN TIME THE REDEEMER, AND TO 

eternity the Regenerator : of consequence, who is at once 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; and this is the Gospel which is 
to be preached. After this the heavenly light which I had be- 
fore seen, returned over the aperture, and by degrees descended 
thence, and filled the interiors of my mind, and illuminated 
my ideas concerning the trinity and unity of God ; and then I 
perceived that the ideas which I had originally entertained about 
them, and which were merely natural, were separated, as chaff 
is separated from wheat by winnowing, and were carried away, 
as by a wind, to the northern part of heaven, and disappeared. 


THE INFINITY OF GOD ; OR, HIS IMMENSITY AND ETERNITY. 

27. There are two things peculiar to the natural world, by 
which all its contents are fixed and bounded ; one is space, and 
the other time ; and as that world was created by God, and 
spaces and times were created together with it, and are its limi- 
tations or terminations, therefore it will be proper to treat of 
their two original sources, which are immensity and eternity : 
for the immensity of God has relation to spaces, and his eternity 
to times \ and his infinity comprehends both immensity and 


THE INFINITY OF GOD. 


27, 28 

eternity. But since infinity transcends what is finite, and the 
knowledge thereof a finite mind therefore, in order to attain 
any degree of perception on this subject, it will be necessary 
to discuss it according to the following series. I. That God is 
infinite because he is and exists in himself , and that all things 
in the universe are and exist from him. II. That God is infi- 
nite , because he was before the world , consequently before spaces 
and times had birth. III. That God , since the world was made , 
is in space vnthout space , and' in time without time. IY. That 
infinity , in relation to spaces, is called immensity, and in rela- 
tion to times, (eternity • and yet, notwithstanding these relations, 
there is nothing of space in God's immensity, and nothing of 
time in his eternity. Y. That enlightened’ reason, from, very 
many objects in the world, may discover the infinity of God 
the Creator. YI. That every created thing is finite, and the 
infinite is in finite things , as in its receptacles, and in men, as 
in its images . We will now proceed to a particular explanation 
of each article. 

28. That god is infinite, because he is and exists in himself, 

AND THAT ALL THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE ARE AND EXIST FROM HIM. 

It was shown above, that God is one, and that he is the 
essential self (ipsum), and the first Esse of all things, and that 
all things which are, exist, and subsist in the universe, are from 
him : hence it follows that he is infinite. That human reason 
may be convinced of this truth, by very many things in the uni- 
verse of creation, will be shown presently. But although the 
human mind, by a contemplation of these, may discover the first 
Entity, or the first Esse, to be infinite, yet it cannot discover 
what is the quality of that Infinite ; and therefore cannot define 
it otherwise than that it is the infinite All, and that it subsists 
in itself, and is thereby the very and the one only substance ; 
and, since nothing* is predicable of a substance, unless it be a 
form, that it is also the very and the one only form. But yet 
notwithstanding these conclusions, the true quality of the In- 
finite does not appear ; for the human mind, however highly 
analytical, and fitted for sublime speculations, is still finite, and 
cannot get rid of this necessity of its being : it cannot therefore 
ever comprehend the infinity of God, as to its true quality ; con- 
sequently it can never see God, as he is in himself, and his real 
esse ; it may, however, behold him obscurely, as it were behind ; 
as it is written of Moses, when he prayed to see God, that he 
was set in a cleft of the rock, and saw his back parts (Exod. 
xxxiii. 20 — 23) : by the back parts of God are signified the 
visible objects of the creation, and in particular such things in 
the Word as come under human perception. Heime it appears 
how vain it is to desire to know what God is in his esse, or in 
his substance, and that it is enough to acknowledge him from 
things finite, that is, from things created, in which he infinite!) 

35 


THE INFINITY OF GK>T). 


28, 29 

is. The man that wishes to see more of God than this, may be 
compared to a fish taken out of its native element into that of 
air ; or to a bird placed under the receiver of an air-pump, which, 
while the air is pumping out, begins to gasp for breath*, and then 
expires. lie may also be compared to a ship, which, when she 
no longer obeys her rudder, from the violence of a storm, is 
wrecked upon the rocks and quicksands. This is an exact resem- 
blance of the case of those who wish to see the infinity of God 
by an interior view, and are not content to behold and acknow- 
ledge it in its external and manifest tokens. We are told of a 
certain philosopher among the ancients, who cast himself into the 
sea, because by the light of his own mind he could not see and 
comprehend the eternity of the world ; but what would he have 
clone had he desired to see and comprehend the infinity of God ? 

29. II. That god is infinite, because he was before the 

WORLD, CONSEQUENTLY BEFORE SPACES AND TIMES HAD BIRTH. 

In the natural world there are times and spaces, but in the 
spiritual world they have not the same actual existence, and yet 
they exist apparently. The reason why spaces and times were 
introduced into the worlds was, to distinguish one thing from 
another, great from small, many from few, and thereby the 
quantity and quality of different objects ; and that by their 
means the bodily senses might distinguish their objects, and the 
mental senses theirs, and might thus be excited to thought and 
choice. The introduction of times into the natural world is 
effected by the rotation of the earth about her axis, and by the 
process of those rotations through the different points of her 
orbit, in her motion round the sun ; these changes appearing 
nevertheless to be occasioned by the sun, from whose orb the 
whole terraqueous globe derives all its heat and light. Hence 
come the different times of the day, as morning, noon, evening, 
and night ; and also the times of the year, as spring, summer, 
autumn, and winter ; the times of the day, as distinguished with 
respect to light and darkness, and the times of the year with 
respect to heat and cold. But the introduction of spaces into 
the natural world was effected by the gathering together of the 
earth’s particles into a globular form, and filling it with matters, 
the parts of which are distinct from each other, and at the same 
time extended. In the spiritual world, however, there are no 
material spaces, and times corresponding with them, yet never- 
theless there are the appearances of them, which appearances 
are according to the differences of state in the minds of spirits 
and angels. Times and spaces, therefore, in the spiritual world, 
have a conformity with the affections of the will, and the 
thoughts that thence exist in the understandings of its inhabit- 
ants : those appearances however are real, because they are 
constant according to their states. It is a general notion con- 
cerning the state of souls after death, and also of ano-els and 
36 n 


THE INFINITY OF GOD. 


59, 30 

spirits, that they do not live in any extense, and consequently 
not in any space and time ; and from this idea it is conceived 
that departed souls have no fixed determinate abode ; and that 
angels and spirits are mere aerial beings, of whom no other idea 
is entertained, than such as may be formed of ether, vapor, or 
win# Nevertheless the truth is, that they are substantial men, 
and live together, like men in the natural world, upon places of 
space, and in portions of time, which, as was observed, are deter- 
mined according to the states of their minds. Were it not so, 
that is, were there no spaces and times in that world into which 
departed souls are gathered, and where spirits and angels dwell, 
the whole of it might then be drawn through the eye of a needle, 
or be concentrated on the point of a single hair. On the suppo- 
sition that there is no substantial extense in that world, this 
would be very possible : but since there is a substantial extense 
therein, tl erefore the angels dwell together in a state of as true 
distinction and separation from one another, nay, more so, than 
men upon earth, where there is a material extense. Times, 
however, in the spiritual world, are not distinguished into days, 
weeks, months, and years, because the sun there never appears 
to rise and set, or to have any progressive motion, but remains 
stationary in the east, in a mean elevation between the zenith 
and the horizon. They have also spaces in that world, by rea- 
son that all things therein are substantial, as in the natural 
world they are material ; but on this subject more will be said 
in the lemma concerning creation, at the conclusion of this 
chapter. From what has been observed, then, it may be easy 
to conceive, that spaces and times are the limits and termina- 
tions of all and every thing in both worlds, and consequently 
that men, as w^ll as angels and spirits, are confined within - cer- 
tain limits, not only with regard to their bodies, but also with 
regard to their souls. From all Avhich considerations we may 
come to this conclusion, that God is infinite, that is, not finite, 
since he, being the Creator, Former, and Maker of the universe, 
limited and bounded all things ; and this he did by means of 
his sun, in the centre of which he dwells ; which sun consists of 
the Divine Essence that proceeds from God as a spherical ema- 
nation ; and there and thence is the beginning of finiteness ; 
but its progression extends from thence to ultimates, which are 
in the natural world. That God is infinite in himself, by reason 
of his being uncreated, is obvious. But because man is finite, 
and thinks according to what is finite, infinite appears as no- 
thing to him : therefore if that finite nature which adheres to his 
thought, were to be removed, he would have a perception that 
what was left was not any thing ; whereas the truth is, that God 
is infinitely all, and that man, respectively, of himself is nothing. 

30. III. That God, since tiie world was made, is in space 

WITHOUT SPACE, AND IN TIME WITHOUT TIME. 

37 


30 


THE INFINITY OF GOD 


That God, and the Divine which proceeds immediately from 
him, is not in space, notwithstanding he is omnipresent, and 
with every man upon earth, and every angel in heaven, and every 
spirit under heaven, is a truth that cannot be comprehended by 
a merely natural idea, although it may in some degree by a 
spiritual idea. The reason why it cannot be comprehended by a 
merely natural idea, is, because in every such idea there is some 
notion of space, being conceived from the objects of this world, 
in all and every one of which, so far as they are visible, there is 
some relation to space ; every thing great and small, long, broad, 
and high therein, has relation to space ; in a word, every meas- 
ure, figure, and form therein, has the same relation. Never- 
theless a man may comprehend this truth by his natural thought 
if he will only admit therein a ray of spiritual light. But, pre- 
vious to this, it may be necessary to consider what is meant by 
an idea of spiritual thought. Such an idea derives nothing from 
space, but derives its all from state. By state is to be under- 
stood whatever has relation to love, to life, to wisdom, to the 
affections, to joys, and, in general, to good and truth ; but a 
spiritual idea concerning such things has nothing in it that is 
common to space ; for it is superior to it, and looks down upon 
the ideas of space, as heaven looks down upon earth. That God 
is present in space without space, and in time without time, is a 
consequence of his being always the same from eternity to eter- 
nity, and therefore the same before the world was created that 
he was after its creation ; and in God, and in his presence, there 
existed neither spaces nor times before creation, but after it ; 
therefore he, being the same, is in space without space, and in 
time without time. Hence it follows, that nature is separate 
from God, and yet God is omnipresent therein ; in like manner 
as life is present in every substantial and material part of a man, 
although it does not mix and unite with them ; or as light is in 
the eye, sound in the ear, and taste in the tongue ; or as the 
ethereal fluid is in earth and water, preserving the terraqueous 
globe in its present harmony, and impelling it in its rotations ; 
not to mention other instances ; in all which, supposing a priva- 
tion of the active powers, the substantial and material subjects 
would in a moment fall to pieces, or be destroyed; nay, even 
the human mind, were not God continually present in it in all 
its parts and at every moment, would be dissolved like a bubble 
in the air ; and both spheres of the brain, wherein the mind 
exerts its first and principal operations, would melt away like 
froth, and thus leave the whole bodily system a heap of dust, or 
as a volatile exhalation in the atmosphere. Forasmuch as God 
is in all time without time, therefore in his Word he speaks of 
what is past and to come as of what is present ; as in Isaiah : 
“ Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given : and his name 
is called the everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” &c. (ix. 6) : and 


THE INFINITY QF GOD. 


30 , 31 

in David : “ 1 will declare the decree : Jehovah hath said unto 
me, Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee” (Psalm 
ii. 7) : these words are spoken of the Lord who was to come ; 
therefore also it is said again, u A thousand years in thine eyes 
are as yesterday” (Psalm xc. 4). That God is everywhere pre- 
sent throughout the universe, and yet that no part or property 
of the universe is in him, that is, nothing which has relation to 
space or time, must appear evident to every observant and 
attentive reader of the Word from several other passages ; to 
mention only this in Jeremiah : “ Am I a God at hand, and not 
a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places, that I 
shall not see him ? Do not I fill heaven and earth ?” (xxiii. 
23, 24.) 

31. IY. That the infinity of god, in relation to spaces, 

IS CALLED IMMENSITY, AND IN RELATION TO TIMES, ETERNITY ; 
AND YET, NOTWITHSTANDING THESE RELATIONS, THERE IS NO- 
THING OF SPACE IN HIS IMMENSITY, AND NOTHING OF TIME IN HIS 
ETERNITY. 

The reason why the infinity of God, in relation to spaces, is 
called immensity, is, because the term “ immense” is predicated 
of whatever is great and large, and also of what is extended, and 
herein of what is spacious : but the reason why the infinity of 
God in relation to times is called eternity, is, because the phrase 
u to eternity” is predicated of whatever is in endless progres- 
sion, and capable of mensuration by time : as for example : the 
relations of space are predicated of the terraqueous globe with 
its several parts, and the relations of time are predicated of its 
rotation and progression ; the latter also constitute times, and 
the former constitute spaces ; and they are represented under 
such appearances, by the senses, in the perception of every re- 
flecting mind. In God, however, as was shown above, there is 
nothing of space or time, and yet they have their beginnings 
from God ; hence it follows, that by immensity is signified his 
infinity in relation to spaces, and by eternity, his infinity in re- 
lation to times. In heaven, however, the angels, by the immen- 
sity of God, are led to a perception of his divinity with respect 
to his esse, and by his eternity, of his divinity with respect to 
his existere ; by immensity also they have a perception of the 
Divinity with respect to loye, and by eternity, of the Divinity 
with respect to wisdom. The reason of this is, because they ab- 
stract spaces and times from their idea of the Godhead, and this 
abstraction leads immediately to such perception. Since, how- 
ever, human thought is bounded by ideas conceived from such 
objects as have relation to space and time, it is therefore impos- 
sible for a man to have any distinct perception of the immensity 
of God before the existence of spaces, and of his eternity before 
the existence of times ; nay, should ht be desirous of such a per- 
ception, he would feel himself as if his mind were falling into a 
39 


31, 32 • THE INFINITY OF GOD. 

swoon, or like a person in a shipwreck just falling into the 
water, or as one ready to be swallowed up alive by an earth- 
quake ; and should he persist in penetrating more deeply into 
such profound speculations, he might easily fall into a delirium, 
and from this into a denial of God. I myself was once con- 
vinced of this by experience, while I was revolving in my 
thoughts what God was from eternity, and what he did before 
the creation of the world, and whether he deliberated with him- 
self about its creation, and whether such deliberate thought 
were possible in a pure vacuum ; with other vain conceits of a 
like nature. In order, however, to prevent my falling into a 
delirium by such speculations, I was elevated by the Lord into 
the sphere and light in which the interior angels dwell, and 
there, when the ideas of space and time, which had before 
limited my conceptions, were a little removed, it was granted 
me to comprehend that the eternity of God is not an eternity of 
time, and that since there was no time before the creation of the 
world, it was altogether an idle folly to entertain any such 
speculations about God. I was confirmed also in this truth, 
that, as the Divine from eternity, consequently abstracted from 
all time, has no connection with days, years, arid ages, all such 
portions of time with God being instant, therefore the world was 
created by God not in time, but that times were first introduced 
by God with creation. 

To the above I shall add this memorable circumstance. 
There appear at one extremity of the spiritual world tw r o statues 
in a monstrous human form, with their mouths wide open, and 
their jaws dilated, by which such persons as entertain vain and 
foolish conceits about God in his existence from eternity, seem 
to themselves to be devoured : these however are only the fan- 
tasies into which those cast themselves who speculate wildly 
and unprofitably about God, what he was, and what he did be- 
fore the creation of the world. 

32. Y. That Enlightened Reason, from very many Ob- 
jects in the World, may discover the Infinity of God the 
Creator. 

The following are a few of the many considerations which 
evince the infinity of God. 1. In the universe of creation there 
are not to be found two things precisely the same. This has 
been discovered and confirmed by human learning, aided by 
human reason, in the case of such things as have a simultaneous 
existence, or that exist at the same period of time. In these 
no such identity is to be found ; and yet the substantial and 
material parts of the creation, singly considered, are infinite in 
number. It is also equally true in the case of two effects, pro- 
duced at different periods of time, that they are never found 
precisely the same ; as may be concluded from the earth’s rota- 
tion, which, from the inclination of her axis to the plane of the 
40 


THE* INFINITY OF GOD. 


32 


ecliptic, occasions a constant succession of different effects. 
The same truth is confirmed also by considering the faces of 
mankind, no two of which, throughout the whole world, are ex- 
actly alike, and the same ; neither can there be to all eternity. 
This infinite variety could not possibly exist but from the in- 
finity of God. 2. The mind of one man is never found exactly 
like the mind of another ; whence comes the common proverb, 
“ Many men , many minds consequently the will and under- 

standing in one is never found exactly alike and the same as in 
another ; and hence also the speech of different people varies, 
both with regard to the sound of their voices, and the thought 
which gives birth to it ; as also their actions, with respect both 
to gesture and affection, so that they are never found precisely 
the same in two different persons ; from which infinite variety 
the infinity of God may be seen as in a mirror. 3. There is a 
kind of immensity and eternity innate in all seed, of both ani- 
mals and vegetables ; an immensity, in that all seed is capable 
of being infinitely multiplied, and an eternity, in that such mul- 
tiplication has already continued without interruption since the 
creation of the world, and will continue to all ages. As a proof 
of the truth of this observation in the animal kingdom, let us 
take the fish of the sea, which, supposing them to multiply 
according to the abundance of their seed, in twenty or thirty 
years would so fill the place of the ocean that it would consist of 
fish only, and its water would be so raised as to deluge and de- 
stroy the whole face of the earth ; but to prevent this, the provi- 
dence of God has ordained that one species of fish should be 
food for another. The case would be the same with the seeds 
of vegetables, which, supposing only the product of a single 
plant to be sown yearly, within twenty or thirty years would 
cover the surface not of one earth only, but of several ; for there 
are some shrubs, of which every single seed yields a hundred 
and a thousand-fold increase ; and if a calculation be made by 
multiplying the successive product of each single seed into 
twenty or thirty, the experiment would evince the truth of the 
observation. In both cases then, as well of vegetables as of 
animals, the immensity and eternity of God may be discovered, 
which must of necessity produce a sort of general image and re- 
semblance of themselves in all creatures. 4. The infinity of 
God is also discoverable by the eye of enlightened reason, from 
the* infinity to which every science, and thence the intelligence 
and wisdom of every man, may grow by cultivation ; for both 
the one and the other are capable of growth and increase, like a 
tree from its seeds, or like forests and gardens from their trees ; 
and it is impossible to assign their limits, the memory of man 
being as ground to receive them, and the understanding the 
place where they bud and blossom, and the will where they 
bring forth fruit ; and these two faculties, the understanding 
41 


32 


THE INFINITY OF, GOD. 


and the will, are of such a nature that they are capable of being 
cultivated and perfected during the term of the present life, and 
afterwards to eternity. 5. The infinity of God the Creator is 
also discoverable from the infinite number of fixed stars, which 
are so many suns, and consequently have so many worlds re- 
volving around them. That in the starry heavens there are 
globes of earth, or worlds, with men, beasts, birds, and vegetables 
living upon them, I have shown from ocular experience in a par- 
ticular treatise. 6. The infinity of God was made still more 
apparent to me from a view of the angelic heaven, and also ot 
hell ; and from the consideration that they are both of them 
divided and subdivided into innumerable societies or congrega- 
tions, in an orderly arrangement, according to all the varieties 
of the love of good and of evil ; and that every one takes his 
place according to his love ; for the whole race of men since the 
creation of the world are there collected, and will be collected to 
ages of ages ; and although every individual person has his par- 
ticular place or habitation, yet they are all so connected that the 
whole angelic heaven represents one divine man, and the univer- 
sal hell one monstrous devil. From these two places, and from 
an infinity of wonders in them, the immensity, together with the 
omnipotence of God, are rendered most conspicuous and appa- 
rent. 7. Who also cannot perceive, by a little elevation of his 
rational faculties, that the life which every man is to live after 
death to eternity can only be communicated from an eternal 
God ? 8. Moreover, there is a sort of infinity in many things 

which fall under the notice and apprehension of the Batura, 
and spiritual light in man. The natural light, for instance, 
discovers that there are various series in geometrical calculations 
capable of infinite extension: and again, that among the three 
degrees of altitude there is a progression towards infinity, in 
that the first degree, which is called natural, can never be per- 
fected and elevated so as to reach the purity of the second 
degree, which is called spiritual ; nor can this attain to the per- 
fection of the third, which is called celestial. The case is the 
same with respect to the end, the cause, and the effect ; that the 
effect can never be perfected to become like its cause, nor the 
cause to become like its end. This may be illustrated by the 
atmospheres, of which there are three degrees, the aura being 
in the highest degree, the ether, in the second, and the air in 
the lowest ; and no quality of the air can be exalted to the per- 
fection of any quality of the ether, nor any quality of the ether 
to any quality of the aura, and yet each is capable of an eleva- 
tion of its perfections to infinity. The spiritual light in man 
discovers that the natural love, which is peculiar to a beast, can 
never be elevated to the nature of spiritual love, of which every 
man is capable by the law of his creation ; so al >o with respect 
to the natural intelligence of a beast, compared with the spin- 


THE INFINITY OF GOD. 32, 33 

fcual intelligence of a man : but these truths, being at present 
unknown in the world, will be further explained in another place. 
From the above, then, it is plain to^perceive, that the universals 
of creation are perpetual types of the infinity of God the Cre- 
tor; but in what manner particulars are copies of universals, 
and represent also the Creator’s infinity, is an abyss and an 
ocean wherein the human mind may, as it were, sail ; but then, 
it should be upon its guard lest any storm, arising from the 
natural man, should overset the ship with its masts and sails, 
and dash in pieces the stern, where the natural man stands, con 
tiding only in himself. 

33. VI. That every created thing is finite ; and the in- 
finite IS IN finite things, as in its receptacles, and in men as 

IN ITS IMAGES. 

The reason why every created thing is finite, is because all 
things are from Jehovah God, by the instrumentality of the sun 
of the spiritual world, which proximately encompasses him, and 
is of the substance that proceeds from him, the essence of which 
is love. Out of that sun, by means of its heat and light, the 
universe was created from first to last, or from its first principles 
to its last effects ; but an orderly explanation of the progress of 
creation will come more properly in another place, a short sketch 
of which will be given in a future part of this work. It is only 
necessary here to observe, that one thing was formed from an- 
other, and that hence originated degrees ; of these there are 
three in the spiritual world, and three corresponding to them in 
the natural world, and an equal number in the passive subjects 
of which the terraqueous globe consists. The origin and nature 
of those degrees I have fully explained in a work, entitled 
Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine 
Wisdom, published at Amsterdam in the year 1763, and in 
a small tract on the Intercourse between the Soul and the 
Body, published at London in the year 1769. The effect of 
these degrees is, that things posterior are the receptacles of 
things prior, and these again of things prior to them, and so in 
order up to the receptacles of the primitives of which the sun 
of the angelic heaven consists ; and thus that finite things are 
the receptacles of the infinite, which coincides also with the 
wisdom of the ancients, who held that all things are divisible 
to infinity. It is the general idea, that because what is finitd is 
not capable of containing what is infinite, therefore finite things 
cannot be the receptacles of the infinite : but from what is said 
in my works on the subject of creation, it appears evident that 
God first bounded his infinity by the substances emitted from 
himself, whence the proximate sphere of his glory, which consti- 
tutes the sun of the spiritual world, exists, and that afterwards, 
by the instrumentality of that sun, he perfected other ambient 
spheres, even to the last, which consists of quiescent or passive 
43 


33, 34 


THE INFINITY OF GOD. 


forms ; and that thus by means of degrees he bounded the world 
more and more. This explanation is given for the satisfaction 
of human reason, which is not easy without it has a perception 
of causes. 

34. That the Divine Infinite is in men, as in its images, 
appears from the Word, where it is w r ritten, “ And God said, Let 
us make man in our image, after our likeness : so God created 
man into his own image, into the image of God created he him” 
(Gen. i. 26, 27) ; from whence it follows that a man is an organ 
recipient of God, and that he is an organ according to the 
quality of reception. The human mind, from and in conformity 
to which a man is a man, is formed into three regions according 
to three degrees : in the first degree the human mind is celes- 
tial, in which degree also are the angels of the highest heaven ; 
in the second degree the human mind is spiritual, in which de- 
gree also are the angels of the middle heaven ; and in the third 
degree the human mind is natural, in which degree also are the 
angels of the lowest heaven. The human mind, organized ac- 
cording to these three degrees, is a receptacle of Divine influx ; 
but still the Divine flows in no further than as the man prepares 
the way, or opens the door for its reception : if this be done up 
to the liighest or celestial degree, the man in that case becomes 
truly an image of God, and after death an angel of the highest 
heaven ; but if he prepares the way, or opens the door only to 
the middle or spiritual degree, he then indeed becomes an image 
of God, but not in sucb perfection, and after death an angel ot 
the middle heaven ; but if he prepares the way, or opens the 
door only to the last or natural degree, in that case, if he ac- 
knowledges God, and worships him with actual piety, he be- 
comes an image of God in the ultimate degree, and after death 
an angel of the lowest heaven. But if a man neither acknow- 
ledges God, nor worships him with actual piety, he then puts 
off the image of God, and becomes like some animal, except that 
lie retains the faculty of understanding, and thence of speech. 
If he then closes up the highest natural degree, which corre- 
sponds to the highest celestial, he becomes, with respect to love, 
like a beast of the earth ; but if he closes the middle natural 
degree, which corresponds to the middle spiritual, he becomes, 
with respect to love, like a fox, and with respect to intellectual 
sight like a bird of the evening ; but if he also closes up the 
ultimate natural degree as to its spiritual part, he becomes, with 
respect to love, like a wild beast, and with respect to the under- 
standing of truth, like a fish. The divine life, which acts upon 
a man by influx from the sun of the angelic heaven, may be 
compared with the light of the sun of ‘this world, and with its 
influx into a transparent object. The reception of that life in 
the highest degree may be compared with the influx of light into 
a diamond, the reception of life in the middle degree with the 
44 a 


THE JNMNITY OP GOD. 


34, 35 

influx of light into a crystal, and the reception of life in the ulti- 
mate degree with the influx of light into glass, or into a trans- 
parent membrane ; but if this degree be closed as to its spiritual 
part, which is the case when God is denied, and Satan wor- 
shipped, the reception of life from God may then be compared 
with the influx of light into opaque substances, such as rotten 
wood, mouldering earth, dung, &c. ; for the man in such a case 
becomes a spiritual carcass. 


35. To the above I shall add the following memorable re- 
lation. — I was once in much amazement at the great numbers 
of men who ascribe creation, and of consequence whatever is 
under the sun and above it, to the operation of nature, express- 
ing the real sentiments of their hearts concerning the visible 
things of the world, by this question, “ What are these but the 
works of nature ?” And when they are asked why they ascribe 
those things to nature, and not to God, when nevertheless they 
sometimes join in the general confession that God has created 
nature, and consequently they might ascribe creation to God, a^ 
well as to nature, they generally return for answer, with an in- 
ternal tone of voice that is scarcely audible, “ What is God but 
nature ?” All such persons, by reason of this persuasion con- 
cerning nature as the creatrix of the universe, and in conse- 
quence of this insanity which they imagine to be wisdom, appear 
full of their own importance, so that they regard all others who 
acknowledge God to be the Creator of the universe, as so many 
ants which creep along the ground, and tread in a common 
beaten path, or as butterflies which fly in the air ; ridiculing 
their opinions as mere dreams and the effects of a fanciful ima- 
gination, and deciding all by this question, “ Who has ever seen 
God ? and who does not see nature ?” While I was in amaze- 
ment at the great number of such persons, I perceived an angel 
standing beside me, who asked me, “ What is the subject of 
your meditation ?” I replied, u It is concerning the great 
number of those who fancy that nature exists of herself, and is 
thus the creatrix of the universe.” Hereupoij. the angel said to 
me, “All hell consists of such persons, and they are there called 
satans and devils ; satans, if they have confirmed themselves in 
favor of nature to the denial of God, and devils, if they have 
lived abandonedly, and have thereby rejected all acknowledg- 
ment of God from their hearts : but come with me, and I will 
conduct you to the places of study in the southwest quarter, 
which such persons inhabit before they are separated to their 
infernal abodes.” He then took me by the hand and conducted 
me ; and I saw several small houses, in which were places set 
apart for study, and in the midst of these was one which was 
like a palace in comparison to the rest. It was built of a pitchy 
45 


35 


THE INFINITY OF GOD. 


kind of stone, covered with a sort of thin glazed plates, that 
seemed to sparkle with gold and silver, like the stones called 
selenites, or those which were formerly used instead, of glass, 
and here and there were interspersed bright glittering shells. 
To this house we approached, and knocked at the door, which 
was presently opened by one who desired us to walk in, and 
bade us welcome. He then ran to the table and fetched four 
books, and said, “ These books are the wisdom which at this 
day is the admiration of many kingdoms ; this book, or this 
wfisdom, is the admiration of many in France; this, of many in 
Germany; this, of some in Holland; and this, of some in Bri- 
tain.” lie further said, “ I will cause these four books to cast 
forth a bright light before your eyes, if you wish to see it ;” and 
immediately he poured forth the glory of his own reputation 
around, and the books instantly shone, as it were, with light; 
but this light immediately after vanished from our sight. We 
then asked him what he was now writing, and he replied, that 
he was now about to bring forth from his treasures, and commu- 
nicate' to the world, disquisitions of the deepest wisdom, which 
would be comprised under these general heads : 1. Whether na- 
ture be derived from life , or life from nature. 2. Whether the 
centre be derived from, the expanse , or the expanse from the cen- 
tre . 3. Concerning the centre and the expanse of nature and life. 
Having given us this information, he sat down in a chair at his 
table, and we walked about in his study, which was large and 
spacious. He had a candle upon his table, because the light of 
the sun never shone in that room, but only the faint light of the 
moon; and what appeared wonderful to me, the candle seemed 
to be carried all around the room, and to illuminate it ; but for 
want of being snuffed it gave very little light. While 1 he was 
writing we observed images, in various forms, flying from the 
table towards the walls, which, viewed by the faint light of the 
moon, appeared like beautiful Indian birds ; but on opening the 
door to the clear light of the sun, they appeared like those birds 
of the evening, which have wings like net-work ; for they were 
resemblances of truth made fallacies by being confirmed, and 
which he had ingeniously connected together in a regular series. 
After attending some time to this sight, we approached the 
table and asked him what he was then writing ; he replied, 
u On the first subject of inquiry, whether nature be derived 
from life, or life from nature ;” and on this he said, that he 
could confirm either side, and cause it to be true ; but as there 
was something, concealed within, which excited his fears, he 
durst only confirm the position, that nature is derived from life, 
and not that life is derived from nature. We then civilly re- 
quested him to tell us, what was concealed within, that excited 
his fears ? He replied, he w r as afraid lest he should be called a 
naturalist, and so an atheist, by the clergy, and a man of nn 


THE INFINITY OF Gul> 


35 


Bound judgment by the laity ; the former seeing only with the 
eyes of others who have confirmed that opinion, and the latter 
believing with a blind credulity. But being then no longer able 
to repress a sort of indignant zeal in favor of truth, we thus 
accosted him : “Friend, you are much deceived : your wisdom, 
which is only an ingenious talent for writing, has seduced you ; 
and the glory of reputation has tempted you to confirm what is 
contrary to your real belief. Do not you know that the human 
mind is capable of being elevated above sensual things, which 
are received into the thoughts from the bodily senses ; and that 
when it is so elevated, it sees whatever relates to life as above, 
and whatever relates to nature as beneath ? . What is life but 
love and wisdom ? And what is nature but their receptacle, by 
which they may produce their effects or uses ? Can these possi 
bly be one in any other sense than as the principal and the in- 
strumental are one ? Can light be one with the eye, or sound 
with the ear ? Whence come the sensations of these but from 
life ; whence their forms but from nature ? What is the human 
body but an organ of life ? Are not its general and particular 
parts organically formed for the purpose of bringing into effect 
what the love wills and the understanding thinks ? Are not the 
organs of the body from nature, and love and thought from life? 
And are not the former entirely distinct from the latter ? Raise 
your acuteness of apprehension a little higher, and you will per- 
ceive that it is the property of life to be affected and to think ; that 
to be affected belongs to love, and to think belongs to wisdom ; 
and both belong to life; for, as was observed, love and wisdom 
are life. If you raise your intellectual powers still a little higher, 
you will perceive that love and wisdom cannot exist, unless they 
have their origin somewhere or other, and that their origin is 
love itself, and wisdom itself, and consequently life itself ; and 
these are God, who is the author of nature.” Afterwards we 
conversed with him about his second question, whether the 

CENTRE BE DERIVED FROM THE EXPANSE, OR THE EXPANSE FROM 

the centre ; and we asked him for what end he canvassed this 
question ? He replied, “ For the sake of determining the centre 
and expanse of nature and of life, and thereby the origin of 
each and when we questioned him about his sentiments on 
the subject, he answered, as in the former case, that he could 
confirm either side, but for fear of suffering in his reputation, he 
chose to confirm the position that the expanse is derived from 
the centre. “Although I know,” said he, “that something 
existed before the sun, which was dispersed everywhere in the 
expanse ; and that this was collected of itself into order, that 
is, into a centre.” But here again we addressed him from the 
overflowing, of an indignant zeal, and said, “Friend, you are 
beside yourself:” on hearing which, he drew his chair aside 
from the table, casting at us a look of alarm. He then prepared 
47 


35 . THE INFINITY OF GOD. 

to listen to our discourse, but with a smile of ridicule upon his 
countenance, while we thus proceeded : u What is a surer proof 
of madness, than to say that the centre is derived from the ex- 
panse ? By your centre w T e understand the sun, and by. your 
expanse the universe; so that, according to you, the. uni verse 
existed without the sun ; but does hot the sun give rise to na- 
ture, and all its properties, which depend solely on the light and 
heat proceeding from the sun through the atmospheres ? Are 
not the atmospheres, and all things that exist on the earth, as 
surfaces, and the sun as their centre ? What are they all. with- 
out the sun, or how could they subsist a single moment without 
it? Consequently, what were all those things before the sun, 
or how could they hav.e existed ? Is not subsistence perpetual 
existence ? Since, therefore, all the parts of nature derive their 
subsistence from the sun, they must consequently derive their 
existence also from the same origin. Every one sees, and is 
convinced of this truth, by the testimony of his own eyes. 
Does not that which is posterior derive its subsistence from what 
is prior, as it derives thence its existence? And supposing the 
surface to be prior, and the centre to be posterior, would not 
the prior, in such case, derive subsistence from the posterior, 
which yet is contrary to the laws of order? For how can those 
things which are posterior produce such as are prior, or exterior 
produce interior, or grosser produce purer ? Consequently, how 
can surfaces, w T hich constitute an expanse, produce a centre ? 
Who does not perceive that this is contrary to the laws of 
nature? We have adduced these arguments, from a rational 
analysis, to prove that the expanse derives its existence from the 
centre, and not the centre from the expanse.; nevertheless, 
every sensible and considerate man must be convinced of this 
truth without the help of such arguments. You have asserted 
that the expanse collected itself of its own accord into a centre ; 
and w r as it thus a work of chance only that such wonderful and 
stupendous order exists, where we see one thing made for the 
sake of another, and all and every thing for the sake of man, 
and his eternal life ? Is it possible that nature, from any prin- 
ciple of love, or by any principle of wisdom, should intend ends, 
provide causes, and thus produce effects, to the intent that such 
things might exist in their order ? And can she make angels of 
men, and heaven of angels, and give eternal life to its inhabit- 
ants ? Ponder, and well consider these subjects, and your idea 
about nature as existing of herself will soon vanish.” We after- 
wards questioned him about his former and present sentiments, 
concerning his third inquiry of the centre and the expanse 
of nature and of life; whether he was of opinion, that the 
centre and expanse of life is the same with the centre and ex- 
panse of nature? He replied, that he was in doubt about 
it ; formerly he was of opinion, that the interior activity of 
48 


THE INFINITY OF GOD. 


35 


nature was life ; and that love and wisdom, the two essential 
constituents of the life of man, were thence derived ; and that 
the sun’s fire by the instrumentality of heat and light, through 
the atmospheres as mediates, produced it ; but now, from what 
he had heard about the life of man after death, he. began to 
waver in his sentiments ; and, in consequence of such wavering, 
his mind was sometimes carried upward, and sometimes down- 
ward. When it was carried upward, he acknowledged the ex- 
istence of a centre, of which before he had no knowledge ; but 
when downward, he saw that centre which he had believed to be 
the only one that existed ; and he perceived that life is derived 
from the centre of which he before had no knowledge, and that 
nature is from the centre which he before thought to be the 
only one that existed ; and that both these centres had their re- 
spective expanses around them. This, we told him, was right 
and well, if he would only consider the centre and expanse 
of nature as derived from the centre and expanse of life, and 
not contrariwise. We then instructed him, that above the 
angelic heaven there is a sun, which is pure love, of a fiery ap- 
pearance like the sun of the world ; and that from the heat pro- 
ceeding from that sun, angels and men derive will and love, and 
from its light, understanding and wisdom ; that all things de- 
rived from that sun are called spiritual, and all things pro- 
ceeding from the world’s sun are continents or receptacles of 
life, and are called natural ; further, that the expanse of the 
centre of life is called the spiritual world, which subsists 
from its sun ; and that the expanse of the centre of nature is 
called the natural world, which subsists from its sun. Now 
since spaces and times are not predicable of love and wisdom, 
but instead of these, states are predicated, it follows, that the 
expanse around the sun of the angelic heaven is not an extense, 
but yet it is in the extense of the natural sun, and present there 
with all living subjects according to their reception ; and their 
reception is according to their forms and states u But then,” 
he inquired, “ whence is the fire of the sun of the world or of 
nature derived?” We replied, “ It is derived from the sun of 
the angelic heaven, which is not fire, but divine love, proxi- 
mately proceeding from God, who is in the midst of it and 
as he seemed to wonder at this, we proceeded thus to prove it : 
“ Love, in its essence, is spiritual fire ; hence fire, in the Word 
or Holy Scriptures, according to its spiritual sense, signifies 
love ; which is the reason why priests, when officiating in the 
temple, pray that heavenly fire may fill the hearts of those who 
worship ; by which they mean heavenly love. The fire on the 
altar, and in the candlestick of the tabernacle, among the chil- 
dren of Israel, represented nothing but the divine love. The 
heat of the blood, or the vital heat of man, and of all animals 
in general, has no other origin than the love which constitutes 


35, 36 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE 


their life ; and hence it is, that a man is heated, grows warm, 
and is inflamed, while his love is kindling into zeal, or being 
excited to anger and indignation. From this circumstance, 
therefore, that spiritual heat, which is love, produces natural 
heat in, men, even to the kindling and inflaming their faces and 
limbs, it may appear, that the lire of the natural sun has its 
existence from no other origin than the fire of the spiritual sun, 
which is divine love. Now, since the expanse has its birth from 
the centre, and not the centre from the expanse, as we observed 
above ; and since the centre of life, which is the sun of the 
angelic heaven, is divine love proximately proceeding from God, 
who is in the midst of that sun ; and as the expanse of that 
centre, which is the spiritual world, is derived thence, and the 
sun of the lower w’orld had its existence from that sun, and its 
expanse, which is called the natural world, is derived from it, it 
is evident that the universe was created by God. With these 
remarks we took our leave ; and he attended us out of his study, 
and talked with us concerning heaven and hell, and the divine 
government, with renovated sagacity and ingenuity. 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE, WHICH IS DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE 
WISDOM. 

36. We have made a distinction between the esse of God, 
and his essence, by reason of the distinction between the infinity 
of God, and his love ; infinity being a term applicable to the 
esse of God, and love to his essence : for, as was observed above, 
the esse of God is more universal than his essence, and in like 
manner, the infinity of God is more universal than his love ; 
therefore infinite is an adjective, or term added, to the essen- 
tials and attributes of God, which are called infinite ; as we sav 
of the Divine Love, that it is infinite, and of the Divine Wisdom, 
that it is infinite, and in like manner of the Divine Power ; — 
not that the esse ol God is pre-existent to his essence, but be- 
cause it enters into it as an adjunct, cohering with, determining, 
forming, and. at the same time, exalting it. But we will ar- 
range this subject, as we have done the foregoing, into separate 
articles, according to the following order. I. That God is Love 
itself and Wisdom itself > and these two constitute his essence. 
II; That God is Good itself and Truth itself , because good is 
of love , and truth is of wisdom. III. That love itself and wis- 
dom itself are life itself which is life in itself IY. That 
love and wisdom in God make one. Y. That the essence of 
love is to love others without , or out of itself \ to desire to be one 
with them , emd from itself ’ to make them happy. YI. That 
these properties of the Divine Love were the cause of the crea- 
tion of the universe , and are the cause of its preservation. But 
each article will require a particular consideration. 

50 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


37 


37. I. That god is love itself and wisdom itself, and these 
two constitute his essence. 

That love and wisdom are the two essentials to which all the 
intbiite properties that are in God, and that proceed from him, 
have relation, was a truth known in the earliest ages of the 
world ; but succeeding generations, as they withdrew their 
minds from heaven, and immersed them in worldly and corpo- 
real things, could not discern that truth ; for they began to lose 
the knowledge of what love is in its essence, and consequently 
of what wisdom is in its essence, not knowing that love ab- 
stracted from form cannot exist, and that in and by form it 
effects its operations. Now since God is the very, the one only, 
and thus the first substance and form, whose essence is love and 
wisdom ; and since by him all things were made which are made, 
it follows that he created the universe, with all its parts, both 
general and* particular, from love, by means of wisdom ; and that 
consequently divine love, in union with divine wisdom, is in all 
and every created subject. Love, moreover, is not only the 
essence which forms all things, but is also that which unites and 
conjoins them, and so keeps them, when formed, in order and 
connection. These truths are capable of receiving illustration 
from numberless objects in nature; as for instance from the 
heat and light proceeding from the sun, which are the two 
essentials and universals, by which all things upon earth, both 
in general and in particular, exist and subsist. Heat and light 
exist in nature, because they correspond with the divine love 
and the divine wisdom ; for the heat which proceeds from the 
sun of the spiritual world, in its essence, is love, and the light 
derived thence, in its essence, is wisdom. They may be illus- 
trated also by the two essentials and universals, by which human 
minds exist and subsist, which are the will and the under- 
standing ; for of these two every man’s mind consists ; and 
they are, and operate, in all its parts, both in general and in 
particular. The reason of this is, because the will is the recip- 
ient and habitation of love, and the understanding of wisdom ; 
therefore those two faculties correspond with the divine love and 
the divine wisdom, from whence they derive their origin. More- 
over, the same truths may be illustrated by those two essentials 
and universals, by which human bodies exist and subsist, the 
heart and lungs, or the systole and diastole of the heart, and 
the respiration of the lungs ; which, it is well known, operate in 
all parts of the human body, both generally and particularly ; 
because the heart corresponds to love, and the lungs to wisdom. 
This correspondence is fully demonstrated in the work en- 
titled Angelic Wisdom concerning the Pivine Love and 
the Divine Wisdom. That love, as the bridegroom and hus- 
band, produces or begets all forms, but still by wisdom as the 
bride and wife’, may be proved by numberless testimonies, in 
51 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE.* 


37, 38 

both the spiritual and the natural world : here, however, we 
shall only make this observation, that the whole angelic heaven 
is arranged into its form, and preserved in it, from the divine 
love operating by the divine wisdom. Where men deduce the 
creation of the world from any other source than from the divine 
love operating by the divine wisdom, and do not know that 
these two constitute the Divine Essence, they descend from 
rational vision to material, embrace nature as the creatrix of the 
universe, and thence conceive chimeras, and bring forth phan- 
toms; their thoughts are fallacies, and their reasonings from 
them terminate in the formation of eggs, that are pregnant 
with birds of night : such men cannot properly be denominated 
minds, but rather eyes and ears without understanding, or 
thoughts without a soul : they talk of colors, as existing without 
light; and of trees, as produced without seed ; and of all created 
subjects, as formed without a sun ; since they put derivatives in 
the place of primitives, effects in the place of causes, and thus 
turning every thing upside down, they lay the powers of reason 
asleep, and see as in a dream. 

38. II. That god is good itself and truth itself, because 

GOOD IS OF LOVE, AND TRUTH IS OF WISDOM. 

It is universally acknowledged, that all things have relation 
to good and truth, which is a plain token that all things derived 
their existence from love and wisdom ; for every thing that pro- 
ceeds from love is called good, for this is sensibly perceived, and 
the delight by which love manifests itself is every one’s good ; 
but every thing that proceeds from wisdom is called true, for 
wisdom consists solely of truths, and affects its objects with the 
grateful perceptions of light, which gratification, when it is per- 
ceived, is called truth from good ; therefore love is the complex 
of all goodnesses, and wisdom the complex of all truths ; but 
both the former and the latter are from God, who is Love itself, 
and thence God itself, arid Wisdom itself, and thence Truth 
itself. Hence it is, that in the church there are two essentials, 
which are called charity and faith, of which all things belonging 
to the church, both in general and in particular, consist, and 
which ought to be in all and every part of it; because all the 
goods constituent of the church have relation to charity, and are 
called charity, and all' its truths have relation to faith, and are 
called faith. The delights of love, which are also the delights 
of charity, cause what is good to be called good ; and the grati- 
fications of wisdom, which are also the grateful perceptions ot 
faith, cause what is True to be called true: for delights and 
gratifications constitute their life ; and without life thence de- 
rived, goods and truths are like things inanimate, and are also 
barren and unfruitful. But the delights of love are of two kinds, 
as are also the gratifications which appear to be of wisdom : 
there are delights of the love ff good, and delights of the love 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


33 


of evil; and consequently there are gratifications of the faith of 
truth, and gratifications of the faith of the false. Both those 
kinds of love, from the sensations they excite in the subjects in 
which, they dwell, are called good ; and the gratifications of 
faith, of each kind, from the perceptions they produce, are 
also called good ; but because they exist in the understanding, 
they in reality are nothing but truths. Nevertheless these 
two kinds of delights and gratifications are in direct oppo- 
sition to each other ; for the good of one love is really good, 
while the seeming good of the other love is evil ; so also the 
truth of one faith is true, while the seeming truth of the othei 
faith is false. But the love, whose delight is essentially good 
is like the sun’s heat, fructifying, quickening, and opera! 
ing upon the fertile ground, upon useful plants, and upo,« 
crops of corn ; and wherever it operates, producing as it wexe 
a paradise, a garden of the Lord, and an image of the land 
of Canaan ; and the pleasantness of its truth is like the light 
of the sun in the spring time of the year, and as the influx 
of light into a vessel of crystal, in which are beautiful flowers, 
and which, when opened, breathes forth a grateful perfume : 
but the delight of the love of evil is like the sun’s heat, when it 
parches, withers, and operates upon barren ground and noxious 
plants, such as thorns and brambles ; and wherever it operates, 
producing a desert of Arabia, inhabited by hydras and venom- 
ous serpents ; and the pleasantness of its false is like the light 
of the sun in the time of winter, and as the influx of light into 
a bottle, in which there are worms swimming in vinegar, and 
reptiles of a noisome smell. It is to be observed, that every 
particular good creates itself a form by means of truths, and also 
by them clothes itself, and thus distinguishes itself from every 
other good ; and likewise that the goods of one stock or family 
wrap themselves up into fascicles, or distinct bundles (as fibres 
are wrapped in each muscle of the body), and at the same time 
clothe them, and thereby distinguish them from others. That 
formations of this kind are effected, is evident from the general 
and particular parts of the human body ; and that similar form- 
ations obtain in the human mind, is alike evident, by reason of 
the invariable correspondence which all the parts of the mind 
have with all the parts of the body. Hence it follows, that the 
human mind is an organized form, consisting of spiritual sub- 
stances within, and of natural substances without, and lastly ot 
material substances. The mind, the delights of whose love are 
good, consists interiorly of spiritual substances, such as exist in 
heaven, but the mind, the delights of whose love are evil, con- 
sists interiorly of spiritual substances, such as exist in hell ; and 
the evils of the latter are bound into fascicles by falses, and the 
goods of the former are bound into fascicles by truths. The Lord 
speaks of such a binding up of goods and evils, where he says, 
53 


38 — 40 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


“ that the tares must be bound in bundles to be burnt, and 
likewise all things that offend” (Matt. xiii. 30, 40, 41 ; J ohn 
xv. 6). 

39. III. That god, by reason of his being love itself and 

WISDOM ITSELF, IS ALSO LIFE ITSELF, WHICH IS LIFE IN ITSELF. 

It is written in John, “The Word was with God, and the 
Word was God. In him was life, and the life was the light ol 
men” (i. 1, 4). By God is there signified the Divine Love, and 
by the Word the Divine Wisdom ; and Divine Wisdom properly 
is life ; and life properly is the light which proceeds from the 
sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God. 
Divine love forms life, as fire forms light. There are two prop- 
erties in fire, that of burning, and that of shining: from its 
burning property proceeds heat, and from its shining property 
proceeds light. In like manner there are two things in love, 
one to which the burning property of fire corresponds, which is 
a something that most intimately affects a man’s will ; and an- 
other, to which the shining property of fire corresponds, which 
is a something that most intimately affects his understanding. 
Hence a man derives, love and intelligence ; for, as was observed 
above, from the sun of the spiritual world there proceed heat, 
which in its essence is love, and light, which in its essence is 
wisdom ; and those two enter by influx into all and every cre- 
ated subject, affecting them most intimately ; and with men 
they enter into the will and understanding, which were created 
to be the receptacles of the influx, the will to be the receptacle 
of love, and the understanding to be the receptacle of wisdom. 
Hence it appears, that a man’s life dwells in the understanding, 
that its quality is according to the quality of his wisdom, and 
that it receives modification from the love in the will. 

40. It is also written in John, “As the Father hath life in 
himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (v. 
26) ; by which is signified that as the Divine itself, which was 
from eternity, lives in itself, so also the Humanity, which it as- 
sumed in time, lives in itself. Life in itself is the very and 
only life, by derivation from which all angels and men live. 
Human reason may see a confirmation of this in the light that 
proceeds from the sun of the natural world, since it is not cre- 
atable, but the forms that receive it are created : for the eyes 
are its recipient forms, and the influx of light from the sun 
causes them to see. The case is just the same with the life, 
which, as was observed, is light proceeding from the sun of the 
spiritual world : it is not creatable, but continually flows into 
the human understanding, which it vivifies in proportion as it 
illuminates it; consequently, since light, life, and wisdom are 
one, wisdom is not creatable, no more is faith, or truth, or love, 
or charity, or good ; but the forms that receive them are created, 
and human and angelic minds are such forms. Let every one 

f>4 


THE DIVES' E ESSENCE. 


40. 41 


therefore be cautious how he gives into this persuasion, that he 
lives from himself, or that his wisdom, his faith, his love, his 
perception of truth, his good will, or his good deeds, are Iron 
himself ; for in proportion as any one gives into such a persua 
sion, in the same proportion he sinks his mind down from 
heaven towards earth, and from a spiritual being becomes 
natural, sensual, and corporeal ; for he closes up the superior 
regions of his mind, and thus becomes blind as to all things 
that relate to God, heaven, and the church ; and then whatever 
he may by chance think, reason, or speak about them, is done 
in foolishness, because it is done in darkness, notwithstanding 
the confidence which he at the same time indulges, that all is 
done in wisdom ; for when the superior regions of the mind are 
closed, where the true light of life dwells, the inferior region is 
opened, into which the light ( lumen ) of the world* only is ad- 
mitted ; and this light (lumen), when separated from the light 
of the superior regions, is a deceitful light (lumen), in which 
falses appear to be truths, and truths to be falses ; and reason- 
ing from falses appears to be wisdom, and from truths to be 
madness. In this case a man imagines that he has the quick- 
sightedness of an eagle, although in respect to the realities of 
wisdom, he sees no more than a bat at noon-day. 

41. IV. That love and wisdom in god make one. 

Every wise man in the church knows that all the ^ood of 
love and charity is from God ; and in like manner all the truth of 
wisdom and faith ; and that this is really the case, human reason 
also may perceive, if it be only apprized that the origin of love 
and wisdom is from the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst 
of which is Jehovah God ; or, what is the same thing, that it 
is derived from Jehovah God through the instrumentality of 
the sun with which he is encompassed. For the heat proceed- 
ing from that sun in its essence is love, and the light proceed 
ing thence in its essence is wisdom : hence it is clear as 
daylight that love and wisdom in that origin are one, and 
consequently they are one in God, from whom the origin of 
that sun is derived. This may also be illustrated by the sun 
of the natural world, which is pure fire ; for heat proceeds 
from its fiery property, and light from the splendor of that fire, 
and so bith are one in their origin. But that they are divided 

* By the light of this world, which the author here speaks of, is meant not the 
light of the sun, the moon, or the stars, but the light of worldly sciences, and mere 
human learning, reasoning, and the like. It may here be observed, that when treat- 
ing of light, the author sometimes uses the Latin term lux , and sometimes the term 
lumen. He uses the term lux, when treating of light in general, or of spiritual light 
in particular ; but he uses the term lumen when treating of the light of the natural 
mind only. As the English language affords but one word for the translation ol 
both terms, therefore, when the term in the original is lumen , that word through- 
out this translation is subjoined as above ; but when the term in the original is lux 
the word light is used without any addition. 

55 


*1, 42 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


in the course of their proceeding or going forth, is manifest from 
their recipient subjects, some of which receive a greater share of 
heat, and some a greater share of light. This is particularly the 
case with men : in them the light of life, which is intelligence, 
and the heat of life, which is love, are divided ; the reason 
whereof is, because man is to be reformed and regenerated ; and 
this could not be effected unless the light of life, which is intel- 
ligence, should instruct him what he ought to will and to love. 
It is to be observed, however, that God is continually operating 
to effect the conjunction of love and wisdom in man, but that 
man, unless he looks .up to God and believes on him, is con- 
tinually operating to effect their division. In proportion there- 
fore as these two things, the good of love or charity, and the 
truth of wisdom or faith, are conjoined in a man, so far he be- 
comes an image of God, and is elevated towards heaven and into 
heaven, where angels dwell ; and on the contrary, in proportion 
as those two things are divided by a man, so far he becomes an 
image of* Lucifer and the dragon, and is thrown down from 
heaven to earth, and afterwards under the earth into hell. From 
the conjunction of those two principles, a man’s state becomes 
like that of a tree in the time of spring, when heat and light are 
equally conjoined, in consequence of which it brings forth buds, 
blossoms, and fruit ; but, on the other hand, from the division 
of those two, a man’s state becomes like that of a tree in the 
time of winter, when heat is separated from light, in conse- 
quence of which it is stripped and left bare of all its leaves and 
verdure. When spiritual heat, which is love, separates itself 
from spiritual light, which is wisdom, or, what is the same thing, 
when charity separates itself from faith, a man becomes like 
sour or putrid earth, which is the nest of worms, or if it bears 
any shrubs, the leaves thereof are covered with lice, and are 
consumed; for the allurements of the love of evil, which in 
themselves are concupiscences, then burst forth, and the under- 
standing, instead of curbing and subduing them, loves, pampers, 
and cherishes them. In a word, to divide love and wisdom, or 
charity and faith, which God is continually endeavoring to join 
together, is comparatively like depriving the human face of its 
ruddiness, whereby it becomes pale as death ; or like leaving the 
ruddiness without any mixture of the fair white, in which case 
it looks like a fiery torch. Such division, also, is like loosening 
the marriage tie between husband and wife, and so making the 
wife a harlot, and the husband an adulterer ; for love or charity 
may be considered as the husband, arid wisdom or faith as the 
wife, and when they are separated, there ensue spiritual whore- 
dom and adultery, which are the falsification of truth and the 
adulteration of good. 

42 It is further to be remarked, that there are three degrees 
of low and wisdom, and three degrees of life thence derived ; 

56 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


42, 43 


and that the human mind is formed into regions according to 
these degrees ; and that life in the highest region is in the 
supreme degree, in the second region in an inferior degree, and 
in the ultimate region in the lowest degree. These regions are 
successively opened in a man : the ultimate region, where life is 
in the lowest degree, is opened during the stages of his infancy 
and childhood, and this is effected by means of sciences ; the 
second region, where life is in a higher degree, is opened during 
the stages of childhood and youth, and this is effected by means 
of thoughts or reflections derived from sciences ; and the highest 
region, where life is in the highest degree, is opened during the 
stages of youth and manhood, and so on successively, and this 
is effected by perceptions of truths both moral and spiritual. It 
is further to be observed, that perfection of life does not consist 
in thought, but in the perception of truth from the light of 
truth, whence the differences of life among men may be ascer- 
tained : for there are some, who immediately upon hearing 
truth, perceive that it is truth, and these are represented in the 
spiritual world by eagles ; there are others who do not distin- 
guish truth by perception, but arrive at it, or draw conclusions 
respecting it, by a series of proofs and probable arguments, or 
by confirmations from appearances, and these are represented 
by singing birds : there are some again, who believe a thing to 
be true because it was asserted by an authority they can depend 
upon, and these are represented by birds of the pie kind ; and, 
lastly, there are some who have neither inclination nor capacity 
to perceive truth, but only to perceive the false as truth : the 
reason of which is, that they are in the light of infatuation, in 
which light what is false appears like truth, and truth either 
like something above them hid in a dark cloud, or like a meteor, 
or like falsity itself : the thoughts of such are represented by 
birds of night, and their discourse by screech-owls. Such 
among these as have obstinately confirmed their falses cannot 
bear to hear truths ; but as soon as any truth strikes the drum 
of their ears, they repel it with the utmost aversion, just as the 
stomach when loaded with bilious matter is sick at the sight of 
food. 

43. Y. That the essence of love is to love others out 

OF OR WITHOUT ITSELF, TO DESIRE TO BE ONE WITH THEM, AND 
FROM ITSELF TO MAKE THEM HAPPY. 

There are two things which constitute the essence of God, 
— love and wisdom ; and there are three which constitute the 
essence of his love — to love others out of or without himself, to 
desire to be one with them, and to make them happy from him- 
self. The same three particulars also constitute the essence of 
his wisdom, since, as was shown above, love and wisdom in God 
make one : it is the property of love to will those things, and of 
wisdom to produce them. The first essential, — to love others 
57 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


4:3, 44 

out of or without himself, is acknowledged to be in God, Dy 
reason of his love towards the whole race ol mankind ; and on 
their account God. loves all things which he has created, be- 
cause they are means to promote the end ot that love ; for whoever 
loves the end loves also the means necessary to promote it. All 
persons and all things in the universe are. without or out oi 
God, because they are finite, and God is infinite. The love 
of God reaches and extends itself, not only to good persons and 
things, but also to evil persons and things ; . of consequence, not 
only to those persons and things that are in heaven, but also to 
such as are in hell *, thus not only to Michael and Gabriel, but 
also to the devil and satan ; for God is everywhere, and 
from eternity to eternity the same. He says also himself, 
that “ he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, 
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. v. 45). 
But the reason why evil persons and things are still evil, arises 
from the subjects and objects themselves, in that they do not 
receive the love of God according to its true quality and inmost 
influx, but according to their own qualities or states, just as the 
thorn and nettle receive the heat of the sun and the rain ol 
heaven. The second essential of God’s love, — to desire to 
be one with others , is manifest also from his conjunction with 
the angelic heaven, with the church upon earth, with every in- 
dividual therein, and with every good and truth that enters into 
the constitution of man and the church. Love, also, in its own 
nature, is nothing but an endeavor towards conjunction ; there- 
fore, that this constituent of the essence of love might take 
effect, God created man in his image and likeness, that so he 
might have conjunction with him. That the Divine Love con- 
tinually intends such conjunction, appears from the words of the 
Lord, expressing his desire, “ That they may be one, he in 
them, and they in him : and that the love of God may be in 
them” (John xvii. 21, 22, 23, 26). The third essential of 
God’s love, — to make others happy from itself is recognized in 
the gift of eternal life, which is blessedness, satisfaction, and 
happiness without end. These he communicates to those who 
receive his love in themselves ; for God, as he is love itself, is 
also blessedness itself; and as all love gives forth an emanation 
of delight, so the Divine Love gives forth an emanation of bless- 
edness, satisfaction, and happiness itself to all eternity. Thus 
God makes angels happy from himself, and men also after death, 
which is effected by conjunction with them. 

44. That such is the nature of the Divine Love, is discover- 
able from the sphere of its emanation, which pervades the uni- 
verse, and affects every one according to his state. This sphere 
more especially affects parents, inspiring them with a tender 
love towards their children, who are out of or without them, 
and with a desire to be one with them, and to make them happy 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


44, 45 

from themselves. It affects also the evil as well as the good ; 
and not only men, but likewise beasts and birds of every kind. 
For what is the object of a mother’s thoughts when she brings 
forth her child, but as it were to unite herself with it, and to 
provide for its good? Or w T hat is a bird’s concern when she 
has hatched her young, but to cherish them under her wings, ana 
with every mark of endearment to feed and nourish them ? And 
that even vipers and snakes love their offspring, is a truth gene- 
rally known. This universal sphere of the Divine Love affects, 
in a particular manner, those who receive the love of God in 
themselves, as do all those who believe in God and love their 
neighbor, the charity which reigns with them being the image 
of, that love. Even what is called friendship among men of the 
world, puts on the semblance of that love; for every one, when 
he invites his friend to his table, gives him the best that his 
house, affords, receives him with kindness, takes him by the 
hand, and makes him offers of service. This love is also the 
cause and the only origin of all sympathies and tendencies of 
homogeneous and similar minds towards a union with each 
other. Nay, the same divine sphere also operates upon the in- 
animate parts of the creation, as trees and plants ; but there it 
acts by the instrumentality of the natural sun, and its heat and 
light ; for the heat entering into them from without, conjoins 
itself with them, and causes them to bud, blossom, and bear 
fruit ; which operations may be called their state of bliss ; and 
this is effected by the sun’s heat, because it corresponds with 
spiritual heat, which is love. There are representations of the 
operation of this love exhibited also in various subjects of the 
mineral kingdom, and their types are discoverable in the uses 
and consequent value to which each is exalted. 

45. From this description of the essence of Divine Love may 
be seen, by contrast, the quality of the essence of diabolical love. 
Diabolical love is the love of self, which is indeed called love, 
but when considered in its true nature is hatred ; for it loves 
none out of or besides itself, and it desires to be conjoined w T ith 
others, not for their benefit, but only for its own : its inmost 
affection is a continual lust to rule over all, and to possess the 
property of all, and at last to be worshipped as a god. This is 
the reason why the inhabitants of hell do not acknowledge God, 
but worship as gods those who have most power over others ; so 
they have inferior and superior, or lesser and greater deities, 
according to the extent of their power; and since every one has 
the same lust of dominion in his heart,, therefore he burns with 
hatred against his president-god, and he in return against those 
who are hinder his authority, whom he regards as the vilest ol 
slaves, although he is courteous and civil towards them so long 
as they adore him: but liis rage against others is without 
bounds ; and even his servants and clients are hated by him at 
59 


45—47 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


heart ; for the love of self is like the love subsisting among 
robbers, who show all marks of mutual affection during the per- 
petration of their villanies, but afterwards are ready to murder 
one another for the sake of a larger share of booty. It is in 
consequence of this love that its various lusts appear in hell at a 
distance like the various kinds of wild beasts ; some like foxes 
and leopards, some like wolves and tigers, and some like croco- 
diles and venomous serpents; and that the deserts where they 
live consist solely of heaps of stone, or of barren sand, with bogs 
interspersed full of croaking frogs ; and that dismal birds fly, 
harshly screeching, over their miserable abodes. These are the 
ochim, tziim, and jiim, mentioned in the prophecies of the Old 
Testament, where the love of dominion arising from the love 
of self is spoken of. See Isaiah xiii. 21; Jerem. 1. 39; Psalm 
lxxiv. 14. 

46. YI. That these properties of the divine love were 

THE CAUSE OF THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE, AND ARE ALSO THE 
CAUSE OF ITS PRESERVATION. 

That these three essential properties of the Divine Love were 
the cause of creation, may be clearly seen by an attentive exam- 
ination of them. As for example, that the first, — to love others 
out of or without itself , operated as such a cause, is evident from 
the universe, in that it is without, or out of God, as the natural 
world is without, or out of, the sun ; and therefore God can ex- 
tend his love to it, and exercise it therein, and so rest satisfied. 
We read also, that when God had created the heavens and the 
earth, he rested, and from that circumstance originated the 
sabbath day (Gen. ii. 2, 3). That the second, — to desire to be 
one with others , operated as such a cause, is evident from the 
creation of man in the image and likeness of God ; by which is 
signified that man was made a form receptive of love and wisdom 
from God, that so God might unite himself with him, and, for 
his sake, with all and every thing in the universe, which are 
nothing but means to promote such union ; for conjunction with 
the final cause implies also a conjunction with middle causes. 
That all things were created for the sake of man, is evident also 
from the book of Genesis (i. 28, 29, 30). That the third, — to 
make others happy from, itself operated as such a cause, is evi 
dent from the angelic heaven, which is provided for every man 
who receives the love of God, and where all are made happy 
from God alone. The reason why these three essentials of the 
love of God are also the cause of the preservation of the uni- 
verse, is, because preservation is perpetual creation, as subsist 
ence is perpetual existence ; and the Divine Love, from eternity 
to eternity, is the same ; consequently, whatever quality it had 
at the creation of the world, the same it still possesses and ex- 
ercises in the world created. 

4T. From a right attention to the above observations, it must 
60 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


47, 48 


oe very evident that the universe is a consistent and coherent 
work from first to last, or from first principles to ultimates ; for 
it is a work containing ends, causes, and effects, in an indisso- 
luble connection ; and since in all love there is an end intended, 
and in all wisdom the promotion of such an end by middle 
causes, proceeding by them to effects, which are uses, it follows 
of consequence that the universe is a work containing divine 
love, divine wisdom, and uses, and thereby a work altogether 
coherent from first principles to ultimates. That the universe 
consists of perpetual uses, produced by wisdom, and originated 
by love, may be seon, as it were, in a mirror, by every wise man 
who has a general idea of the creation of the universe, and 
regards its particular parts according to that idea ; for particu- 
lars adapt themselves to their common whole, and the common 
whole gives to particulars their orderly arrangement. But this 
will be more fully illustrated hereafter. 


48. To the above I shall add this memorable relation. 1 
was once conversing with two angels, one from the eastern 
quarter of heaven, and the other from the southern ; who per- 
ceiving me engaged in meditation about love and the arcana of 
wisdom involved in it, addressed me, saying, “Are you at all ac- 
quainted with the entertainments of wisdom in our world ?” I 
replied, “ Not as yet.” They said, “ They are of several kinds ; 
and all those who love truths with spiritual affection, or for the 
sake of truth, and because they are the means of attaining to 
wisdom, meet together on an appointed signal, and canvass and 
determine such questions as require deeper consideration than 
common.” They then took me by the hand, saying, u Come 
w T ith us, and you shall see and hear ; for the signal of meeting 
has been given to-day.” They then led me across a plain to a 
hill, and behold, at the foot of the hill there was an avenue of 
palm-trees continued to the top, which we entered and ascended. 
On the top, or summit of the hill, there was a grove ; among the 
trees, on an elevated plot of ground, was formed a kind of 
theatre, within which was a smooth floor paved with various 
colored little stones : all around it were placed seats, in the 
form of a square, on which the lovers of wisdom were seated ; 
and in the midst of the theatre was a table, on which lay a 
sealed paper. Those who sat on the seats invited us to sit down 
where there was room ; upon which I replied, “ I was conducted 
hither by two angels, to see and hear, and not to sit down.” 
The two angels then walked towards the table in the middle of 
the floor, and, breaking the seal, they read, in the presence of 
those that were seated, the arcana of wisdom that were written 
on the paper, and which were now to be canvassed and dis- 
cussed. They were written by angels of the third heaven, and 
61 


48 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


let down upon the table, and consisted of the three following 
questions : first, “ What is the image of God , and what the 
likeness of God , into which man was created?” secondly, 
“ What is the reason why men are not horn into the science of 
any love , when nevertheless , beasts and birds , from the highest 
to the lowest , are born into the sciences of all their loves?” 
thirdly, “ What is signified by the tree of life , and what by 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , and what by eating fif 
them ?” Underneath was added the following : “ Collect your 
opinions on the three questions into one decision, write it on a 
fresh paper, and place it upon this table, and we shall see it ; 
and if, upon examination, your decision appears to be just, you 
shall each of you receive the prize of wisdom.” When the two 
angels had read the contents of the paper, they retired, and 
were carried up into their respective heavens. Immediately 
thereupon those who sat upon the seats began to consider and 
canvass the deep questions proposed to them, and delivered 
their sentiments in succession. Those who sat towards the 
north spoke first, afterwards those towards the west, next those 
towards the south, and lastly those towards the east. They 
began with the first subject of inquiry, What is the image of. 
God, and what the likeness of God, in which man was cre- 
ated ? But before they proceeded, these words were read, in 
the presence of them all, out of the book of Genesis : “ God 
said, Let us make man into our image , after our likeness / so 
God created man into his own image , into the likeness of God 
created he him” (Gen. i. 26, 27). “ In the day that God 
created man, into the likeness of God made he him” (Gen. 
v. 1). 

Those who sat towards the north first declared their senti- 
ments, and said, “ The image of God, and the likeness of God, 
are the two lives breathed into man by God, which are the life 
of the will, and the life of the understanding; for it is written, 

4 Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of 
lives, and man became a living soul’ (Gen. ii. 7). These words 
seem to signify, that there was breathed into him the will of good, 
and the perception of truth, and thus a soul of lives ; and since 
life was breathed into him by God, image and likeness signify 
integrity derived from love and wisdom, and from justice and 
judgment in him.” Those who sat towards the west favored this 
opinion, adding, however, “That the state of integrity, which 
was breathed into Adam by God, is continually breathed into 
every man since ; but, that it is in the man, as in a receptacle ; 
and the man, as he is a receptacle, is an image and likeness of 
God.” The third in ordeT, who sat towards the south, next de- 
clared their sentiments, in the following words; “The image of 
God, and the likeness of .God, are two distinct things, but yet 
united in man by creation ; and it appears to us, by a sort ol 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


48 


interior perception, that the image of God may be lost by a 
man, but not the likeness of God. This seems to be distinctly 
pointed at by Adam’s retaining the likeness of God, after that 
he had lost the image of God ; for it is said after the curse, 
1 Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil’ 
(Gen. iii. 22) : and afterwards he is called the likeness of God, 
and not the image of God (Gen. v. 1). But we will leave to oui 
friends, who sit towards the east, and are thereby in a higher 
degree of light, to determine what is properly meant by an image 
of God, and what by a likeness of God.” Then, after a short 
silence, those who sat towards the east rose from their seats, and 
looking up to the Lord, they again sat down, and thus began : 
“ An image of God is a receptacle of God ; and since God is love 
itself and wisdom itself, an image of God is the reception of love 
and wisdom from God : but a likeness of God is a perfect like- 
ness and a full appearance, as if love and wisdom were in a man, 
and consequently as if they were altogether his own ; for a man 
has no other sensation in this case, than that he loves and is 
wise of himself, or that he wills good and understands truth of 
himself; when nevertheless nothing of all this is from himself, 
but from God. God alone loves and is wise of himself, because 
he is Love itself and Wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance 
that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are in a man, as his 
own, causes him to be a man, and gives him the capacity ot 
being conjoined with God, and thus of living to eternity ; from 
whence it follows, that a man is a man by virtue of this faculty, 
that he can will good, and understand truth, altogether as from 
himself, and yet know and believe that it is from God ; for as 
he knows and believes this, God implants his image in him, 
which could not be done if he should believathat his love and 
wisdom were from himself and not from God.” When they had 
spoken these words, being inspired with zeal arising from the 
love of truth, they thus continued their discourse : “ How is it 
possible for a man to receive any portion of love and wisdom so 
as to retain it, and reproduce it, unless he feel it in appear- 
ance as his own? And how can conjunction with God, by 
means of love and wisdom, be effected, unless there be some- 
thing of a reciprocation of conjunction on the part of man? For 
unless it be reciprocal there can be no conjunction ; and the re- 
ciprocation of conjunction, on man’s part, consists in this, that he 
should love God, and do the things that are of God, as from him- 
self, and yet believe that he has the power from God. Besides, 
how can a man live eternally, unless he be conjoined with the 
eternal God ? Consequently, how can a man be a man, unless 
he have that likeness in him?” TV these words all present 
gave their assent, and said, u Let us make our conclusion in 
agreement with these sentiments which they did as follows : 
“ A man is a receptacle of God, and a receptacle of God is an 
63 


48 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


image of God ; and since God is love itself and wisdom itself, a 
man is a receptacle of them both ; and a receptacle becomes an 
image of God according to the degree of reception : a man, also, 
is a likeness of God lr ? virtue of a sensation in himself that such 
things as are- from God appear to be in him as his own ; but 
that, nevertheless, from that likeness he becomes an image of 
God, only so far as he acknowledges that love and wisdom, or 
good and truth, are not really his own in him, and thus not 
self-derived, but that they exist only in God, and are conse- 
quently derived from God.” 

After this they entered upon the next subject of inquiry, 
Why MEl^ ARE NOT BORN INTO THE SCIENCE OF ANY LOVE, 
WHEN NEVERTHELESS BOTH BEASTS AND BIRDS, FROM THE 
HIGHEST TO THE LOWEST, ARE BORN INTO THE SCIENCES OF ALL 

their loves ? They first confirmed the truth of the proposi- 
tion by various considerations ; as in the case of a man, that he 
is born into no science, not even that of'conjugial love: they 
then inquired, and were informed by attentive examiners, that 
an infant does not even apply, from any connate science, to its 
mother’s breast, but is taught to do so by frequent applications 
on the part of the mother or the nurse ; and that it knows only 
how to suck, from having learned it by continual suction in its 
mother’s womb ; and that afterwards it know's not how to walk, 
or to form its voice to any articulate sound, or even to express 
the affections of love, as beasts do : it is moreover unacquainted 
with what is salutary for it in the way of food, with which beasts 
are well acquainted, so that it will catch at any thing it can lay 
its hands upon, and apply it to its mouth whether it be clean or 
unclean. The examiners further declared, that without instruc 
tion a man is an utter stranger to the commerce between the 
sexes ; and that neither virgins nor young men have any know- 
ledge of this, until they are instructed by others. In short, a 
man is born a merely corporeal being, like a worm, and contin- 
ues so, unless he acquire knowledge, understanding, and wisdom 
from others. After this they gave abundant proofs, that ani- 
mals, from the highest to the lowest, both the beasts of the 
earth, and the fowls of the air, with reptiles, fishes, and insects, 
are born into all the sciences of the various kinds of love that 
form their life ; as into the knowledge of every thing concern- 
ing nourishment, habitation, the love between the sexes, the 
propagation of their kind, and the education of their young ; 
and this they confirmed by many extraordinary facts which they 
recollected to have seen, heard, or read of, in the natural world, 
where they once lived, and in which animals are not merely 
representative, but real. When the truth of the proposition was 
thus proved, they applied all the powers of their minds to search 
out and discover the reasons which might serve to explain and 
unfold this mystery ; and they all agreed that the Divine Wis 
04 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


48 


clom must necessarily have contrived and ordained all these 
things, to the end that a man might be a man, and a beast a 
beast ; and thus, that a man’s imperfection at his nativity is his 
perfection ; and the perfection of brutes at their nativity is their 
imperfection. 

Then those on the north began first to declare their senti- 
ments, and said, “ That a man is born without sciences, to the 
end that he may be capable of receiving them all ; whereas, sup- 
posing him born into the knowledge thereof, he would not be in 
a capacity to receive any, except those into the knowledge of 
which he was born ; and the consequence would be, that he 
could not appropriate any to himself. This they illustrated by 
the comparison of a man, when he is first born, with ground in 
which no seed has been sown, but which is still in a capacity of 
receiving all kinds of seed, and of bringing them to maturity 
and perfection ; whereas brutes are like ground already sown, 
and covered with grass and other herbs, which receives no other 
seed than what has been sown in it already ; or if it receives 
any other, it chokes it in the birth, and cannot bring it to 
maturity. Hence it is, that the growth of a man requires many 
years for its completion, during which time he may be cultivated 
like the ground, and bring forth, as it were, all kinds of grain, 
flowers, and trees ; whereas a beast arrives at the perfection 
of his growth in a few years, during which time no power of 
cultivation can raise up or produce any thing but what w'as 
connate, or born with him.” Those on the west next declared 
their sentiments to the following purport : “ A man,” said they, 
“ has not science by birth, like a beast, but only faculty and in- 
clination ; faculty to know, and inclination to love ; and not 
only to love whatever relates to himself and the world, but also 
whatever relates to God and heaven ; consequently, a man by 
birth is a mere organ, which has but a faint perception of life 
by the external senses, and none at all by the internal, to the 
intent that he may, by successive degrees, live and become a 
man ; first a natural man, afterwards a rational, and lastly a 
spiritual ; and this could not be the case, if, like the beasts, he 
were to receive his proper kind of science and love by birth : for 
the implantation of sciences and affections of love by birth, sets 
boundaries to their progression ; whereas the implantation of 
faculties and inclinations only, sets no such boundaries ; where- 
fore a man has the capacity of being made more and more per- 
fect in science, intelligence, and wisdom, to eternity.” Those 
on the south next took up the debate, and spoke as follows : 
“ It is impossible for a man to derive any science from himself, 
but he may learn it from others : for no science is connate or 
born with him ; and because he can derive no science from him- 
self, neither can he derive from himself any love, since there can 
be no love where there is no science ; love and science being 
65 f 


48 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


inseparable companions, which admit of no division, any more 
than the will and the understanding, or affection and thought, 
or essence and form • therefore in proportion as a man learns 
science from others, in the same proportion love adjoins itself 
to it as a companion. The universal love which thus adjoins 
itself, is the love of science, or of knowing, and in process, of 
time the love of intelligence and wisdom, or of understanding 
and being wise ; and these loves are implanted in men only, 
but not in briites, and are received by influx from . God. We 
agree with our friends from the west, that a man is not born 
into any love, and consequently not into any science ; but that 
he is born only with an inclination to love, and thereby with a 
faculty to receive sciences, not from himself, but from others, 
that is, through others : we use the term through others , because 
neither did those others receive any thing from themselves, but 
all originally from God. We agree likewise with our friends 
from the north, that a man, at his first birth, is like the ground, 
in which no seeds are sown, but which is capable of receiving all 
kinds, both good and bad ; hence he derived his name from the 
ground, for Adam was so called from adama , which signifies 
ground. We are further of opinion, that beasts are born into 
all kinds of natural love, and consequently into such sciences as 
correspond with them ; but still they derive neither knowledge, 
nor thought, nor understanding, nor wisdom, from those sciences, 
but are impelled to them by their different kinds of natural love, 
much as a blind man is guided along the streets by a dog, for 
they indeed are blind as to intellectual sight; or rather they 
may be compared with sleep-walkers, who act under the gui- 
dance of blind science, while their intellectual faculty remains in 
the profoundest sleep.” Those on the eastern side next de- 
clared their sentiments, and said, “We assent to all that our 
brethren have spoken, and are of opinion with them, that a man 
knows nothing of himself, but only from and by others, to the 
intent that he may know and acknowledge that all science, in- 
telligence, and wisdom are from God ; and that he cannot be 
otherwise born and begotten of God, and become an image and 
likeness of him ; for he becomes an image of God by the ac- 
knowledgment and belief, that all the good of love ancl charity, 
and all the truth of wisdom and faith, was and is received by him 
from God, and no part of them from himself ; and he is a like- 
ness of God, in consequence of his being sensible of those gifts 
in himself as if they were self-derived He has this feeling in 
consequence of his not being born into sciences, but learning 
them afterwards ; for what a man thus learns, appears to him as 
if it were acquired from himself. This apparent sensation is 
granted him by God, in order that he may be a man and not a 
beast ; since in consequence of his willing, thinking, loving, 
knowing, understanding, and improving in wisdom, as from 
66 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


48 


himself, a man learns sciences, and exalts them to intelligence, 
and by good uses to wisdom, whereby God conjoins him to him- 
self, and a man conjoins himself to God ; which conjunctions 
could not possibly be effected, unless it had been previously 
appointed by God, that a man should be born in total igno- 
rance.” When they had thus delivered their sentiments, it was 
the desire of all present, that a conclusion should be drawn from 
the arguments which had been urged ; and the following was 
agreed upon : “ A man is born into no science, to the intent 
that he may arrive at all science, and advance to understanding, 
and thereby to wisdom;, and he is born into no love, to the 
intent that he may arrive at all love, by a prudent and intelli- 
gent application of the sciences ; and by love towards his neigh- 
bor, unto love to God, and thus be conjoined with God, and by 
that means become truly a man, and live eternally.” 

After this they took up the paper, and read the third subject 
of inquiry, What is signified by the tree of life, what by 

THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND WHAT BY 

the eating thereof? and they all requested that the wise 
spirits from the east would explain this mystery, because it re- 
quired more than common depth of understanding to fathom it, 
which none were possessed of but the eastern spirits, who are in 
flaming light, that is, in the wisdom of love, which wisdom is 
signified by the garden of Eden, wherein those two trees were 
planted ; and they replied, “We will declare our opinion ; but 
seeing that all wisdom is from God, and nothing from a man’s 
own self, therefore we will speak from him, or from his inspira- 
tion, and yet of ourselves, as of ourselves.” They then declared 
their sentiments to this effect : “ A tree signifies a man, and its 
fruit the good of life ; whence, by the tree of life is signified a 
man living from God ; and since love and wisdom, and charity 
and faith, or good and truth, constitute the life of God in a 
man, by the tree of life is signified a man receiving those things 
by influx from God, and with them eternal life. The same is 
signified by the tree of life, whose fruit is promised in the Reve- 
lation, ii. 7 ; and xxii. 2, 14. By the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil, is signified a man believing that he derives life 
from himself, and not from God ; consequently, that love and 
wisdom, charity and faith, that is, good and truth, in him, are 
his own, and not God’s ; to which belief he is inclined from the 
similitude and appearance, that all his thoughts and inclinations, 
his words and actions, are from himself ; and since by such a 
belief a man is persuaded to think himself a god, therefore the 
serpent said, u God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, 
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, know- 
ing good and evil” (Gen. iii. 5). By eating of those trees is 
signified reception and appropriation ; by eating of the tree of 
life, the reception of eternal life ; and by eating of the tree of 


THE DIVINE ESSENCE. 


£8 

the knowledge of good and evil, the reception of damnation 
By the serpent is meant the devil, with respect to selt-love, and 
the pride of one’s own understanding, which love is the keeper 
of that tree ; and all men who are in the pride of their own 
understandings from the influence of that love, are such trees. 
It is a dreadful error, therefore, to suppose, that Adam enjoyed 
wisdom and did good of himself, and that this was his state ot 
integrity, seeing that Adam, on account of such belief, ^ was 
cursed ; for this is signified by his eating of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil : therefore he instantly fell from his 
state of integrity, which state consisted in the belief that his 
wisdom and power to do good were from God, and not at all 
from himself ; for this is signified by eating of the tree of life. 
The Lord alone, when he was in the world, had the wisdom and 
the power to do good from himself, for the Divine Itself was in 
him, and was his from nativity ; therefore he became also by 
his own power a Redeemer and Saviour.” From all these argu- 
ments they came to this final conclusion : “ By the tree of life 
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and by eating 
of them, is meant, that a man’s true life is God in him, in which 
case he is in possession of heaven and eternal life ; and that a 
man’s true death is the persuasion and belief, that his life is from 
himself, and not from God, for thence is hell and eternal death, 
which is damnation.” 

After this they inspected the paper that was left by the an- 
gels upon the table, and they saw written underneath, Join 

TOGETHER THESE THREE CONCLUSIONS SO AS TO FORM ONE GENERAL 

result; on which they compared them together, and perceived 
that the three were connected in one regular series, and that 
the general result was this : “ Man was created to receive love 
and wisdom from God, and yet in all likeness, as from himself, 
which was for the sake of reception and conjunction; and on 
this account a man is not born into any love, or into any science, 
or even into any power of loving and growing wise from him- 
self : if therefore he ascribes all the good of love and all the 
truth of wisdom to God, he then becomes a living man ; but it 
he ascribes them to himself, he becomes a dead man.” This 
decision they wrote upon a fresh paper, and placed it on the 
table : and lo ! on a sudden angels appeared present in a bright 
cloud, and took the paper away with them into heaven ; and 
after it was read there, those who sat upon the seats were saluted 
thence with these words, “Well, well, well.” And instantly 
there appeared a single angel, as it were flying down out ot 
heaven, who had the likeness of two wings about his feet, and 
two about his temples, bringing with him the prizes, consisting 
of long flowing robes, caps, and wreaths of laurel. When he 
alighted on the ground, he presented those on the north with 
robes of the color of opal ; those on the west, with scarlet robes ; 

68 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


48, 49 


tnose on the south, with caps whose borders were ornamented 
with bands of gold and pearls, and on the left side upwards 
adorned with sparkling diamonds set in the forms of flowers ; 
and those on the east he presented with wreaths of laurel, inter 
spersed with rubies and sapphires. Then all of them, adorned 
with their respective prizes, left the place, and departed home 
with joy. 


OF THE OMNIPOTENCE, OMNISCIENCE, AND OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 

49. We have already treated of the Divine Love and the 
Divine Wisdom, and shown that these two constitute the Di- 
vine Essence ; we come now to treat of the omnipotence, omnis- 
cience, and omnipresence of God, since these three proceed from 
the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in much the same manner 
as the power and the presence of the sun in this world and in all 
its parts proceed from its heat and light. The heat also proceed- 
ing from the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is 
Jehovah God, in its essence is Divine Love, and the light pro- 
ceeding thence in its essence is Divine Wisdom ; from whence it 
appears that as infinity, immensity, and eternity appertain to the 
Divine Esse, so omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence 
appertain to the Divine Essence. But as these three universal 
predicables of the Divine Essence have not hitherto been under- 
stood, because their progression according to their respective 
courses, which are the laws of order, was unknown, it will be 
expedient to represent them in a clear point of view under the 
following separate articles. I. That omnipotence, omniscience, 
and omnipresence are properties of the Divine Wisdom derived 
from the Divine Love. II. That the omnipotence, omniscience, 
and omnipresence of God cannot he known, until it he known 
what is meant hy order, and until it he ascertained that God is 
order, and that he introduced order into the universe and all its 
parts, at the creation. III. That the omnipotence of God in the 
universe and all its parts, proceeds and operates according to 
the laws of his own order. IV. That God is omniscient, that 
is, he perceives, sees, and knows all and every thing, even to the 
most minute, which is done according to order, and hy that 
means also whatever is done contrary to order. V. That God 
is omnipresent in all the gradations of his own order from first 
to last. VI. That man was created a form of divine order. 
VII. That a man has power against the evil and the false from the 
Divine omnipotence ; he has wisdom respecting good and truth 
from the Divine omniscience / and he is in God hy virtue of the 
Divine omnipresence, in proportion as he lives according to di- 
vine order. But each article will require a particular explication. 
69 


50, 51 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


50. I. That omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. 

ARE PROPERTIES OF THE DIVINE WISDOM DERIVED FROM THE DI 
VINE LOVE. 

That omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, are pro- 
perties of the Divine Wisdom derived from the Divine Love, but 
not of the Divine Love operating by means of the Divine Wis- 
dom, is an arcanum from heaven which has never yet been 
clearly revealed to any human understanding, because it has 
never yet been known what love is in its essence, or what wis- 
dom is in its essence, and still less what is the law of the influx 
of the one into the other ; and that according to that law, love 
enters by a universal and particular influx into wisdom, and 
resides therein like a king in his own kingdom, or like a master 
in his own house, relinquishing to judgment all the authority 
of justice, or, what amounts to the same, relinquishing to wis- 
dom all the authority of love ; for justice has respect to love, and 
judgment to wisdom. But this arcanum will be set in a clearer 
light presently j in the mean time it is here laid down as a 
general canon. That God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni- 
present, by means of the wisdom of his love, is signified also by 
these words in John: “In the beginning was the Word, and 
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things 
were made by him, and without him was not any thing made 
that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of 
men. The world was made by him: and the Word was made 
flesh” (i. 1, 3, 4, 10, 14). By the Word is there signified Divine 
Truth, or, what amounts to the same, Divine W isdom ; there- 
fore he is also called life and light, both which are nothing but 
wisdom. 

51. Forasmuch as justice, in the Word, is predicated of love, 

and judgment of wisdom, therefore we shall here adduce some 
passages to prove that God’s government in the world is main- 
tained and carried on by means of both. The passages are these 
which follow : “ Justice and judgment are the support of thy 
throne” (Psalm lxxxix. 14). “ Let him that glorieth glory in 

this, that Jehovah doeth judgment and justice in the earth” 
(Jerem. ix. 24). “ Let Jehovah be exalted, because he hath filled 
Zion with judgment and justice ” (Isa. xxxiii. 5). “ Let judg- 

ment run down as water, a/nd justice as a mighty stream” (Amos 
v. 24). “Thy justice , 0 Jehovah , is like the great mountains ; 
thy judgments are as the great deep” (Psalm xxxvi. 6). “ Jeho- 
vah shall bring forth his justice as the light, and his judgment 
as the noon-dav” (Psalm xxxvii. 6). “ Jehovah shall judge his 

people in justice , and his poor in judgment ” (Psalm lxxii. 2). 
“ When I shall have learned the judgments of thy justice : seven 
times in the day I praise thee, because of the judgments of thy 
justice ” (Ps. cxix. 7, 164). “I will betroth me unto thee in 
justice and judgment” (Ilosea ii. 19). “ Zion shall be redeemed 

70 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


ol — 3o 


ill justice, and her converts in judgment ” (Isa. i. 27). “He 
shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to 
establish it in judgment and justice ” (ix. 7). “ I will raise 

unto David a righteous branch, who shall reign as a king, and 
shall do judgment and justice in the earth” (Jerem. xxiii. 5 ; 
xxxiii. 15). In other places it is said that men ought to do 
justice and judgment, as in Isa. i. 21; v. 16; lviii. 2; Jerem. 
iv. 1, 2 ; xxii. 3, 13, 15 ; Ezek. xviii. 5 ; xxxiii. 14, 16, 19 ; Amos 
vi. 12 ; Micah vii. 9 ; Deut. xxxiii. 21 ; John xvi. 8, 10, 11. 

52. II. That the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipres- 
ence OF GOD CANNOT BE KNOWN UNTIL IT BE KNOWN WHAT IS 
MEANT BY ORDER, AND UNTIL IT BE ASCERTAINED THAT GOD IS 
ORDER, AND THAT HE INTRODUCED ORDER INTO THE UNIVERSE 
AND ALL ITS PARTS, AT THE CREATION. 

How many monstrous and mistaken opinions have crept into 
the minds of men, and have thence been propagated in the 
church through the heads of the founders of every new sect, in 
consequence of not understanding the order in which God has 
created the universe and all its parts, may be discovered from 
the bare mention of them in the following pages. But previous 
to this we will here explain the meaning of order by a kind of 
general definition of the term. Order is the quality of the dis- 
position, determination , and activity of the parts , substances , or 
entities , which constitute the form of a thing , and whereon its 
state depends ; the perfection of which is produced by wisdom 
operating from love ; or the imperfection of which is occasioned 
by perverse reason operating from cupidity . In this definition 
mention is made of substance, form, and state ; and by substance 
we at the same time mean form, because every substance is a 
form ; and the quality of a form is its state, the perfection or 
imperfection of which results from order. But as this is meta- 
physical reasoning, it will of necessity appear dark and obscure, 
until it be illustrated by references to particular examples, which 
will be mentioned hereafter. 

53. God is order, because he is substance itself and form 
itself. He is substance, because all things that subsist derived 
their existence originally, and continue to derive it from him : 
and he is form, because all the quality of substances did origi- 
nally, and does still arise from him ; and quality can only be 
derived from form. How as God is the very, the one only, and 
the first substance and form, and at the same time the very and 
only love, and the very and only wisdom, and since wisdom 
operating from love constitutes form, and its state and quality 
is according to the order inherent in it, it necessarily follows 
that God is order itself, and consequently that he introduced 
order, both into the universe and into all its parts, and that he 
introduced the most perfect order ; since whatever he created 
was very good, as it is written in the book of Genesis We shall 

71 


53—55 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


show in its proper place that evils had birth together with hell, 
consequently, after creation ; but at present we shall proceed to 
speculations which are of easier admission into the understand- 
ing, and which enlighten it with a clearer and milder light. 

54. The nature and quality of the order, according to which 
the universe was created, would require a volume for a full ex- 
planation ; but a slight sketch of it may be seen hereafter in the 
lemma concerning creation. It is to be observed, that both the 
general and the particular parts of the universe, to the intent 
they may subsist by themselves, were created according to their 
respective orders, and that from the beginning they were so 
arranged as to conjoin themselves with the common order of the 
universe, so that each particular order should subsist in the uni- 
versal order, and thus altogether constitute one whole. But let 
us refer to examples : man is created according to his proper 
order, and likewise every particular part according to its order, 
as the head and the body according to their respective orders ; 
the heart, the lungs, the liver, the pancreas, the stomach, accord- 
ing to their orders ; every organ of motion, which is called a 
muscle, according to its order; and every organ of sense, as the 
eye, the ear, the tongue, according to its order ; yea, there is not 
the smallest artery or fibril in the body, which is not created 
according to its order ; and yet these innumerable parts are con- 
nected with the general order, and so inserted in it, that all to- 
gether they constitute a one. The case is similar in all other 
instances, the bare mention of which will therefore sufficp : every 
beast of the earth, every bird of the air, every fish of the sea, 
every reptile, even to the minutest insect, is each created accord- 
ing to its proper and peculiar order ; in like manner every tree, 
shrub, and herb, is created according to its peculiar order ; and 
so also is every stone and mineral, even to the smallest grain 
of dust. 

55. Who does not see that there is not an empire, kingdom, 
dukedom, commonwealth, state, or private family, that is not 
established by laws which constitute the order, and thereby the 
form, of its government? The laws of justice in all of them 
have the first place, political laws the second, and economical 
laws the third ; which, on comparison with the human frame, 
will answer respectively to these several parts; the laws of 
justice to the head, political laws to the body, and economical 
laws to the dress ; therefore the latter, like garments, may be 
changed at pleasure. As to what concerns the order according 
to which God has established his church, it is this, that he 
should be all in all, both generally and particularly therein ; and 
that the laws of order should be practised by every man towards 
his neighbor. The laws of this order are as many and various 
as the truths contained in the Word ; the laws which relate to 
God forming the head of the church, those relating to a man’s 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


55—57 


neighbor forming the body, and ceremonial laws forming the 
dress ; for unless these latter contained and preserved the former 
in their order, it would be as if the body were stripped naked, 
and exposed to the summer’s heat, and the winter’s cold ; or as 
if a temple were bared of its walls and roof, so as to expose the 
altar, pulpit, and other holy parts within to the violence of every 
storm and tempest. 

56. III. That the omnipotence of god in the universe and 

ALL ITS PARTS PROCEEDS AND OPERATES ACCORDING TO THE LAWS 
OF HIS OWN ORDER. 

God is Omnipotent, because he has all power from himself, 
and the power of all other beings is derived from him. His 
power and will are one ; and since he wills nothing but what is 
good, therefore he can do nothing but what is good. In the 
spiritual world no one can do any thing contrary to his own will 
or inclination ; which peculiarity they derive in that world from 
God, whose powder and will are one. God also is good itself, and 
therefore while he does good he is in himself, and to go out oi 
himself is impossible. Hence it is manifest that his omnipo- 
tence proceeds and operates within the sphere of the extension 
of good, which is infinite ; for this sphere fills the universe from 
its inmost centre, and all and every thing therein, and from that 
inmost centre governs the things that are without, so far as they 
enter into conjunction wfith it according to their respective 
orders; and where they do not enter into such conjunction, this 
sphere nevertheless supports them, and labors with all its might 
to reduce them to an order concordant with that universal order, 
in which God is in his omnipotence, and according to which he 
acts; but where this cannot be effected, though they are cast 
out from him, he still supports them from that inmost centre in 
their state of rejection. It is evident from this that the Divine 
Omnipotence cannot so go out of itself as to enter into contact 
with any thing that is evil, or in the least to promote evil from 
itself ; for evil turns itself away, and of consequence is entirely 
separate from God, and cast into hell, between which and heav- 
en, where God is, a great gulf is interposed. From these few 
considerations may be seen the great folly of those who imagine, 
and more of those who believe, but still more of those who teach, 
that God can condemn, curse, or cast into hell, that he can pre- 
destinate the soul of any person to eternal death, or can avenge 
injuries, be angry, and punish; for he cannot even turn away 
his face from any one, or regard him with the least severity of 
countenance, these and the like acts being contrary to his es- 
sence, and consequently contrary to 1 imself. 

57. It is the prevailing opinion at this day that the omnipo- 
tence of God is like the absolute power of an earthly monarch, 
who can execute his own will as he chooses, can absolve and 
condemn whomsoever he pleases, make the innocent guilty, de 

73 


57, 58 THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 

clare the faithless faithful, exalt the unworthy and undeserving 
above the deserving and worthy, and under the slightest pre- 
tences deprive his subjects of their estates, and condemn them 
to death, with other acts of the same arbitrary nature. From 
this infatuated opinion, faith, and doctrine respecting the Divine 
Omnipotence, have arisen as many falsities, fallacies, and chime- 
ras in the church as there are different changes, growths, and gen- 
erations of faith therein ; and as many more may still arise as 
would equal the number of drops in a large lake of water, or the 
serpents that creep from their holes and regale on a sunny day 
in the deserts of Arabia. What occasion is there for more than 
these two words omnipotence and faith / and then to spread con- 
jectures, fables, and trifles, before the eyes of the vulgar, accom- 
modated to their bodily senses, and so to turn reason out of 
doors ? But when reason is so turned out, in what does the 
man’s thought excel that of the bird which flies over his head ? 
Or what, in such a case, is all the spiritual principle, which is a 
man’s distinguished property, above the beasts, but like the 
stench in the dens of beasts, that is agreeable to the brute in- 
habitants, but not so to a man, unless he be of a brutal nature ? 
Supposing the Divine Omnipotence extended alike to do evil and 
to do good, what difference would there be between God and the 
devil, but like that subsisting between two monarchs, one of 
whom is a king, and at the same time a tyrant, and the other a 
tyrant whose power is controlled, so that he cannot be called a 
king? Or how would they differ more than two shepherds, one 
of whom may by permission play the part of both of a sheep and 
a leopard towards his flock, while the other, though he be in- 
clined to do mischief, yet is not permitted ? Who cannot dis- 
cern that good and evil are opposites, and that supposing God 
by virtue of his omnipotence to be capable of willing and doing 
both the one and the other, he wmuld in fact be able to will and 
to do nothing at all, and consequently would have no power, 
much less omnipotence ? It would happen in such a case as if 
two wheels, that had a contrary motion, should act upon each 
other; the consequence of which opposite actions would be that 
they would both stop, and remain altogether at rest ; or as if a 
ship, and a violent current wherein it was sailing, should have 
contrary directions, so that the ship must inevitably be either 
carried away and lost, or else must rest at anchor; or as if a 
man had two wills that were at variance together, of which one 
must necessarily be at rest, while the other was in action ; or 
supposing both to be in action at once, the man’s mind must be- 
come a prey to giddiness or delirium. 

58. If the omnipotence of God, according to the prevailing 
belief of the times, be allowed to be absolute, and equally capa- 
ble of effecting both good and evil, would it not be possible, yea, 
would it not be easy, for God to exalt the whole kingdom of 'hell 
74 


THE OMNIPi IENCE OF GOD. 


58, 59 


into heaven, to change devils and .satanical spirits into angels, 
and to purge every sinner upon earth in a moment from his sins, 
to renew, to sanctify, and to regenerate him, and to make him a 
child of grace instead of a child of wrath, in other words, to 
justify him merely by the application and imputation of the 
righteousness of his Son ? But God, by virtue of his omnipo- 
tence, cannot effect such things, because they are contrary to 
the laws of his own order established in the universe, and at the 
same time contrary to the laws of order prescribed to every par- 
ticular man, which require a mutual tendency to conjunction on 
both sides before God and man can be conjoined together, as 
will be seen more clearly in the progress of this work. From 
this infatuated opinion and belief respecting the omnipotence of 
God, it wotild follow that God has the power to change the 
nature of a goat in any person into the nature of a sheep, and 
at his own good pleasure to remove him from his left hand to 
his right ; or that he could, at his will, transmute the spirits of 
the dragon into angels of Michael, or give an eagle’s sight to 
one who was intellectually as blind as a mole ; or, in short, 
make a man a dove, who was before like ah owl ; all which 
things are out of God’s power to effect, since they are contrary 
to the laws of his own order, notwithstanding his continual in- 
clination and endeavor to effect them. If the power of* God 
were thus absolute, he would never have permitted Adam to 
obey the serpent, and eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge 
of good and evil ; neither would he have suffered Cain to murder 
his brother, or David to number the people, or Solomon to erect 
temples to idols, or the kings of Judah and Israel to profane the 
temple, as they so often did ; yea, had his power been able to 
effect it, he would certainly have saved the whole race of man- 
kind, without exception, through the redemption wrought by his 
Son, and would have rooted out all the powers of darkness in 
hell. The Gentiles of old ascribed such absolute omnipotence 
to their gods and goddesses, which gave birth to the fabulous 
stories related of them ; as to the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha. 
how r the stones they threw behind them became men ; and to 
that of Apollo, how he changed Daphne into a laurel ; and to 
Diana’s turning a huntsman into a stag ; and to another of theii 
gods metamorphosing the virgins of Parnassus into magpies. A 
similar belief prevails at this day respecting the Divine Om- 
nipotence, which has given birth to so many fanatical and he- 
retical opinions, in every country where there is any religion. 

59 . IY. That god is omniscient, that is, he perceives, sees, 

AND KNOWS, ALL AND EVERY THING, EVEN TO THE MOST MINUTE, 
THAT IS DONE ACCORDING TO ORDER, AND BY THAT MEANS ALSC 
WHATEVER IS DONE CONTRARY TO ORDER. 

That God is omniscient, that is, that lie perceives, sees 
and knows all things, is a consequence of his being wisdom 
75 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


59, 60 

itself, and light itself ; and it is wisdom itself which perceive? 
all things, and light itself which sees all things. That .God is 
wisdom itself, was shown above ; and that he is light itself, is 
owing to his being the sun of the angelic heaven, which illumi- 
nates the understandings of all angels and all men ; for as the 
eye is enlightened by the light of the natural sun, so is the 
understanding by the light of the spiritual sun ; and not only is 
it enlightened, it is also filled with intelligence, in proportion to 
the love with which it receives it, since that light in its essence 
is wisdom; therefore David says, that God dwelleth in inaccessi- 
ble light ; and it is written in the Revelation, that in the New 
Jerusalem they need no candle, because the Lord God enlight- 
eneth them ; and in John, that the Word, which was with God, 
and which was God, is the u Light which lighteth every man 
that cometh into the world:” by the Word is signified the 
Divine Wisdom. Hence it is, that the angels enjoy a bright- 
ness of light in proportion as they are perfected in wisdom ; and 
hence also it is, that in the Word, where light is mentioned, 
wisdom is understood. 

60. That God perceives, sees, and knows all things, even to 
the most minute, which are done according to order, is a conse- 
quence of the nature of order, which derives its universality 
from the singulars of which it is composed ; for singulars con- 
sidered collectively are termed a universal, as particulars con- 
sidered collectively are called a whole {commune) ; and the uni- 
versal, together with all its most singular component parts, is a 
work that coheres together as a one ; so that no one part can be 
touched and affected, but all the rest have some perception ot 
it. It is owing to this quality of order obtaining in the uni- 
verse, that a like quality obtains in every part of creation ; as 
may appear in many instances taken from visible objects. The 
human body, for example, consists of general and particular 
parts ; and the general parts include particulars in them, and 
are so neatly and fitly connected with them, that they have a 
mutual dependence upon each other. This effect is owing to 
every member’s being inclosed in a common coat or covering, 
which insinuates itself into all the particular parts of which the 
member is composed, for the purpose of producing unity ot 
action in every function and service. As for example ; the coat 
or covering of every muscle enters into every particular moving 
fibre, and supplies it with a covering from itself : in like manner 
the coats of the liver, of the pancreas, and of the spleen, enter 
into all the particular parts within ; so the pleura enters into 
the inner parts of the lungs ; and so also does the pericardium 
into all and every part of the heart ; and in general, the peri- 
tonaeum, by anastomoses, or inosculations, with the coverings of 
all the viscera : the like obtains in the meninges of the brain, 
which, by means of small threads emitted from them, into all 
76 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


60, 61 


the minute glands beneath, and through them into all the nerv- 
ous fibres, and through the fibres into all parts of the body ; 
which is the reason why the head, from the brain contained in 
it, governs the whole body, with all its parts, as its subjects. 
These cases are adduced from the visible objects of creation, to 
give some idea how God perceives, sees, and knows all things, 
even to the most minute, that are done according to order. 

61. That God, from the things which are according to order, 
perceives, knows, and sees all and every thing that is done con- 
trary to order, is a consequence of his not keeping a man in evil, 
but withholding him from it, thus of his not leading him, but 
striving with him. For this continual striving, struggling, re- 
sistance, repugnance, and reaction of evil and the false, against 
his good and truth, that is, against himself, God perceives 
both their quantity and their quality, which is a consequence of 
his omnipresence in all and every part of his own order, and at 
the same time of his omniscience in all and every thing that 
occurs or exists therein ; just as an ear well tuned, and formed 
to harmony, distinctly perceives the quantity and quality of dis- 
cord arising from sounds that are unharmonious and dissonant : 
or as the senses of a man in the full enjoyment of pleasure have 
a quick perception of what is disagreeable ; or as the eye, atten- 
tive to a handsome object, is more sensible of its beauty when 
it is contrasted with deformity ; for which reason it is usual with 
painters to introduce an ugly figure as a foil to that which they 
are desirous to set off to advantage. The case is exactly the 
same with good and truth ; for during the contrary action of 
evil and the false, the perception of them is rendered more dis- 
tinct by such opposition. For whoever is principled in good, 
can perceive evil ; and whoever is principled in truth, can see 
what is false ; the reason of which is, that good is in the heat ot 
heaven, and truth in its light ; whereas evil is in the cold of hell, 
and the false in its darkness. This may appear in a clearer 
light from this circumstance, that the angels of heaven can see 
whatever is doing in hell, and also what monsters are therein ; 
but the spirits of hell, on the other hand, cannot have the least 
discernment of what is doing in heaven ; nor can they see the 
angels that dwell there, any more than if they were blind, or 
were looking upon mere air or ether. Those whose understand- 
ings enjoy the light that shines from wisdom, are like men 
standing at noon-day on the top of a mountain, who have a dis- 
tinct view of all things below; and those who enjoy still superior 
light, are like persons in the same situation, who, by the aid of 
a telescope, see the surrounding and lower objects, as if they 
were close to them ; but those who see by the fallacious light of 
hell, arising from the confirmation of falsities, are like men 
standing upon the same mountain at midnight, with lanterns in 
their hands, who see no objects but such as are near at hand. 
77 


61 —63 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


and those indistinctly as to their shapes, and confusedly as to 
their colors. Where men enjoy some degree of the light ot 
truth, and yet live in evil of iife, they at first see truths, while 
they are in the delight arising from the love of evil, just as a bat 
sees linen hanging in a garden, to which it flies as to its place 
of retreat and safety; and afterwards with respect to. the per- 
ceptions of truth, they become like insects of the night, and 
lastly like owls ; and when this is the case they may be com- 
pared with a chimney-sweeper sticking fast in a smoking chim- 
ney, who, when he raises his eyes upwards, sees the sky through 
the smoke, but when he looks downwards, sees the fire whence 
that smoke proceeds. 

62. It is to. be observed, that the perception of opposites 
differs from the perception of relatives ; for opposites, are things 
that are without, and contrary to, those which are within. An 
opposite arises from the cessation of existence in some one 
thing, and the rising up of another at that time with a tendency 
contrary to what the former had, acting as a wheel against a 
wheel, or as a stream against a stream ; but relatives have re- 
spect to the disposition of a variety and multiplicity of things in 
suitable and agreeable order ; as of precious stones of different 
colors in the stomacher of a queen, or of different colored flow- 
ers in an ornamental garland. Relatives therefore exist in each 
opposite, both in the good and in the evil, in the true and in 
the false, consequently both in heaven and in hell ; but the re- 
latives in hell are all opposite to the relatives in heaven. Now 
since God perceives and sees, and thereby knows, all the rela- 
tives in heaven, by virtue of the order in which he himself is, 
and in consequence thereof perceives, sees, and knows all the 
opposite relatives in hell, which follows from what has been said 
above, it is evident that God is omniscient in hell, as well as in 
heaven, and also among men upon earth ; and that he thus 
perceives, sees, and is acquainted with their evils and falses, by 
virtue of the good and truth in which he himself is, and which 
in their essence are himself : for it is written, “ If I ascend up 
into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my [bed] in hell, be- 
hold thou art there” (Psalm cxxxix. 8) : and in another place, 
“ Though they dig into hell, thence shall my hand take them” 
(Amos ix. 2). 

63. V. That god is omnipresent in all the gradations of 

HIS OWN ORDER, FROM FIRST TO LAST. 

The omnipresence of God in all the gradations of his own 
order, from first to last, is effected by means of the heat and 
light from the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which 
he dwells. By the instrumentality of this sun, order was first es- 
tablished, and there is a continual efflux of heat and light issuing 
thence, which pervade every part of the universe, from first to 
last, producing life in men and animals, and also the vegetative 
78 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


03, 04 


soul that belongs to every germination upon the face of the 
earth. This heat and light enter by influx into all and eveiy 
part of the universe, causing each subject therein to live ani 
grow according to the order impressed thereon at the creation ; 
and since God is not extended, and yet fills every extense of the 
universe, therefore he is omnipresent. That God is in all space 
without space, and in all time without time, and that conse* 
quently the universe, as to essence and order, is the fulness o* 
God, has been shown elsewhere; and this being the case, it 
follows, that by his omnipresence he perceives all things, by his 
omniscience he provides for all things, and by his omnipotence 
he operates all things ; hence it is plain, that omnipresence, 
omniscience, and omnipotence, make a one, or that the one im 
plies the others, so that they cannot admit of separation. 

64. The divine omnipresence may be illustrated by the mar- 
vellous presence of angels and spirits in the spiritual world ; in 
which world, as there is no space, but only the appearance oi 
space, one angel or spirit may, in an instant, be made present 
with another, provided they meet in similar affections of love, 
and thence of thought; for a difference with regard to these two 
circumstances is what causes the appearance of space. That 
such is the nature of presence in the spiritual world, was made 
plain to me from this consideration, that there I could see 
Africans and Indians very near together, although they are so 
many miles distant here upon earth ; yea, that 1 could be made 
present with the inhabitants of other planets in our system, and 
also with the inhabitants of planets that are in other worlds, 
which revolve about other suns. By virtue of such presence, 
not of place, but of the appearance of place, I have conversed 
with apostles, departed popes, emperors, and kings ; with the 
founders of the present church, Luther, Calvin, and Melancthon, 
and with others from distant countries. Such then being the 
presence of angels and spirits, what limits can be set to the 
divine presence in the universe, which is infinite ? The reason 
why angels and spirits enjoy such presence, is, because every 
affection of love, and thence every thought of the understand- 
ing, is in space without space, and in time without time ; for 
every one has the power to think of a brother, relation, or friend 
in the Indies, and thereby to bring him, as it were, present to 
his view ; in like manner he may be affected with love towards 
him by recollection. These considerations, then, which are 
familiar to every man, wfill serve in some measure to illustrate 
the divine omnipresence ; and the subject is capable of receiving 
still further light from the power of human thought and reflec- 
tion, which can make things as it were present before our eyes 
«uai we barely recollect to have seen at some distant time and 
place. Even corporeal vision has in some degree a like power ot 
removing the distance of bodies, and making them present with 
79 


34—66 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


ns ; for were there no intermediate bodies to be the measure of 
distance, the eye would not perceive that any distance existed, 
and consequently would see remote objects as if they were close 
at hand. The sun itself would appear near to the eye, and even 
within it, as writers on optics have show r n, supposing that no 
intervening objects discovered its remoteness. Man’s intellec- 
tual and corporeal vision have each this power of abstracting dis- 
tance, and promoting the presence of bodies, in consequence ot 
the spirit within using the outward eye to see through ; but 
other animals have not the like power, ^ecause they do not en- 
joy spiritual vision. From these considerations, then, it is very 
evident that God is omnipresent in all the gradations of his own 
order from first to last: that he is also omnipresent in hell was 
shown in the foregoing article. 

65. YI. That man was created a form of divine order. 

That man was created a form of divine order, is a conse- 
quence of his being created an image and likeness of God ; there- 
fore since God is order itself, man was created an image and 
likeness of order. There are two origins from which order 
exists, and by which it subsists, divine love and divine wisdom ; 
and man was created a receptacle of them both ; consequently 
he was created in the order according to which these two 
principles operate in the universe, and particularly into that 
according to which they operate in the angelic heaven ; for by 
virtue of such operation that whole heaven is a form of divine 
order in its largest portraiture, and appeal's in the sight of God 
as a single man. There is also a plenary correspondence be- 
tween that heaven and man, insomuch that there is not a single 
society in that heaven which does not correspond with some 
member, viscus, or organ in man. It is therefore common in 
heaven to say that such a society is in the province of the liver, 
the pancreas, the spleen, the stomach, the eye, the ear, or the 
tongue, and so forth ; the angels also know in what district or 
jurisdiction of any part of man they dwell. The truth of this 
has been evinced to me by ocular demonstration ; for I have 
seen a society of angels, consisting of several thousands, appear 
as a single man ; whence it was evident to me that heaven in 
the complex is an image of God, and an image of God is a form 
of divine order. 

66. It is to be observed, that all things wdiich proceed from 
the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah 
God, have some resemblance to man, and that consequently 
whatever things exist in that world have a general tendency to 
the human form, which, in their inmost essences, they exhibit ; 
whence all the visible objects in that w r orld are representatives 
of man. There appear animals of all kinds, which are likenesses 
of the affections of love, and of the thoughts thence generated 
m the bosoms of the angels ; in like manner shrubberies, flower- 

80 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


66, 67 

gardens, and green fields, in each of which the angels are en- 
abled to discover what particular affection this or that object 
represents ; and, what is very wonderful, when their inmost 
sight is opened, they know their own image in each object. 
The reason of this is, because every man is his own peculiar 
love, and hrs own peculiar thought arising from that love ; and 
since the affections, and the thoughts thence derived, are vari- 
ous and manifold in each particular man, and some of them 
represent the affection of one animal, and some of another, 
therefore the images of their affections are thus expressed : but 
more will be said hereafter on this subject in the article con- 
cerning creation. From these considerations it is also evident 
that the end of creation was the formation of an angelic heaven 
out of the human race, and consequently the end was man, in 
whom God may dwell, as in his peculiar receptacle ; which is 
the true cause why man was created a form of divine order. 

67. God before creation was Love itself and Wisdom it- 
self, in their respective tendencies to effect uses ; for love and 
wisdom without use, are merely volatile existences in the mind, 
which do really take wing and fly away, unless they be firmly 
fixed in uses ; and in that case they may be compared with birds 
which take their flight over an extensive ocean, but at last fall 
down through fatigue, and perish in the waters. Hence it 
appears that the universe was created by God for the existence 
of uses, on which account it may with propriety be called a 
theatre of uses ; and since man is the principal end of creation, 
it follows of consequence that all and every thing was created 
for his sake, and therefore that all the properties of order, both 
in general and in particular, were collected into him, and con- 
centrated in him, to the intent that God by him might effect 
primary uses. Love and wisdom, without their attendant, use, 
may be likened to the sun’s heat and light, which, unless they 
operated upon men, animals, and vegetables, would be mere 
vain things, but which become real by such influx and opera- 
tion. There are three things which follow each other in order 
— end, cause, and effect; and it is well known in the learned 
world that the end is nothing unless it regard the efficient 
cause ; and that the end, together with this cause, are nothing, 
unless they produce the effect. The end and the cause may 
indeed be abstractedly contemplated in the mind ; but still it 
should be with a view to producing some effect, which the end 
intends, and the cause promotes. The case is similar with 
regard to love, wisdom, and use : it is use which love intends 
and produces by wisdom ; and when use is produced, love and 
wisdom acquire a real existence, and in this make for themselves 
a habitation and a seat, where they may be at rest as in their 
own house. So also it is with man, in whom the love and wis- 
dom of God abide, while he is promoting uses ; and for the sake 
81 g 


67—69 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


of promoting divine uses he was created an image and likeness, 
that is, a form of divine order. 

68. YII. That a man has power against evil and thh 

FALSE FROM THE DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE ; HE HAS WISDOM RESPECTING 
GOOD AND TRUTH FROM THE DIVINE OMNISCIENCE ; AND HE IS IN GOD 
BY VIRTUE OF THE DIVINE OMNIPRESENCE, IN PROPORTION AS HE 
LIVES ACCORDING TO DIVINE ORDER. 

That a man has power against evils and falses from the 
Divine Omnipotence, in proportion as he lives according to 
divine order, is owing to this, that none can resist evils and the 
falses thence originating but God alone ; for all evils and the 
falses thence originating are from hell, and are there connected 
as one single body, just as all the varieties of good and truth 
are connected in heaven. For, as was observed above, the whole 
heaven appears before God as a single man, and, on the other 
hand, the whole hell as a single gigantic monster ; therefore, to 
oppose one single evil, or one single false originating from evil, 
is to oppose that gigantic monster, or hell, which none can do 
but God, by virtue of his omnipotence : hence it is evident that 
unless a man approaches the omnipotent God, he has no more 
power of himself against evil and the falses thence originating 
than a fish has against the ocean, or a flea has against a whale, 
or a grain of sand has to oppose a falling mountain ; yea, a 
locust might more easily withstand an elephant, and a fly a 
camel, than a man in such a case withstand hell. Moreover, a 
man has still less power against evil and the false thence origi- 
nating, since he is born into evil, and evil has no power to act 
against itself. Hence it follows, that except a man lives accord- 
ing to order, that is, except he acknowledges God and his om- 
nipotence, and protection thereby against hell ; and except he 
further, on his part also, fights against evil in himself (for this 
as well as the former, is a law of order), he must of necessity 
sink down into hell, be overwhelmed there, and tossed and 
driven by the storms of various evils, one after another, like a 
little bark in a tempestuous sea. 

69. The reason why a man has wisdom respecting good and 
truth from the Divine Omniscience, in proportion as he lives 
according to divine order, is, because all love of goodness, and 
all wisdom of truth, or all the good of love, and all the truth of 
wisdom, is from God. This is agreeable to the confession of 
every church in Christendom ; hence it follows that a man can- 
not be interiorly principled in any truth of wisdom but from 
God, who is omniscient, that is, who has infinite wisdom. The 
human mind, like the angelic heaven, is divided into three dis- 
tinct degrees, and hence it may be elevated to a degree higher 
and higher, or depressed to a degree lower and lower ; but in pro- 
portion as it is elevated to the higher degrees, it is exalted to 
wisdom, because it has a proportionable admission into the light 

82 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


69, TO 


of heaven, which can only be effected by God ; and so far as it is 
elevated into that light, it becomes a man ; but so far as it is de- 
pressed to the lower degrees, it sinks into the false light of hell, 
and becomes not a man, but a beast. It is for this reason that 
a man stands erect upon his feet, and looks upward with his 
face towards the firmament, and can raise his eye even to behold 
the zenith ; whereas a beast stands on his feet in a posture 
parallel with the ground, to which every feature of his face is 
inclined, so that it is with difficulty he can raise his countenance 
upwards to behold the heavens. The man who raises his mind 
towards God, and acknowledges every truth of wisdom to pro- 
ceed from him, and, at the same time, lives according to order, 
is like one standing on a high tower, wh’o sees a populous city 
below, and can discern what is doing in the streets ; but the 
man w T ho confirms himself in a belief that every truth of wisdom 
is derived from his own natural light, and consequently from 
himself, is like one confined in a cavern under that tower, 
who through its clefts looks towards the same city, but can 
discern nothing therein save the wall of some one house, and 
how the bricks of which it is built are cemented together. 
Moreover, the man who draws wisdom from God is like a bird 
flying aloft, which enjoys a wide and extensive view of whatever 
is contained in the gardens, woods, and villages beneath, and 
directs its flight to whatever is required for its use ; but the man 
who draws wisdom from himself, without a belief that it is from 
God, is like a hornet flying close a,long the ground, which lights 
upon the first dunghill in its way, and regales itself in its filthi- 
ness. Every man, so long as he lives upon earth, walks in a 
midway between heaven and hell, and consequently is in equi- 
librium, so as to have freedom of will either to look upward to- 
wards God, or downward towards hell. If he looks upward to- 
wards God, he acknowledges that all wisdom is from him, and 
as to his spirit is actually in consort with angels in heaven ; but 
if he looks downward, as every one does who is under the influ- 
ence of falses originating from evil, he is then, as to his spirit, 
actually in consort with devils in hell. 

TO. The reason why a man, by virtue of the divine omni- 
presence, is in God, in proportion as he lives according to order, 
is, because God is omnipresent, and wherever he is in his own 
divine order, there he is as in himself, because, as was shown 
above, he is order itself. Now since man was created a form of 
divine order, God is in him ; and so far as a man lives according 
to divine order, God is in him after a full and plenary manner ; 
but if he does not live according to divine order, God is still in 
him ; but then he is only in the highest regions of the soul, so 
as to give him the capacity of understanding what is true, and 
willing what is good ; that is, he gives him the capacity to 
understand, and the inclination to love : but in proportion as a 
83 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD, 


70, 71 

man lives contrary to order, in the same proportion he closes up 
the inferior regions of his mind or spirit, and so prevents Goa 
from descending and filling those inferior regions with his pres- 
ence ; the consequence of which is, that God is in him, but he 
is not in God. It is therefore a general canon in heaven, that 
God is in every man, whether he be evil or good, but that a man 
is not in God unless he lives according to order; for thus the 
Lord expresses his desire, not only that he should be in man, 
but that man should be in him : “Abide in me, and I in you” 
(John xv. 4). That a man is in God by a life according to order, 
is a consequence of the divine omnipresence throughout the uni- 
verse and all its component parts, in their inmost essences, for 
these are in order; but where there is a contrariety to order, as 
is the case with those things alone that are without and below 
the inmost essences, there God is omnipresent by a continual 
struggle with them, and a perpetual endeavor to reduce them to 
order. In proportion therefore as a man suffers himself to be 
reduced to order, God is omnipresent in the whole of him, and 
consequently God is so far in him, and he in God. The absence 
of God from a man is as impossible as the absence of the sun, by 
heat and light, from the earth ; earthly objects however do not 
enjoy the sun’s virtue, except so far as they are recipient of his 
proceeding heat and light, as is the case in spring and. summer. 
These considerations may be applied to the omnipresence of God ; 
for a man is under the influence of spiritual heat and at the same 
time of spiritual light, that is, under the influence of the good o*f 
love and the truths of wisdom, only in proportion as he lives in 
and according to order. Spiritual heat and light, however, dif- 
fer from natural heat and light in this respect, that natural heat 
departs from the earth and its objects during winter, and the 
light departs during night, in consequence of the earth’s rota- 
tions round its own axis, and of its revolutions round the sun; 
whereas spiritual heat and' light are subject to no such vicissi- 
tudes, God being present with every one by the instrumentality 
of his sun, which undergoes no changes as the sun of this world 
apparently does. There is indeed a turning away from that sun 
on man’s part, just as the earth turns from its sun: when 
a man turns himself away from the truths of wisdom, he is like 
the earth in the night turned from its sun, and when from the 
good influences of love, he is like the earth turned from its sun 
in winter. Such is the correspondence between effects and uses 
derived from the sun of the spiritual world, and effects and uses 
derived from the sun of the natural world. 


71. I shall here subjoin three memorable relations. — 
First. I once [in the spiritual world] heard a noise like the 
roaring of the sea under my feet. On my inquiring what it was, 
a person informed me that it was a disturbance raised by a 
84 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


71 


crowd of people in the lower parts of the eartn, immediately 
over hell ; and presently the ground, which formed a kind of 
roof over their heads, opened asunder, and lo ! through the 
opening there flew forth birds of night in numerous lights, 
which spread themselves on my left hand; immediately after 
them there rose out locusts, which leaped on the grass, and 
made a desert wherever they came; and in a little while I heard 
alternately a sort of mournful note uttered by the birds of night, 
and a confused clamor on the side, as if it issued from spectres 
in the woods. After this I saw beautiful birds descending out 
of heaven, which spread themselves on my right hand. They 
were remarkable for the lustre of their wings, which shone like 
gold, interspersed with streaks and spots* as of silver, and some 
of them had crests on their heads in the form of crowns. While 
I was looking and wondering at these sights, suddenly there 
arose a spirit from the lower part of the earth where the dis- 
turbance was, who had the ability to transform himself into an 
angel of light ; and he cried with a loud voice, u Where is the 
man who speaks and writes concerning the order by which the 
omnipotent God has bound himself with regard to man ? For 
we have heard his tenets in our lower world.” When he had 
uttered these words, and had emerged from the opening beneath, 
he came running towards me along a paved way, and, instantly 
assuming the appearance of an angel of heaven, he thus ad- 
dressed me in a feigned tone of voice : “ Are you the man who 
thinks and speaks concerning order? If so, tell me briefly what 
is meant by order, and what are its chief properties.” I replied, 
“ I will acquaint you with some of its general laws ; but I will 
not enter into particulars,' because you cannot comprehend 
them.” I said, u 1. God is Order Itself. 2. He created man 
from order, in order, and to order. 3. He created his rational 
mind according to the order of the whole spiritual world, and 
his body according to the order of the whole natural world, on 
which account a man was called by the ancients a micro-uranos, 
or little heaven, and a microcosm, or little world. 4. Hence it 
is a law of order, that a man should submit his microcosm, or 
little natural world, to be governed by his micro-uranos, or little 
spiritual world, as God from his micro-uranos, or spiritual world, 
governs his microcosm, or natural world, in the whole and in 
every part. 5. A consequent law of order is, that it is a man’s 
duty to introduce himself into faith by truths derived from the 
Word, and into charity by good works, and thus to reform and 
regenerate himself. 6. It is a law of order, that a man should 
purify himself from sins by his own labor and power, and not 
stand idle under a conceit of his inability to do so, in a vain ex- 
pectation that God will wipe away his sins in an instant. 7. It 
is a further law of order, that a man should love God with all 
his soul, and with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself, and 
85 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


71, 72 

not wait and expect that such love should be immediately in- 
serted by God into his mind and heart, as bread is put into his 
mouth ; with many other particulars to the same purport.” 
When that Satanic spirit had heard these words, in a mild and 
gentle tone of voice, which he had the artifice to assume, he thus 
replied : “ What is this that you assert ? Must a man of his own 
ability introduce himself into order by the practice of its laws ? 
Do you not know that a man is not under the law, but under 
grace, and that all is of free gift, and that he can take nothing of 
himself except it be given him from above, and that in regard to 
spiritual things he has no more ability to act of himself, than 
had the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned, or than 
Dagon the idol of the Philistines in Ekron ; and that consequently 
it is impossible for a man to effect his ow T n justification, for 
which faith and charity are requisite ?” In reply to these ques- 
tions, I only said, “ It is a further law of order, that a man by 
his own labor and power should procure faith by means of truths 
collected from the Word, but yet should believe that he has 
not a grain of faith from himself, but all from God ; and fur- 
ther, that a man, by his own labor and power, should work out 
his own justification, but yet with this full belief, that not a jot 
of such justification is from himself, but all from God. Is it not 
commanded, that a man should believe in God, and love him 
with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself? and how 
could these duties have been commanded by God unless the 
man had the power to obey, and to practise them ?” When the 
Satanic spirit heard this, his countenance changed, and his com- 
plexion, which at first was fair, by degrees became swarthy 
and black ; and then, addressing me in this his proper charac- 
ter, he said, u You speak paradoxes upon paradoxes;” and in- 
stantly he sunk down to his own place, and disappeared. The 
birds on my left hand, together with the spectres, then uttered 
strange unusual cries, and immediately cast themselves into the 
sea, which is there called Suph , or the Red Sea, whither the lo- 
custs followed them : so the air was purified, and the earth rid 
of those fierce creatures ; the tumult below ceased, and all be- 
came tranquil and serene. 

72. The second memorable relation. — I once heard an 
uncommon murmur at a distance, and beirig in the spirit, I fol- 
lowed the direction of the noise, until I arrived at the place 
whence it proceeded ; where I found a company of spirits dis- 
puting together about imputation and predestination. They 
were Hollanders and Englishmen, with a few from other countries 
intermixed ; and these latter cried out, at the conclusion of every 
argument, Admirable ! admirable ! The subject of dispute was, 
why God does not impute the merits and righteousness of his 
Son to all and every person created, and afterwards redeemed 
bv him ; and the tenor of their inquiry was to this effect : “ Is 
80 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 72 

not God omnipotent? And cannot he therefore, if he please, 
change Lucifer, the dragon, and all that are called the goats on 
his left hand, into archangels ? For is he not omnipotent? Why 
does he permit the iniquity and impiety of the devil to triumph 
over his Son’s righteousness and the piety of his own true ser- 
vants ? What is more easy than for God to bestow faith, and 
thereby salvation, upon all ? Would not the pronouncing of a 
single word be sufficient for such a purpose? If all then are not 
saved, does he not act contrary to his own declaration, that he 
wishes not the death of a sinner, but that all should have ever- 
lasting life? Declare to us, therefore, from whom proceeds, and 
in whom rests, the cause of the damnation of those who perish.” 
A certain Hollander, then, who maintained the predestinarian 
and supralapsarian doctrine, replied, “ Is it not in the disposal 
and good pleasure of Omnipotence to make his vessels as he 
likes? And shall the clay find fault with the potter, because he 
has not made it a vessel of honor ?” And another said, “ The 
salvation of every one is in the hand of God, as a balance in the 
hand of him that uses it.” There were standing, at a little dis- 
tance, certain spirits distinguished for simplicity of faith and 
uprightness of heart, some with their eyes inflamed, some ap- 
pearing to be stupefied, some as if intoxicated, and some as it 
were in a state of suffocation, by the preceding discourse ; who 
muttered one to another, “ What have we to do w r ith these wild 
extravagances ? These people are certainly infatuated with this 
their favorite faith, that God imputes the righteousness of his 
Son, and sends his Holy Spirit to give the pledges and proofs 
of that righteousness, to whatever persons, and at whatever 
times, he pleases ; and that, lest a man should claim any merit 
to himself in the work of salvation, he must be like a stone in 
the business of justification, and as a stick with regard to spiri- 
tual things.” And immediately one of them made his way into 
the crowd, and thus addressed them with a lou<j voice : “ O 
foolish people, how trifling and groundless are your reasonings ! 
You seem totally ignorant that the omnipotent God is order 
itself; and that the laws of order are ten thousand times ten 
thousand, being equal in number to the truths contained in the 
Word ; and that God cannot possibly act contrary to them, be- 
cause that would be to act contrary to himself, and therefore not 
only contrary to righteousness, but also to his own omnipotence.” 
While he was thus speaking, he saw on his right hand, as it 
were, a sheep and a lamb, and a dove upon the wing, and on his 
left hand a goat, a wolf, and a vulture; and he said, “Do you 
suppose it possible for God, by his omnipotence, to turn that 
goat into a sheep, or that wolf into a lamb, or that vulture into 
a dove, or the contrary? Ho; for it is contrary to the laws of 
his order, one tittle of which cannot fall to the ground, as he 
himself has declared : how then can he impart the righteousness 
87 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


72, 73 


of his Son’s redemption to one who spurns at the laws of that 
righteousness ? Or how can righteousness commit unrighteous- 
ness, by predestinating any to hell, and casting them into that 
fire which the devil kindles and feeds? O foolish and carnal 
people, your faith has seduced you, and has become in your 
hands like a snare to catch doves.” On hearing these words, a 
certain magician formed as it were a snare or gin, after the 
image of that faith, and hung it in a tree, saying, “ Observe and 
see how I shall catch that dove but just as he spoke, a hawk 
flew towards the snare, and entangled his neck in it, and was 
taken ; while the dove, seeing the hawk, flew past and escaped. 
Then all who stood by were amazed at the sight, and cried out, 
“ Behold in this sportive image a proof of God’s righteousness.” 

73. The next day there came to me several of the same 
company, who favored the doctrine of predestination and impu- 
tation, and said, “We are like men drunken, not with wine, 
but with the discourse we heard yesterday about omnipotence 
and order, and with the conclusion which the speaker deduced, 
that as omnipotence is divine, so likewise is order ; yea, that 
God himself is order, and that there are as many laws relating 
to it, as there are truths contained in God’s Word, which 
amount not to thousands only, but to ten thousand times ten 
thousand ; and that God is bound to the observance of his own 
laws declared therein, and man to his : but, according to this 
statement, what are we to understand by divine omnipotence ? 
If it be tied up by laws, it is no longer absolute ; and is not the 
power of God in such a case inferior to that of an earthly 
monarch, who can change the laws of justice at his pleasure, 
and act with an absolute authority, either like that of Octavius 
Augustus, or like that of Nero ? From the moment we thought 
of omnipotence as bound by laws, we became as it were drunken, 
and are now ready to faint away, unless some remedy be imme- 
diately applied : for it has been our custom, in consequence of 
our faith, to pray to the Father, that he would be merciful to us 
for the sake of his Son ; and we have been used to believe, that 
he can be merciful, and forgive sins, to whomsoever he pleases, 
and save whomsoever he wills ; and we durst not rob him of the 
smallest prerogative of his omnipotence ; therefore to bind God 
with the chains of any of his own laws, appeared to us a great 
wickedness, because it seemed opposed to his omnipotence.” 
When they had thus spoken, they looked on me, and I on them ; 
and observing their amazement, I said, “ I will entreat the Lord 
for you, and will thereby procure you a remedy, by the illustra- 
tion of the subject of your doubts ;• but at present I shall adduce 
some examples only. The omnipotent God created the world 
from the order which is in himself, consequently agreeably to 
the order in which he himself is, and according to which" he 
rules; and he stamped on the universe and all its parts, as on 
8 * 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 73 

man and beast, on birds and fishes, on worms, on every tree and 
herb, its own particular order. For instance, the laws of order 
prescribed to or stamped on man, are, that he acquire for himself 
truths from the Word ; that he weigh and digest them, accord- 
ing to his best natural and rational powers ; and thus that he 
furnish himself with what may be called natural faith ; in which 
case the laws of order on God’s part are, that he will approach 
* those truths so acquired, and fill them with his own divine light, 
and thus communicate a divine essence to man’s natural faith, 
which of itself is only science and persuasion, and which can 
only become saving faith by this process. The case is the same 
with respect to charity, as will appear in these few instances : 
God, according to his laws, cannot remit sins to any person, but 
in proportion as that person, according to his laws, ceases from 
them ; nor can God spiritually regenerate any person, but in 
proportion as that person, agreeably to his laws, naturally re- 
generates himself. God is continually striving to regenerate, 
and thus to save, every man ; but he cannot effect his purpose 
except the man prepares himself to become a receptacle, and by 
this makes the way smooth for God’s approach, and opens the 
door for his admission : as a bridegroom cannot enter into the 
chamber of a virgin not betrothed to him in marriage, for she 
shuts the door, and locks herself in ; but when she becomes a 
bride, she then gives the bridegroom the key. God could not, 
by his omnipotence, have redeemed mankind, unless he had 
himself been made a man ; nor could he have made his humanity 
divine, unless it had been at first like the humanity of an infant, 
and afterwards like that of a child, and lastly, had formed itself 
into a receptacle and habitation into which its Father might 
enter, which was effected by fulfilling all things contained in the 
Word, that is, all the laws of order therein ; for in proportion as 
this was accomplished, the humanity united itself to the Father, 
and the Father united himself to the humanity. But these are 
only a few instances, adduced for your satisfaction, and to con- 
vince you that divine omnipotence is within the bounds of order, 
and that its government, which is called providence, is according 
to order, and that it acts continually and eternally in conformity 
with the laws of its own order, which it cannot contradict, or 
change as to a single tittle, because order, with all its laws, is 
Himself.” When I had ended these words, a radiant light of a 
golden tinge darted in through the roof, and presented an ap- 
pearance of cherubs flying in the air ; and its ruddy glow shone 
upon some who were present, on that part of their temples which 
is nearest the occiput, but net as yet on the fore part of their 
temples ; for they muttered to each other, saying, “ We are still 
ignorant what omnipotence is but I replied, It will bo re- 
vealed to you, as soon as the foregoing considerations have be- 
come productive by the accession of some degree of light.” 

89 


74 THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 

74. The third memorable relation. — I once observed [m 
the spiritual world] a concourse of people at a distance, with 
caps upon their heads ; the caps of some were bound around witl 
silk, and these were of the clerical order ; the caps of others had 
their borders adorned with bands of gold, and these were of 
the civil order, all of them men of deep learning and erudition : 
besidse these, I observed others who wore a sort of turbans on 
their heads, and these were illiterate men. As I drew near, I 
heard them conversing upon the unboundedness of the divine 
power, urging, “ that if it proceeded according to any appointed 
laws of order, it would not be unlimited, but limited, and con- 
sequently would only be power, but not omnipotence ; whereas 
how plain is it to see, that no necessity of law can compel om- 
nipotence to act after any one particular manner and no other- 
wise ! Certainly while we conceive omnipotence to be deter- 
mined by any particular laws of order, our preconceived ideas 
fall down like a hand bereft of the staff on which it leaned.” 
Several of them, then, observing me approach, came running to 
me, and with some earnestness exclaimed, “Are you the man 
that has circumscribed God with laws, as with bonds ? How 
rash- and unbecoming is your conduct ! Besides, you have thus 
rent in pieces the principles of our faith, on which our salvation 
is founded, in the midst of which we place the righteousness of 
the Redeemer, and over this the omnipotence of God the Father, 
to which we add the operation of the Holy Spirit as a necessary 
appendage. The efficacy of this faith we establish from the 
absolute impotence of man with respect to things spiritual, it 
being sufficient for him to allow of a fulness of justification as 
being contained in that faith by virtue of the divine omnipo- 
tence ; whereas we are informed that you regard such a faith as 
vain and groundless, because it contains nothing relative to 
divine order on man’s part.” On hearing this, I began to 
speak, and said, in a commanding tone, “ Learn the laws of 
divine order, and after that disclose your faith, and you will see 
as it were a vast desert, and leviathan therein, that crooked and 
oblong serpent, and all around it nets, entangled as it were into 
an inextricable knot ; but do as Alexander is reported to have 
done, who, when he saw the Gordian knot, drew his sword, cut 
it in pieces, and thus loosed its entanglements, and throwing it 
on the ground trod it under his feet.” As I uttered these words 
the congregation bit their tongues, with an intent to sharpen 
them for scoffing and abuse ; but they were afraid to proceed, 
for they saw heaven open above me, and heard from thence 
these words, “ Give ear with moderation, while you are taught 
the nature of order, according to whose laws the omnipotent 
God acts.” On this I said, “ God from himself, as from order, 
created the universe in order, and to order ; in like manner he 
created man, in whom he fixed the laws of his own order, bv 
90 


THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. 


n 


virtue of which he became an image and likeness of God. The 
sum and substance of those laws are, that a man should believe 
in God, and love his neighbor ; and in the same proportion as 
he practises those tw T o duties by his own natural powers, he 
makes himself a receptacle of the divine omnipotence, and God 
conjoins himself to him and him to himself, and hence his faith 
becomes a living and saving faith, and his actions living and 
saving charity. It is however to be observed, that God is per- 
petually present with every man, and is continually striving 
with and acting upon him, and even touches his free will, but 
yet never forces it ; for if a man’s free will should be forced, his 
power of abiding in God would be destroyed, and nothing would 
remain but the abiding of God in him, which latter is common 
to all, whether on earth, in heaven, or in hell ; for it is hence 
that they derive their respective principles of pow T er, of will, and 
of understanding. The reciprocal abiding of a man in God is, 
however, only effected among those who live according to the 
laws of order prescribed in the Word. These become images 
and likenesses of him, and to these paradise is given for a pos- 
session, and the fruit of the tree of life for food ; but all others 
assemble about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and 
converse there with the serpent, and eat of the fruit of .that 
tree, and are afterwards expelled from paradise ; nevertheless 
God does not forsake them, but they forsake God.” These re- 
marks were understood and approved by those who wore caps ; 
but those who wore turbans denied and contradicted them, say- 
ing, “ Is not omnipotence hereby limited ? and does not a limi- 
tation of omnipotence imply a contradiction ?” To this I re- 
plied, “It is no contradiction to act omnipotently according to 
the laws of justice with judgment, or according to the laws in- 
scribed on love from wisdom ; but it is a contradiction to sup- 
pose that God can act contrary to the laws of his own justice 
and love, which would be to act from no principle of judgment 
and wisdom ; yet such a contradiction is implied in this faith of 
yours, that God can of mere grace justify an unrighteous person, 
and enrich him with all the gifts of salvation and the rewards of 
life. But I will tell you in a few words what the omnipotence 
of God is. God by virtue of his omnipotence created the uni- 
verse, and at the same time introduced order into all and every 
part thereof; God also, by virtue of his omnipotence, preserves 
the universe, and watches perpetually over the order established 
in it with all its laws, and when any thing departs from order, 
he brings it back, and restoVes it again. Moreover, by virtue oi 
his omnipotence, God established the church, and revealed the 
laws of its order in his Word ; and when it fell from order, he 
effected its restoration ; and when it totally fell, he came down 
into the world, and by means of the Humanity which ha 
assumed, clothed himself with omnipotence, and so restored it 

in 


H, 75 ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 

again. God, by his omnipotence and omniscience together, 
examines every one after death, and prepares the righteous, or 
his sheep, for their respective places in heaven, and forms heaven 
of them ; but he prepares the unrighteous, or the goats, for their 
respective places in hell, and of them also forms hell. More- 
over, he disposes both heaven and hell into societies and congre- 
gations, according to all the varieties of love which prevail in 
each, and which in heaven are as many as the stars in the firma- 
ment ; and he joins the heavenly societies into one, that they 
may be as a single man in his sight : in like manner he joins 
together the congregations in hell, that they may be as a single 
diabolic form ; and he separates the latter from the former by a 
great gulf, lest hell should do violence to heaven, and lest heaven 
should be an occasion of torment to hell ; for those who are in 
hell suffer torment in proportion as they receive the influx from 
heaven. Unless God, by his omnipotence, were thus continually 
active both in heaven and hell, the bestial nature would enter 
and take possession of men, so that no laws of any order would 
be effectual to restrain them, and thus the human race would 
entirely perish. These and the like mischiefs would come to 
pass, unless God were order, and omnipotent in order.’’ On 
hearing this, those who wore caps departed with them under 
their arms, praising God ; for in the spiritual world the intelli- 
gent wear caps ; not so those who wore turbans, for they were 
bald, and baldness signifies stupidity and dulness ; the latter 
therefore went away to the left hand, but the former to the 
right. 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 

75. As in this first chapter we have treated upon God the 
Creator, we ought also to treat upon the creation of the universe 
by him, as in the following chapter concerning the Lord the 
Eedeemer, we shall also treat upon redemption. None, how- 
ever, can form a just idea concerning the creation of the uni- 
verse, unless the understanding be brought into a state of per- 
ception by certain universal knowledges being premised, such 
as the following : — I. There are two worlds, a spiritual world 
for angels and spirits, and a natural world lor men. II. In each 
world there is a sun, and the sun of the spiritual world is pure 
love from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it ; and from that 
sun proceed heat and light, the heat thence proceeding being in 
its essence love, and the light thence proceeding being in its 
essence wisdom ; and these two affect the will and understand- 
ing of man, the heat his will, and the light his understanding ; 
but the sun of the natural world is pure fire, and therefore the 
92 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 75, 76 

heat and light thence proceeding are dead, and serve as cloth- 
ing and aids to spiritual heat and light, by which they may be 
conveyed to man. III. Further, the heat and light proceeding 
from the sun of the spiritual world, and consequently whatever 
exists by their means in that world, are substantial, and are 
called spiritual ; and the heat and light proceeding from the sun 
of the natural world, and consequently whatever exists therein 
by their means, are material, and are called natural. IY. In 
each world there are three degrees, which are called degrees ot 
altitude, and consequently three regions, according to which the 
three angelic heavens are arranged ; there is also a similar 
arrangement in human minds, which thus correspond with the 
three angelic heavens ; and other things in each world have a 
like arrangement. Y. There is a correspondence between the 
things that exist in the spiritual world and those that exist in 
the natural world. YI. There is an order, in and according to 
which all and every thing in both worlds was created. Y1I. 
Unless a just idea on these subjects be first obtained, the human 
mind may, by mere ignorance, be easily betrayed into an idea 
of the creation of the universe by nature, and allow nature to be 
created by God only in compliance with the authority of the 
church ; but because it knows not how this was effected, if it 
enters upon a deeper investigation of the subject, it kills into 
naturalism, which denies the being of a God. Since, however, 
a particular explanation and demonstration of those propositions 
would require a volume to do them justice, and besides do not 
properly belong to a system of theology, I shall content myselt 
with laying before the reader some memorable relations, by 
which he may conceive an idea of the creation of the universe 
by God, and after conception may produce a birth representa- 
tive of such creation. 


76. The first memorable relation. — On a certain day I 
was engaged in meditation upon the creation of the universe : 
and this being perceived by some angels above me on the right 
side, where there were some who had been accustomed to such 
meditations and reflections, one of them descended, and invited 
me up to them. I was in the spirit, and attended him ; and on 
my entrance into his society, I was conducted to the prince, in 
whose palace I saw some hundreds assembled, and the prince in 
the midst of them. Then one of them accosted me, and said, 
“Ye have perceived in our society that you were meditating 
about the creation of the universe, in which meditation we have 
also sometimes been engaged ; but we could never come to any 
certain conclusion on the subject, by reason that our thoughts 
were perplexed with the idea of a chaos, as of a large egg, from 
which the universe and all its parts were brought forth in their 
93 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 

respective orders ; but we now perceive that so great a universe 
could not possibly be produced in such a manner. There was 
also another idea riveted fast in our minds, that all things were 
created by God out of nothing ; and yet we now perceive,, that 
out of nothing nothing can be produced. From these two ideas 
we have not yet been able so far to extricate our minds, as to 
discover the nature and manner of creation in any degree of 
clearness : we have therefore called you up from the place where 
we observed you, to desire that you would disclose. to us your 
meditation on this subject.” “ Your desire,” I replied, “ shall 
be granted :” and I said, w This subject had often engaged my 
meditations, yet to no purpose ; but after I was admitted by the 
Lord into your world, I perceived the impossibility, of coming to 
any just conclusion about the creation of the universe, except 
it be first known that there are two worlds, one inhabited by 
angels, and another by men ; and that men after death depart 
out of their world into the other : and then also I saw that there 
were two suns, one from which all spiritual things proceed, and 
the other from which all natural things proceed ; and that the 
sun from which all spiritual things proceed is pure love from 
Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it, and that the sun from 
which all natural things proceed is pure fire. Knowing these 
truths, I once, when in a particular state of illustration, was en- 
abled to perceive that the universe was created by Jehovah God, 
by the instrumentality of the sun in the midst of which he is ; 
and since love cannot exist but in union with wisdom, I saw 
that the universe was created by Jehovah God out of his love, 
by means of his wisdom : and I was convinced of this by all and 
every tiling that I observed, both in your world and in that 
where I am as to the body. But to explain the several stages 
and progressions of creation from its beginning,' would take up 
too much of your time : during my state of illustration, however, 
[ perceived that, by means of the light and heat proceeding 
from the sun of your world, spiritual atmospheres were created, 
which are substantial in their natures, and that one was derived 
from another ; and they being three in number, and conse- 
quently there being three degrees of them, three heavens were 
also formed, one for the angels who are in the highest degree of 
love and wisdom, another for angels in the second degree, and a 
third for angels in the lowest degree. But because this spiritual 
universe cannot exist without a natural universe, there to pro- 
duce its effects and uses, 1 perceived that the sun, from which 
all natural things proceed, was created at the same time ; and 
in like manner, by means of his heat and light, three natural 
atmospheres were produced, encompassing the former, as the 
shell of a nut does the kernel, or as the bark of a tree encom- 
passes the wood ; and lastly, by means of these atmospheres, the 
terraqueous globe was formed to be the abode of men, beasts, fish, 
94 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 76, 77 

and other animals, and also to bear trees, shrubs, and herbs, ' 
on its surface, consisting of different kinds of earth, minerals, and 
stones. This, however, is only a rude and general sketch ot 
creation and its progression ; the particulars it would require 
volumes of books to explain. All things however serve to prove 
that God did not create the universe out of nothing, since, as 
you observed, out of nothing nothing can be produced ; but he 
created it by the instrumentality of the sun of the angelic 
heaven, which is derived from his Esse, and consequently is 
pure love in union with wisdom. That the universe, which in- 
cludes both the spiritual and the natural worlds, was created out 
of the divine love by the divine wisdom, is clearly and plainly 
evidenced by all its parts ; and if you will consider each part in 
its order and connection, by virtue of the light which illumi- 
nates the perceptions of your understandings, you will be en- 
abled to see that it must be so. It is to be observed, however, 
that love and wisdom, which are one in God, are not love and 
wisdom in an abstract sense, but are in God as a substance ; for 
God is the very, the only, and consequently the first substance 
and essence, which is and subsists in itself. That all and every 
thing was created out of the divine love by the divine wisdom, 
is signified by these words in John : ‘ The Word was with God, 
and the Word was God; — all things were made by him, — and 
the world was made by him’ (i. 1, 3, 10). In this passage, 
God signifies divine love, and the Word signifies divine truth, or 
divine wisdom ; for which reason the Word is also called light ; 
and by light, when spoken of God, is signified divine wisdom.” 
As I finished speaking, and was preparing to take my leave, 
some sparks of light, descending through the angelic heavens 
from the spiritual sun, entered their eyes, and passed thence 
into the interiors of their minds ; and by the illustration of that 
light they were disposed to favor all that I had said. After- 
wards they attended me to the outer court of the palace ; and 
the angel, who had introduced me, accompanied me to the house 
where he found me, and from thence reascended to his own 
society. 

77. The second memorable relation. — One morning, as 
1 awoke from sleep, before it was broad daylight, the sky being 
very serene, I saw through the window, while I was engaged in 
meditation, as it were, a flash of lightning ; and presently I 
heard, as it were, a clap of thunder. Wondering whence this 
could be, I was informed from heaven, that there were some 
spirits not far from me, who were engaged in a sharp debate 
concerning God and Nature, and that the vibration of light like 
lightning, and the clapping of the air like thunder, were corre- 
spondences, and consequent appearances, of the conflict and col- 
lision of arguments, on one side in favor of God, and on the 
other in favor of nature. The occasion of this spiritual combat 
95 


77 ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 

was as follows : there were in hell some satans, who had ex- 
pressed a desire that they might be permitted to converse with 
the angels of heaven ; “ for,” said they, “ we will clearly prove, 
that what they call God, the Creator of all things, is nothing 
but nature ; consequently, that God is a word without meaning, 
unless nature be meant' and because those satans believed 
this to be true with all their heart and all their soul, and had a 
desire to converse with the angels of heaven, they were per- 
mitted to ascend out of the filth and darkness of hell, and to 
converse with two angels at that time descending from heaven. 
They were in the world of spirits, which is in the midst between 
heaven and hell ; and the satans, when they saw the angels, ran 
towards them with all speed, and cried out in an angry tone ol 
voice, “ Are you the angels of heaven, with whom we are per- 
mitted to engage in debate concerning God and nature ? You 
are called wise, because you acknowledge God ; but oh, how 
simple you are ! for who ever saw God, or wdio understands 
what God is, or who can conceive that God governs, or is able 
to govern, the universe and all the things it contains ? And 
who but the vulgar, and the common herd of mankind, acknow- 
ledge what they neither see nor understand ? Besides, what is 
more evident than that nature is all in all? For is it not nature 
alone which we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with 
our nostrils, taste with our tongues, and touch and feel with our 
hands and bodies ? And are not our bodily senses the best evi- 
dences of truth ? And according to their evidence would not 
any one swear that this is the truth ? For is not respiration, by 
which the body is kept alive, a plain proof that we breathe no- 
thing but nature ? Are not our heads and yours in nature ; and 
have we not from thence an influx into the thoughts, without 
which influx it would be impossible to think at all ?” And in 
this strain did they continue their attack. When the angels 
had heard these things, they replied, “ This is your jnethod ol 
arguing, because you are mere sensualists ; for all who are in hell 
have the ideas of their thoughts immersed in the bodily senses, 
above which they have no power to elevate them : we therefore 
excuse your ignorance, since evil of life, and a false faith thence 
derived, have closed up the interiors of your minds, so that you 
are incapable of any elevation above the objects of sense, except 
while you are in a state removed from the evils of life, and the 
falses of faith ; for a satan can understand truth, as well as an 
angel, just at the time it is proposed to him ; but then he does 
not retain it, because evil obliterates truth, and gives only the 
impressions of the false. But we perceive that you are now 
in such a state of removal from evil, and can therefore under- 
stand the truth that we speak ; attend therefore to what we now 
declare to you.” The angels proceeded thus : “ You have lived 
in the natural world, and have died there, and are now in the 
96 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 


77 


spiritual world : have you, till now, known any tiling concern- 
ing a life after death ? Did you not, till now, deny such a life, 
and thereby degrade yourselves to a level with beasts ? Had 
you before any knowledge of heaven and hell, or of the light 
and heat of this world, or of your being now no longer within 
nature, but above it ? for this world and whatever it contains is 
spiritual, and spiritual things are in a sphere above natural, so 
that not the least part or property of nature, wherein you have 
lived, can have admission by influx into this world. But you, 
in consequence of believing nature to be a god, or a goddess, 
believe also that the light and heat of this world are the same 
with the light and heat of the natural world ; whereas they are 
totally different, natural light being darkness here, and natural 
heat cold. Moreover, have you hitherto had any knowledge of 
the sun of this world, from whence our light and heat proceed ? 
Have you understood that this sun is pure love, and the sun of 
the natural world pure fire ? that the sun of the natural world, 
which is pure fire, gives existence and subsistence to nature, but 
that the sun of heaven, which is pure love, gives existence and 
subsistence to life itself, which is love united with wisdom ? and 
that consequently nature, which you make to be a god or a god- 
dess, is absolutely dead and lifeless ? Under the care of a pro- 
per guard, you may ascend with us into heaven, and we also, 
under the same protection, can descend with you into hell. In 
heaven are to be seen the most magnificent and splendid objects, 
but in hell the most filthy and unclean ; the reason of which 
difference is, because all in heaven worship God, and all in hell 
worship nature ; and the magnificent and splendid objects in 
heaven are correspondences, agreeable to the affections of the 
love of good and truth ; but the filthy and unclean objects in 
hell are correspondences agreeable to the affections of the love 
of evil and the false. Judge then from these circumstances, 
whether God or nature be all in all.” To this the satans 
replied, “ In our present state we can conclude, from what you 
have told us, that there is a God ; but wdien the delights of evil 
take possession of our minds, we then see nothing but nature.” 
During this conversation the two angels and the satans were at 
no great distance from me, so that I could see and hear them. 
And, behold ! I perceived several gathered round theta, who in 
the natural world had been celebrated for their deep learn- 
ing ; and I was surprised to observe, that those great scholars 
at one time stood near the angels, and at another near the 
satans, and that they favored the opinions of those near whom 
they stood : and I was told, that the changes of their situ- 
ations were changes in the state of their minds, which some- 
times favored one side, and sometimes the other ; for, with re- 
gard to their faith, they were like Yertumni. Moreover the 
angels said, “Ye will tell vou a great mystery. On look- 
97 " h 


77, 73 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 


iug down upon the earth, and examining those who are most 
distinguished for their erudition, we have found six hundred out 
of a thousand to be favorers of nature, and the rest favorers of 
God ; and that the latter became favorers of God in conse- 
quence of having frequently maintained in their discourse, and 
this not from any conviction of their understandings, but only 
from hearsay, that nature is from God ; for frequent discourse 
from the memory and recollection, gives birth to an appearance 
of faith, although it may not be grounded in the thoughts and 
understanding.” After this the satans were intrusted to a pro- 
per guard, and ascended with the two angels into heaven, where 
they saw scenes of the utmost magnificence and splendor ; and 
while they remained there in a state of illustration from the 
light of heaven, they acknowledged the being of a God, and that 
nature was created to be subservient to the life which is from 
God, and therefore that in itself it is dead, and has no power of 
action, but is acted upon by the life which is from God. Having 
seen and perceived these things, they descended, and, during 
their descent, the love of evil returned, closing their under- 
standing on the upper part, and opening it on the lower ; and 
immediately there appeared above it a dusky shade, sparkling 
from infernal fire ; and as soon as their feet touched the ground, 
it cleaved asunder beneath them, and they sunk down to their 
associates. 

78. The third memorable relation. — The day following, 
an angel came to me from another society in heaven, and said, 
“ We have heard in our heaven, that in consequence of medita- 
ting about the creation of the universe, you were invited up into 
a society in the vicinity of ours, where you gave such an account 
of the creation as was at the time agreeable to their sentiments, 
and has since given them much joy and delight, I will now 
show you how animals and vegetables of every kind were pro- 
duced by God.” He then led me into a large green field, and 
said, “ Look around :” and when I looked I saw birds of the 
most beautiful colors, some flying, some perching on trees, and 
some hopping on the ground and plucking the leaves of roses : 
among the birds I observed some doves and swans. When these 
had disappeared, I saw, at a small distance from me, several 
flocks of sheep with lambs, and of goats and kids ; and round 
about them I observed herds of cows and calves, and also of 
camels and mules, and in a neighboring grove, stags with high 
branching horns, and likewise unicorns. After I had looked 
some time on these objects, the angel said, “Turn your face 
towards the east and I did so, and saw a garden full of all 
kinds of fruit trees, as orange-trees, citrons, olives, vines, fig- 
trees, pomegranates, and shrubs of different sorts laden with 
berries. . The angel then said, “ Look now towards the south 
and I did so, and saw crops of various kinds of grain, as wheat 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 78 

oats, barley, and beans, and round about them beds of roses, the 
colors of which were most beautifully variegated. Towards the 
north were groves planted thick with chestnut-trees, palm-trees, 
linden-trees, plane-trees, and trees of several other kinds, all in 
the richest foliage. When I had sufficiently attended to these 
scenes, the angel said, “ All the objects which you have seen 
are correspondences, agreeable to the affections of love in the 
angels who dwell in the neighborhood.” He then told me 
with w T hat particular affections each particular object corre- 
sponded ; and, moreover, that not only those, but likewise every 
other visible form which they behold, are correspondences, as 
their houses, with the furniture and utensils contained in them, 
their tables, their food and raiment, also their gold and silver 
coin, together with the diamonds and other precious stones, 
with which the married women and virgins in heaven are 
adorned. “We perceive,” added he, “from all such things, 
what is the nature and quality of each person as to love and 
wisdom. The things that are in our houses, and which serve us 
for necessary uses, constantly remain there ; but in the eyes of 
such as w T ander from one society to another, they are changed 
according to consociation. You have been favored with these 
sights, that you might see creation in general exemplified in a 
particular type : for God is love itself and wisdom itself, and the 
affections of his love are infinite, as are also the perceptions of 
his wisdom, of which all and every object that appears on 
the face of the earth are correspondences. Hence come birds 
and beasts, trees and shrubs, corn and all sorts of grain, with 
herbs and grass of every kind : for God is not extended, but yet 
is everywhere in all extense, and consequently in the universe, 
from its first principles to its last effects ; and since he is omni- 
present, such correspondences of the affections of his love and 
wisdom exist throughout the whole natural world ; but in our 
world, which is called the spiritual world, the like correspond- 
ences exist with all those who receive affections and perceptions 
from God. The only difference is, that in our world such things 
are created by God instantaneously, according to the affections 
of the angels ; whereas in your world they were created in like 
manner at the beginning, but it was provided that they should 
be renewed successively by propagation from one another, and 
thus that creation should be continued. The reason why crea- 
tion in our world is instantaneous, and in yours is continued by 
successive propagations, is, because the atmospheres and soils in 
our world are spiritual, and the atmospheres and soils in your 
world are natural ; and natural things were created to be a 
clothing for spiritual, as the skin clothes the bodies of men and 
other animals, or as the rind and bark clothe the trunks and 
branches of trees, or as the two membranes, called the jpia and 
the dura mater , clothe the brain, or as the coats clothe the 
99 


78, 79 ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 

nerves, or the delicate membranes the nervous fibres, &c, Hence 
it is that all those objects in your world are fixed, and are also 
constant in their yearly return.” The angel further said, “ Go 
and tell what you have seen and heard to the inhabitants of the 
world where you dwell, because heretofore they have been in 
entire ignorance respecting the spiritual world, without a know- 
ledge of which it is impossible for any one to know, or even to 
guess, that creation is continual in our w’orld, and that it pro- 
ceeded in like manner in your w^orld, while the universe was 
creating by God.” 

After this we conversed on various subjects, and at last about 
hell, especially in regard to this circumstance, that none of the 
pleasing scenery of heaven is to be seen there, but all things in 
direct opposition ; because the affections of love in its inhabit- 
ants, which are the lusts of evil, are directly opposite to the 
affections of love that prevail in the angels of heaven. There- 
fore among the inhabitants of hell, particularly in their deserts, 
there appear birds of night, as bats and owls ; and likewise 
wolves, leopards, tigers, rats, and mice, with venomous serpents 
of all kinds, dragons and crocodiles ; and where there is any 
appearance of grass, there grow briers, nettles, thorns, and 
thistles, as well as certain poisonous plants, all which at times 
disappear, and then nothing is to be seen but heaps of stones, 
and large fens full of croaking frogs. These things also are 
correspondences ; but then, as was observed, they are corre- 
spondences agreeable to the affections of love in the inhabitants, 
which are the lusts of evil. Such things, however, are not 
created there by God, nor were they created by him in the 
natural world, where similar things exist ; for all things that 
God ever did or does create were and are good ; but they had 
their birth in the natural world together with hell, which de- 
rived its existence originally from men, who by turning away 
from God became devils and satans after the death of the body. 
But because this dreadful subject began to give us pain, we 
diverted our thoughts from it by the recollection of what we had 
seen in heaven. 

79. The fourth memorable relation. — Once, when I was 
in a spiritual state, reflecting on the creation of the universe, I 
was accosted by certain philosophers from the Christian world, 
who in their day had been particularly distinguished for their 
talents, and had acquired a reputation for wisdom. They said 
to me, “We perceive that your thoughts are engaged about 
creation ; tell us your sentiments upon that subject :” but I re- 
plied, “ Let me first hear yours.” Then one of them answered, 
“ My opinion is, that creation originates from nature, and con- 
sequently that nature created herself, and that she has existed 
from eternity ; since there never was, and never can be, such a 
thing as a vacuum : for, let me ask, what is it that we see with 
100 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 79 

our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with our nostrils, and receive 
into our lungs by respiration, except nature, which being with- 
out us, must of necessity also be within us ?” Another of the 
philosophers, on hearing this, said, “You talk of nature, and 
make her the creatrix of the universe ; but as you are unac- 
quainted with the manner of her operation, I will explain it to 
you. She folded herself up into vortexes, which by collision, 
like clouds one against another, or like houses overturned by an 
earthquake, were so arranged, that the denser parts collected 
themselves into one body, and these formed the globe of earth ; 
the more fluid parts separated themselves and, being also col- 
lected together, formed the seas ; and the parts still lighter, by 
a further separation, became air and ether ; and lastly, from the 
purest particles of these the sun was formed. Did you never 
observe that wdien oil, water, and earth are mixed together, they 
separate of their own accord, and arrange themselves in order 
one above another ?” Another of the philosophers, hearing this 
account, said, “ Your opinions are merely imaginary; for how 
plain is it to see, that all things had their birth originally from 
a chaos, which with its bulk filled the fourth part of the uni- 
verse ; that fire possessed the central sphere of that chaos, ether 
the sphere next above the fire, and gross matter the external 
sphere ; and that in process of time that chaos burst asunder, 
and let out first the fire, as from Mount ^Etna or Vesuvius, 
which gave birth to the sun, and after the fire, the ether rushed 
forth, and became an atmosphere ; and lastly the residue of 
gross matter collected itself into a round mass, and formed the 
globe of earth. "With respect to the stars, they are only lumi- 
naries in the expanse of the universe, which had birth from the 
sun’s fire and light ; for the sun was at first like an ocean of 
fire, and to prevent its burning the earth, it separated from its 
body several smaller fires, which having places assigned them in 
the circumference of the universe, completed the whole, and 
gave birth to what is called the firmament.” But there was 
standing among the philosophers a certain person, who said, 
“ You are in a great error; you appear to yourselves to be very 
wise, and consider me as very simple and ignorant ; yet in my 
ignorance and simplicity I have always believed, and do still 
believe, that the universe was created by God ; and since nature 
belongs to the universe, I believe also that universal nature was 
created at the same time ; but if nature had created herself, 
/must she not necessarily have existed from eternity? But, oh ! 
what folly is there in such a supposition !” Then one of the 
wise men, so called, drew nearer and nearer to the person who 
thus spoke, and applying his left ear to his mouth, for his right 
ear was stopped up as with cotton, he asked him what he had 
been saying, and the person repeated it over again : then the 
other looking round to see whether any ecclesiastic was near, 
101 


79 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 


perceived one standing at the right hand of the person who had 
been speaking ; on which he replied, “ I also acknowledge that 

universal nature is derived from God, but” Here he paused, 

and then went away, whispering to his companions, that the 
presence of the priest had extorted that declaration from him ; 
“ but,” says he, “ both you and I are well convinced that nature 
is derived from nature ; and since nature consequently is God, 
therefore I asserted that universal nature is derived from God : 

but” Here the priest overhearing their whisperings, said, 

u Your wisdom, which is merely philosophical, has deceived you, 
and closed the interiors of your minds, so that no light from 
God and his heaven can enter to enlighten you, for you have 
utterly extinguished it.” And he added, “ Consider, I pray, 
and determine with yourselves concerning the origin of your 
souls, which are immortal, whether they are the work of nature, 
or whether they existed together and at the same time in 
that great chaos which you talk of.” Then the philosopher 
went to his companions, requesting them to assist him in this 
difficult inquiry ; and they presently agreed in this conclusion 
that the human soul is mere ether, and that thought is nothing 
but a modification of that ether by means of the sun’s light, 
which ether is derived from nature. The sum of their argument 
was to the following purpose : “ How plain is it,” said they, 
“ that speech is framed by means of air ? And what is thought 
but speech framed in a purer air, which is called ether? Hence 
thought and speech are united, and make a one ; as is evident 
from a consideration of the infantile state of a man, who is first 
taught to speak, and by degrees to speak with himself, that is, 
to think ; of consequence, thought is a mere modification of 
ether, and the sound of the voice in speech is a mere modifica- 
tion of air ; from which circumstances we conclude that the 
soul, which is the subject of thought, is derived from nature.” 
These were the unanimous sentiments of the whole company; 
to which some added, by way of illustration, “ that human souls 
had their birth and beginning at the time of the ether’s emerg- 
ing from the fore-mentioned chaos, when it divided itself in the 
supreme region into innumerable individual forms, which infuse 
themselves into men when they begin to think under the in- 
fluence of the purer air, and are "then called souls.” Another of 
the company further said, “ I allow that the individual forms 
framed by the ether in its superior region were innumerable ; 
but still the number of men who have been born since the crea- 
tion of the world exceeds the number of such forms ; and how 
then could those forms be sufficient to frame so many souls ? It 
is therefore my opinion that departed souls, after a revolution of 
many ages, return into other bodies, and begin a course of life 
similar to that which they once lived, according to the known 
doctrine of the metempsychosis, which manv wise men have 
102 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 


79 


maintained.” Several other conjectures of the same kind were 
started by the rest of tlfe company, which, as being utterly 
absurd and groundless, I pass over in silence. After a short 
time the priest returned, and immediately the person who before 
spoke of the creation of the universe by God, acquainted him 
with their determinations concerning the human soul ; on which 
the priest again addressed them, and said, “ You have spoken 
agreeably to the sentiments you embraced while you were in the 
natural world, not knowing that you are no longer in that world, 
but in another, which is called the spiritual world ; for all such 
persons as, by confirming themselves in favor of nature, have 
acquired a sensual and corporeal life, have no knowledge of their 
change of state when they die, but fancy themselves still in the 
same world wherein they were born and educated. The reason 
of this is, because in the natural world their bodies were mate- 
rial, but here in the spiritual world their bodies are substantial ; 
and the substantial man sees himself and his companions about 
him just as the material man does ; for substantial existences 
are the primitives whence material existences are derived ; and 
because you now think, see, smell, taste, and speak, just as you 
did in the natural world, therefore you imagine that nature is 
the same in both worlds, when nevertheless the nature of this 
world is as different from the nature of the material world as 
what is substantial is from what is material, or what is spiritual 
from what is natural, or what is prior from what is posterior ; 
and since the nature of the world wherein you once lived is com- 
paratively dead, therefore you also, by confirming yourselves in 
favor of its operations, ^re become dead with respect to such 
things as relate to God and heaven, and to the church and your 
own souls. Notwithstanding, every man, whether he be good 
or evil, is capable of being elevated, as to his intellectual part, 
into the light which the angels of heaven enjoy, and may then 
see that there is a God and a life after death, and that a man’s 
soul is not merely ethereal, and formed of natural substances, 
but that it is spiritual, and consequently is to live for ever. The 
understanding may be admitted into such angelic light, provided 
the natural loves be removed which are derived from the world, 
and favor the world and its nature ; and which are derived from 
the body, and favor the body and its proprium,or self-will.” Hg 
had no sooner spoken than those evil loves were removed by the 
Lord, and they were permitted to converse with the angels ; and 
from their conversation, while they were in that state, they per- 
ceived that there is a God, and that they were living after death 
in another world ; at which discovery they blushed with shame 
and confusion, and cried out, “ What folly and madness have 
we been uttering !” but as this was not their proper and fixed 
state, and consequently in a few moments became tiresome and 
disagreeable to them, they turned away from the priest, and 
103 


79, 80 ON' THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 

would hear him no longer. Thus they relapsed into their formei 
loves, which were altogether natural, worldly, and corporeal, and 
departed towards the left hand, from one society to another, 
until they came to a path where they perceived a savor of the 
delights of their loves, and said, “Let us follow this path :” so 
they followed it, and descended, and came at length to a society 
of spirits who had a relish for the delights of the same loves. 
And because their delight was to do evil, and they did evil to 
many in the way, therefore they were put in prison, and became 
demons ; and then their pleasure was turned into pain, because 
they were restrained, by punishment and the dread of punish- 
ment, from the indulgence of their former delights, which con- 
stituted their nature. They afterwards inquired of those who 
were confined in the same prison whether they were to remain 
there for ever ; to which some replied, u We have now been here 
for several ages, and must continue here to ages of ages, since 
the nature which we have contracted in the world cannot be 
changed or expelled by punishments ; for though by these 
means it be expelled for a time, yet after a short interval it 
returns.” 

80. The fifth memorable relation. — A single satan was 
once permitted to ascend out of hell, together with a woman, 
and to come to the house where I was. As soon as I per- 
ceived them I closed the window, but entered into conversation 
with them through it, and asked the satan whence he came ? 
He replied, from the company of his fellows ; and I asked whence 
the woman came, and received the same answer. She w T as of 
the tribe of Sirens, who have the art, by means of fantasies, to 
assume all habits and figures of beauty and ornament ; for at 
one time they put on the beauty of a Yenus, at another the 
graces of the nymphs of Parnassus, at another they adorn them- 
selves with crowns and robes like those of queens, walking in 
great state with wands of silver in their hands. In the world of 
spirits all such are harlots, and apply themselves to the study of 
fantasies. Fantasy is effected by means of sensual thought, 
while the ideas are closed against the admission of any interior 
thought. I then asked the satan whether the woman was bis 
wife ? He replied, “ What is a wife ? Neither I nor the society 
to which I belong, know the meaning of the word. She is my 
harlot.” Whereupon she inspired him with wanton lust, which 
these sirens can artfully do ; and he kissed her, and cried out, 
“ Ah ! my Adonis.” But to proceed to more serious matters : — 
I asked the satan what was his employment ? Fie answered, 
u My employment is the pursuit of learning : do you not see the 
laurel with which I am crowned ?” for his harlot had formed 
this by her magical art, and going behind him had placed it on 
his head. I then said, “ Since you come from a society dis- 
tinguished foi men of learning, tell me what you and your com 
104: 


ON THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 


80 


panions believe concerning God.” He replied, “ Our god is 
the universe, which we also call nature, and which the more 
simple among us call the atmosphere, which they take to be air ; 
the more wise, however, by the atmosphere understand the ether 
also. God, heaven, angels, and the like, whereof various stories 
are invented by many people in this world, are all empty words 
and imaginary things, derived from meteor-like appearances, 
which float before the eyes of many in this place. Are not all 
things which appear on the face of the earth created by the sun ? 
At his approach in the spring of the year are not all winged and 
creeping insects produced ? And are not birds by his heat im- 
pelled to mutual love and prolification ? And is it not owing to 
the same cause that the earth produces plants and fruits from 
the seeds which she receives into her bosom ? Is not the uni- 
verse therefore a god, and nature a goddess, who, as the wife of 
the universe, conceives, brings forth, educates, and nourishes 
her young offspring?” I next asked him what he and his 
society believed concerning religion? He replied, “We who 
are raised by our learning above the common herd of men, con- 
sider religion only as a charm for the vulgar, which forms as it 
were an atmosphere about the sensitive and imaginative powers 
of their minds, in which atmosphere the ideas of piety take 
wing, like butterflies in the air ; and their faith, which connects 
those ideas as it were into a coherent chain, we regard like a 
silkworm in its silken cocoon, from which it flies forth as the 
king of butterflies. For the illiterate herd of mankind, out of a 
strong desire to fly, are in love with imaginations that are 
exalted above the sensualities of the body and its thoughts, and 
thus they make to themselves wings, that they may soar aloft 
like eagles, and boastfully cry to those below, 4 Behold, how high 
we are above you !’ But we believe what we see, and love what 
we touch;” whereupon he touched his harlot, and said, “ I 
believe this, because I see and touch it. As to those ridiculous 
imaginations of which we have been speaking, we open the 
windows of our understandings to let them out, and expel them 
with the blast of ridicule.” I then asked him what he and his 
companions believed concerning heaven and hell ? He replied 
with a sneer, “ What is heaven but the ethereal firmament 
above ? And what are angels there but like the spots that 
revolve about the sun ? And what are archangels but comets 
with long tails inhabited by the imaginary crew ? And what is 
hell but bogs and fens inhabited by frogs and crocodiles, which, 
in the imaginations of such simple people as we have been 
speaking of, are so many devils ? All other ideas concerning 
heaven and hell are mere tricks devised by some prelate of the 
church, with a view to aggrandize his reputation among an 
ignorant multitude.” The satan delivered himself on theso 
subjects according to the ideas which he had conceived in the 


80, 81 


THE LOftD THE REDEEMER. 


natural world, not knowing that he was now living after death, 
and forgetting what had been told him when he first entered 
into the spiritual world ; therefore when I further questioned 
him concerning the life after death, he replied, that it was all 
imaginary, and that most probably some effluvia rising in a 
human form from a dead body laid in the grave, or some fabu- 
lous story of a ghost, had given rise to such an imagination in 
men’s minds. On hearing this I was no longer able to refrain 
from laughter, and said, “ Oh satan, you have surely lost your 
senses as well as your understanding ; for what are you now ? 
Are you not a man in a human form ? Do you not talk, see, 
hear, w T alk, &c. ? Recollect that you have lived in another 
world, which you seem to have forgotten, and that now you live 
after death, and talk as you used to do in the body.” Then 
immediately his recollection returned to him, and he remem- 
bered his former life upon earth, whereat he was much ashamed, 
and cried out, w I have certainly lost my senses : I have seen 
heaven above, and heard the angels conversing there in words 
and on subjects inexpressible ; but this was when I had recently 
entered this world : I will now however retain in my mind what 
I then heard, that I may tell it to my companions whom I have 
left below, and perhaps they also, like myself, will be ashamed.” 
He then departed with a full determination to tell them that 
they had lost their senses ; but as he descended, forgetfulness 
took the place of recollection, and when he came among his 
comrades he was as insane as they were, and called all that I 
said to him folly and infatuation. Such is the state of thought 
and the manner of speech among satans after death. Those 
who have confirmed themselves in the persuasion of falses are 
called satans, and those who have confirmed themselves in evils 
of life are called devils. 


CHAPTER II. 

THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 

81. In the foregoing chapter we have treated of God the 
Creator, and at the same time of creation ; in this chapter we 
shall treat of the Lord the Redeemer, and at the same time ot 
redemption; and in the following chapter of the Holy Spirit, 
and at the same time of the divine operation. By the Lord the 
Redeemer we mean Jehovah in the humanity ; for that Jehovah 
bimself descended, and assumed the humanity, for the purpose 
of redemption, will be proved in the following pages. The rea* 
106 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


81, 82 


son why we call him the Lord, and not Jehovah, is, because 
Jehovah in the Old Testament is called the Lord in the New, 
as may appear from the following passages : “ Hear, O Israel, 
Jehovah your God is one Jehovah : thou shalt love Jehovah God 
with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deut. vi. 4, 5). Thus 
it .is written in this Book of Moses ; but in the Gospel by Mark 
it is expressed thus : “ The Lord your God is one Lord : thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul” (xii. 29, 30). Again, Isaiah says, “ Prepare ye the way 
of Jehovah ; make straight in the desert a highway for our God ” 
(xl. 3) ; which is thus expressed in Luke : “ Thou shalt go be- 
fore the face of the Lord to prepare his way” (i. 76). The same 
distinction is made in other places. The Lord also enjoined his 
disciples to call him Lord, and therefore he was so called by the 
apostles in their epistles, and afterwards by the apostolic church, 
as appears from the creed received in that church, which is 
called the apostles’ creed. The reason of this was, because the 
Jews, on account of its sanctity, durst not use the name Jehovah ; 
and likewise because by Jehovah is signified the Divine Esse, 
which was from eternity ; and the humanity, which he assumed 
in time, was not that esse. What is meant by the Divine Esse, 
or Jehovah, was shown in the foregoing chapter, n. 18 — 26, and 
n. 27 — 35. For this reason, both here and in other parts of 
this work, by the name Lord , we mean Jehovah in his humanity. 
Now since knowledge concerning the Lord is far more excellent 
than all other knowledges, of which either the church or even 
heaven itself, is in possession, we shall therefore proceed, in the 
illustration of this subject, according to the following orderly 
arrangement. I. That Jehovah the Creator of the universe de- 
scended, and assumed the humanity, for the purpose of redeem- 
ing and saving mankind. II. That he descended as the Divine 
Truth, which is the Word ; nevertheless, he did not separate the 
Divine Good. III. That he assumed the humanity according 
to his own divine order. IV. That the humanity, by which he 
sent h imself into the world, is what is called the Son of God. 
V. That the Lord, by acts of redemption, made himself right- 
eousness. VI. That by the same acts he united himself to the 
Father, and the Father united himself to him • and this also 
was effected according to divine order. VII. That thus God 
was made man, and man God, in one person. VIII. That the 
progress towards union was his state of exinanition, and the 
union itself is his state of glorification. IX. That hereafter no 
Christian can be admitted into heaven unless he believe on the 
Lord God the Saviour, and approach him alone. But we will 
explain each article particularly. 

82. I. That jehovah god descended, and assumed the 

HUMANITY, FOR THE PURPOSE OF REDEEMING AND SAVING MAN- 
KIND. 

107 


82 


THE LOED THE EEDEEMEE. 


It is believed at this day in all Christian churches, that God 
the Creator of the universe begot a Son from eternity, and that 
this Son descended, and assumed the humanity, for the purpose 
of redeeming and saving mankind ; but this is a great error, and 
is overturned by its own absurdity, if it be only considered that 
God is one, and that it is a more than fabulous imposition on 
reason to suppose, that one God should beget any son from 
eternity; and further, that God the Father, together with the 
Son and the Holy Spirit, each whereof singly and by himself is 
God, form but one God. This fabulous account of the Deity 
totally vanishes like a meteor in the air, when it is demonstrated 
from the Word, that Jehovah God himself descended and was 
made a man, and also the Redeemer. With respect to the first 
point, that Jehovah God himself descended, and was made man, 
this is evident from the following passages : “ Behold, a virgin 
shall conceive, and shall bring forth a son, w r ho shall be called 
God with us” (Isaiah vii. 14; Matt. i. 23). “ Unto us a Child 

is born, unto us a Son is given : the government shall be upon 
his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsel 
lor, God, Hero, the Father of Eternity , the Prince of Peace’ 
(Isaiah ix. 6). “ It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our 

God , we have waited for him, and he will save us ; this is 
Jehovah , we have waited for him ; we will be glad and rejoice in 
his salvation (Isaiah xxv. 9). “The voice of one crying in the 
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah ; make straight in the 
desert a highway for our God: and all flesh shall see him to- 
gether” (xl. 3, 5). “ Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come in 

strength, and his arm shall rule for him : behold his reward is 
with him ; he shall feed his flock like a shepherd” (xl. 10, 11). 
u Thus saith Jehovah , Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion ; for 
lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee : and many 
nations in that day shall cleave to Jehovah ” (Zech. ii. 10, 11) 

“ I Jehovah have called thee in righteousness, and will give thee 
for a covenant of the people. I am Jehovah y that is my name : 
and my glory will I not give to another ” (Isaiah xlii. 6, 8). 
“ Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah , that I will raise unto 
David a righteous branch, who shall reign as a king, and pros- 
per, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth : and 
this is his name, Jehovah our righteousness (Jerem. xxiii. 5, 6) ; 
xxxiii. 15, 16). Besides many other passages, where the coming 
of the Lord is called the Day of Jehovah , as in Isaiah xiii. 6, 9, 
13 ; Ezek. xxxi. 15 ; Joel i. 15 ; ii. 1, 11 ; iii. 14; Amos v. 18, 
20 ; Zeph. i. 7 — 18 ; Zech. xiv. 1, 4 — 21 ; and in many other 
places. That Jehovah himself descended, and assumed the 
humanity, is very evident from this passage in Luke : “ Then 
said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not 
a man ? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy 
Spirit shall come upon thee , and the power of the Highest shall 


THE LOUD THE REDEEM EE. 82, 83 

overshadow thee / therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be 
horn of thee shall be called the Son of God ” (i. 3d, 35) : and in 
Matthew : “Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph 
in a dream, and said unto him, Fear not to take unto thee Mary 
thy wife ; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy 
Spirit. And Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth 
her first-born son ; and he called his name Jesus” (i. 20, 25). 
That by the Holy Spirit is signified the Divine, which proceeded 
from Jehovah God, will be seen in the third chapter of this 
work. Who does not know that every child receives his soul 
and life from his father, and that the body is derived from the 
soul? How then could it be more plainly expressed in words, 
that the Lord received his soul and life from Jehovah God ? 
And, since the Divine cannot be divided, what can be more 
evident than that the divine of the Father was the Lord’s soul 
and life? Therefore the Lord so often calls Jehovah God his 
Father, and Jehovah God calls him his Son. What then can be 
more ridiculous than to say, that the soul of our Lord was de- 
rived from his mother Mary, as both the Homan Catholic and 
the Deformed churches at this day dream, not being yet awak- 
ened by the light of the Word? 

83. The idea of a Son born from eternity descending and 
assuming the humanity, must be found to be altogether errone- 
ous, and will therefore fall to the ground and vanish, when those 
passages in the Word are attended to where Jehovah himself 
asserts, that he himself is the Saviour and Hedeemer of the 
world, as he does in the following places : “ Am not I Jehovah f 
and there is no God else beside me : a just God, and a Saviour ; 
there is none beside me ” (Isaiah xlv. 21, 22). “ I am Jehovah, 

and beside me there is no Saviour ” (xliii. 11). “ I am Jehovah 

thy God : thou shalt know no God but me \for there is no Saviour 
beside me ” (Hos. xiii. 4). “ And all flesh shall know that 1 

Jehovah am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer ” (Isaiah xlix. 26 ; 
’x. 16). “ As for our Redeemer , Jehovah Zebaoth is his name ” 

(xlvii. 4). “ Their Redeemer is strong, Jehovah Zebaoth is his 

name ” (Jerem. 1. 34). “ Jehovah , my rock and my Redeemer ” 
(Psalm xix. 14). “ Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy 

One of Israel; I am Jehovah thy God ” (Isaiah xlviii. 17 ; xliii. 
14 ; xlix. 7). “ Thus saith Jehovah thy Redeemer, I am Jehovah, 
that make all things by myself alone” (xliv. 24). “ Thus 

saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah 
Zebaoth, I am the First and the Last, and beside me there is no 
God” (xliv. 6). “Thou Jehovah art our Father, our Redeemer : 
thy name is from everlasting” (lxiii. 16). “ With the mercy of 

eternity will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer ” 
(liv. 8). “Thou hast redeemed me, Jehovah of Truth” (Psalm 
xxxi. 5). “ Let Israel hope in Jehovah / for with Jehovah there 

is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption : and he will 
109 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


83, 84: 

redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalm cxxx. 7, 8). 
“ Jehovah Zebaoth is his name , and thy Redeemer the holy one 
of Israel ; the God of the whole earth shall he be called ” (Isaiah 
liv. 5). From these and many other passages it must be evident 
to every man who has the use of his eyes, and whose mind is 
opened by such use, that God, who is one, descended, and was 
made man, for the purpose of effecting the work of redemption. 
IIow plainly is this seen, as in morning light, by attending to 
the divine declarations here quoted ! Such men, however, as 
walk in the shadows of night, from a confirmed persuasion in 
their minds of the birth of another God from eternity, and of 
his descent, and redeeming labors, close their eyes against the 
light of those divine declarations, and in that state consider how 
they may apply and pervert them to the confirmation of their 
own falses. 

84. Several causes exist, as will be shown in the course of 
these pages, why God could not redeem mankind, that is, deliver 
them from damnation and hell, by any other process than that 
of assuming the humanity. For redemption consisted in re- 
ducing the hells into subjection, and bringing the heavens into 
an orderly arrangement, and afterwards renewing the church 
on earth ; and there was no other possible means by which 
the omnipotence of God could effect these purposes, than by 
assuming the humanity; just as there is no possibility for a man 
to work without hands and arms; therefore, in the Word, the 
humanity is called “the arm of Jehovah” (Isaiah xl. 10; liii. 
1). In like manner it is impossible for any one to enter into a 
fortified city, and destroy the temples of its idols, unless he be 
furnished with mediate powers suited to such a design. It is 
also evident from the Word, that God, by means of his humanity, 
was omnipotent in the accomplishment of that divine work : 
for God, who is in inmost, and thus in purest principles, could 
not possibly by aiiy other means descend to ultimate or lowest 
principles, in which the hells are, and in which mankind were 
at that time ; comparatively as the soul cannot act without a 
body, or as it is impossible to conquer enemies while they re- 
main out of sight, or while they cannot be approached and 
attacked with some kind of weapons, such as spears, shields, or 
guns. For God to have effected redemption without assuming 
the humanity, would have been as impossible as for Europeans 
to subdue the Indies without soldiers and shipping ; or as it is 
impossible to make trees grow by heat and light alone, without 
air for their transmission, and unless earth be formed for their 
production : yea, it would have been as impossible as for a man 
to catch fish by casting nets into the air instead of the water. 
For Jehovah, as he is in himself, cannot by all his omnipotence 
approach any devil in hell, or any devil on earth, so as to curb 
his fury, and subdue his violence, unless he be in ultimate as ho 
110 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


84, 85 


is in first principles ; and lie is in ultimates in his humanity : 
therefore, in the Word, he is called the First and the Last, the 
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. 

85. II. 'That jehovah god descended as the divine truth, 

WHICH IS THE WORD ; NEVERTHELESS, HE DID NOT SEPARATE FROM IT 
THE DIVINE GOOD. 

There are two things which constitute the essence of God, 
divine love and divine wisdom, or what amounts to the same, 
divine good and divine truth ; as was proved above, n. 36 — 48. 
These two constituents of the divine essence are also signified, 
in the Word, by the name “ Jehovah God:” by Jehovah is 
signified divine love, or divine good, and by God, divine wis- 
dom, or divine truth ; hence they are distinguished throughout 
the Word in a variety of ways ; sometimes Jehovah is named 
alone, and sometimes God alone ; for when the divine good is 
spoken of, there the word “Jehovah” is used, but when the 
divine truth is spoken of, there the word “ God” is used, and 
when they are both spoken of, there both terms, “Jehovah 
God,” are applied. That Jehovah God descended as the divine 
truth, which is the Word, appears from this passage in John : 
“ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the word was God : all things were made by him, and 
without him was not any thing made that was made (i. 1, 3). 
The reason why divine truth is there signified by the Word, is, 
because the Word, which is received in the church is divine 
truth itself ; for it was dictated by Jehovah himself, and what- 
ever is dictated by Jehovah is divine truth in its purity, and 
can be nothing else. As, however, that Word passed through 
all the heavens until it reached the lower world, it was accommo- 
dated to the angels in heaven, and also to men on earth : hence 
there is in the Word a spiritual sense, in which the divine truth 
shines with its full light, and also a natural sense, in which the 
divine truth is respectively shaded and obscure ; therefore the 
divine truth residing in this Word is what is signified in John. 
This is further confirmed by this consideration, that the Lord 
came into the world to fulfil the whole Word ; for which reason 
we so often read of his doing this and that thing, that the Scrip- 
ture might be fulfilled. JSTor is aught else but divine truth 
understood by the words “ Messiah” or “ Christ,” or by the 
Son of Man, or by the Holy Ghost the Comforter, whom the 
Lord sent after his departure out of the world. We shall show 
in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, that the Lord him- 
self represented that Word, both in his transformation before 
his three disciples on the mount, and also before John in the 
Revelation. That the Lord, when in the world, was the divine 
truth is evident from his own words: “I am the Way, the 
Truth , and the Life” (John xiv. 6) : and from these of John ; 
“We know that the Son of God is come, ar d has given us an 
111 


85—87 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 

understanding to know the truth; and we are in the truth , in 
his Son Jesus Christ . This is the true God and eternal Life” 
(1st Epist. y. 20). It is still further evident from the circum- 
stance of his being called “ Light as in these passages : “That 
was the true light , which enlighteneth every man that cometh 
into the world” (John i. 9): “Yet a little while and the Light 
is with you ; walk whilst ye have the Light , lest darkness over- 
take you: so long as ye have the Light , believe in the Light, 
that ye may be the children of the Light ” (John xii. 3o, 36, 46) : 
“ L am the Light of the world ” (ix. 5) : Simeon said, “ Mine 
eyes have seen thy salvation, a Light to lighten the Gentiles” 
(Luke ii. 30, 32) : “ This is the condemnation, that Light is come 
into the world. He that doeth the Truth , cometh to the Light '’ 
(John iii. 19, 21) : besides many other places ; where by light is 
meant divine truth. 

86. The reason why Jehovah God came into the world as 
the divine truth, was, that he might accomplish the work of re- 
demption, which consisted in reducing the hells to subjection, 
and in bringing the heavens into a new orderly arrangement, 
and in a restoration of the church by these means. The divine 
good alone has no power to effect these purposes ; but the di- 
vine truth derived from the divine good, has all power to effect 
them ; for the divine good, considered in itself, is like the round 
hilt of a sword, a piece of blunt wood, or a bow without an ar- 
row ; but the divine truth derived from the divine good is like a 
sharp-pointed sword, or like a piece of wood fashioned into a 
Bpear, or like a bow furnished with arrows, which are of use in 
the day of battle. Swords, spears, and bows, in the spiritual 
sense of the Word, also, signify truths adapted to spiritual war- 
fare, as may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed , n. 52, 299, 
436. The evils and falses, which then prevailed, and do contin- 
ually prevail, throughout all hell, could not have been attacked, 
conquered, and brought into subjection, by any other weapon 
than by the divine truth from the Word ; and there was no other 
means of founding, forming, and arranging in order, the new 
heaven which was at that time established, or of raising up a 
new church on earth. It is to be observed, too, that all the 
strength, virtue, and power of God, is in divine truth derived 
from divine good. This was the reason why Jehovah God de- 
scended as the divine truth, which is the Word ; and on this 
account it is said by David, “ Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, 
0 Mighty ; ascend in thy majesty, ride upon the Word of Truth; 
and thy right hand shall teach thee marvellous things. Thine 
arrows are sharp, and thy foes shall fall under thee” (Psalm xlv. 
3, 4, 5). This is spoken of the Lord, and of his combats with 
the hells, and his victories over them. 

87. The quality of good when separate from truth, and of 
truth when separate from good, appears manifestly from the 

112 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


87, 88 


state and nature of man ; for all the good that is in him has its 
residence in the will, $nd all the truth that is in him lias its 
residence in the understanding ; and the will with the good that 
is in it, has no power of action, operation, speech, or sensation, 
but by means of the understanding ; all its virtue and strength 
is thence produced into effect, and consequently owes its efficacy 
to truth, of which the understanding is the receptacle and habi- 
tation. The case in this respect is similar to the operation ot 
the heart and lungs in the body ; for the heart, without the 
respiration of the lungs, is incapable of producing either motion 
or sensation ; whereas the respiration of the lungs derived from 
the heart produces both ; as is evident in the cases of persons in 
a swoon, from suffocation, or from immersion under water, who 
cease to breathe, although the systolic activity of the heart con- 
tinues ; and it is well known that such persons have neither 
motion nor sensation. Similar to this is th6 case of embryos in 
the womb of the mother ; and the reason is, because the heart 
corresponds to the will and its goods, and the lungs to the 
understanding and its truths. In the spiritual world the power 
of truth is particularly conspicuous ; for a single angel, who is 
principled in divine truths from the Lord, although as to his 
body he has all the feebleness of a little child, can yet put to 
flight, pursue, and confine in the caverns of hell, a whole troop 
Df infernal spirits, notwithstanding they appear like the Anakim 
and Nephilim, that is, like giants ; and when they come out 
again from their confinement, they dare not approach him. 
Those who, in the world of spirits, are principled in divine 
truths from the Lord, are like lions, although with respect to 
bodily strength they are like lambs. Men on earth who are 
principled in divine truths from the Lord, have a like power 
over evils and falses, and consequently over whole legions of 
devils, who, considered in their true essences, are nothing but 
evils and falses. The reason why such strength is inherent in 
divine truth is, because God is good itself and truth itself, and 
he created the universe by means of divine truth ; and all the 
laws of order by which he preserves the universe are truths ; it 
is therefore written in John, “that by the Word all things were 
made, and without him was not any thing made that was made” 
(i. 3, 10); and in David : “By the Word of the Lord were the 
heavens made ; and all the host of them by the breath of his 
mouth” (Psalm xxxiii. G). 

88. That God, notwithstanding he came down as the divine 
truth, did not separate the divine good from it, is evident from 
his conception ; concerning which it is written that the power 
of the Highest overshadowed the virgin Mary (Luke i. 35) ; and 
by the power of the Highest is signified the divine good. The 
same appears also from the passages where he himself declares, 
that the Father is in him, and he in the Father, and that all 
113 i 


88—90 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


things which the Father hath are his ; and that he and the 
Father are one; with many other expressions to the same pur- 
port, in all which by the Father is signified the divine good. 

89. III. That god assumed the humanity according to his 
own divine order. 

In the section concerning the divine omnipotence and omni- 
science, it was shown that God introduced order at the time ol 
creation, both into the universe and all its component parts; 
and that consequently the omnipotence of God, in the universe 
and all its parts, proceeds and operates according to the laws of 
his own order, of which laws we have spoken above, from n. 49 
to 74. Now since God did descend, and since he is order itself, 
as was proved also in the same place, it was necessary, in order 
to his actually becoming a man, that he should be conceived, 
carried in the womb, born, educated, successively instructed in 
the sciences, and thus introduced to intelligence and wisdom. 
With respect therefore to the Humanity, he was an infant like 
other infants, a child like other children, and so forth ; with this ' 
difference alone, that he more rapidly, more fully, and more 
perfectly than others, accomplished the different stages of that 
progression. That he thus advanced according to order is evi- 
dent from these words in Luke : “ And the child Jesus grew, 
and waxed strong in spirit, and increased in wisdom and stature, 
and in favor with God and man” (ii. 40, 52). That he advanced 
more rapidly, more fully, and more perfectly than others, is evi- 
dent from the account of him given in the same evangelist, that 
u when he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple, 
sitting in the midst of the doctors, and asking them questions ; 
and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding 
and answers” (ii. 42, 46, 47 ; and afterwards, iv. 16 — 22, 32). 
All this process was accomplished because divine order requires 
that a man should prepare himself for the reception of God ; 
and in proportion as he so prepares himself, God enters into 
him, as into his house and habitation. Such preparation is 
effected by means of the knowledges of God and of the spiritual 
doctrines of the church, and a consequent intelligence and wis- 
dom ; for it is a law of order, that in proportion as, a man ap- 
proaches and draws nigh unto God, which he ought to do 
entirely as of himself, in the same proportion God approaches 
and draws nigh unto him, and conjoins himself to him in the 
middle region of his mind. That the Lord proceeded according 
to this order, even to union with his Father, will be further 
proved in the following sections. 

90. Those who are unacquainted with this law of the divine 
omnipotence, that it proceeds and operates in conformity to 
order, may be led to entertain many fanciful suggestions "that 
are opposite and contradictory to sound reason ; as for example, 
they may ask, why God did not instantly assume the Humanity 

114 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


90—92 


without the trouble of such a process ? Why did he not. create 
or compose a body for himself out of elements from the four 
quarters of the world, and thus make himself visible as God- 
Man, not only to the Jewish nation, but also to the whole 
world ? Or, if he wou|d go through the process of a birth, why 
did he not infuse his whole divinity into the embryo, or the 
infant humanity ? Or why, after his birth, did he not instantly 
rise up to the stature of an adult, and begin to speak imme- 
diately from divine wisdom ? These and such like suggestions 
may be conceived and brought forth by those who fancy the 
divine omnipotence to be unconnected with order, and thus the 
church might be overspread with their wild and groundless ima- 
ginations. And this in fact has been done; as where men 
entertained the notions that God could beget a Son from eter- 
nity, and then cause a third God to proceed from himself and 
that Son ; also, that he could be full of wrath towards mankind, 
and give them over to destruction, and be inclined again to mercy 
by means of his Son, and this by his intercession, and the re- 
membrance of his cross ; and further, that he can infuse his 
Son’s righteousness into a man, and implant it in his heart 
like the simple substance of Wolfius, in which, as the author 
affirms, all the merits of the Son are included, but which cannot 
be divided, since if it be divided it is of necessity annihilated ; 
and lastly, that he can remit sin by arbitrary mercy, as the 
pope does by a bull of indulgence, and purify the most wicked 
person from his worst iniquities, and thus change devilish black- 
ness into angelic brightness, while the man in the mean time 
remains motionless like a stone, and exerts himself no more 
than a statue or an image ; not to mention other insane notions, 
which those who maintain the absoluteness of divine power, 
without any reference to order, may disperse about in the 
church, as the winnower’s fan disperses the chaff into the air. 
Such persons, with respect to spiritual subjects that relate to 
heaven and the church, and thereby to eternal life, are liable to 
wander far from divine truths, as a blind man wandering about 
in a wood, who now stumbles amongst stones, now dashes his 
forehead against a tree, and now entangles his hair in its 
branches. 

91. Divine miracles are also effected • according to divine 
order ; but then it is according to the order of the influx 

OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD INTO THE NATURAL WORLD, with which 

order no person has hitherto been acquainted, because no per- 
son has hitherto had any knowledge respecting the spiritual 
world ; but the nature of that order will be made manifest in its 
time, when we come to speak of divine miracles and magical 

MIRACLES. 

92 . IY. That the humanity by which god sent himself 

INTO THE WORLD IS THE SON OF GOD. 

115 


THE LORD l’HE REDEEMER. 


92, 93 

The Lord frequently declared that the Father sent him, and 
that he was sent by the Father, as in Matt. x. 40 ; xv. 24 ; John 
iii. 17, 34 ; v. 23, 24, 36, 37, 38 ; vi. 29, 39, 40, 44, 57 ; vii. 16, 
18,28,29; viii. 16, 18, 29, 42 ; ix.4; and in many other places : 
tljis he said, because by being sent into the world is signified to 
descend, and come among men ; and this was effected through 
the Humanity which he took by means of the Yirgin Mary. 
The Humanity is also actually the Son of God, because it was 
conceived of Jehovah God, as its Father, according to Luke i. 
32, 35. He is called the Son of God, the Son of Man, and the 
Son of Mary ; and by the Son of God is meant Jehovah God in 
his Humanity, by the Son of Man the Lord as to the Word, 
and by the Son of Mary that principle which he assumed which 
was strictly human. That the Son of God and the Son of Man 
have those two significations will be proved hereafter. That by 
the Son of Mary is signified that which was merely human, is 
very evident from this circumstance in the generation of man- 
kind, that the soul is from the father and the body from the 
mother ; for the soul is in the seed of the hither, and is clothed 
with a body in the womb of the mother ; or, what amounts to 
the same, all the spiritual part of a man is from the father, and 
all the material part from the mother. With respect to the 
Lord, what was divine appertaining to him was from the Father 
Jehovah, and what was human from the mother ; and these two 
united are the Son of God. The truth of this appears evident 
from the Lord’s nativity as thus recorded by Luke : “ The angel 
Gabriel said unto Mary, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, 
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore 
also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called 
the Son of God” (i. 35). The Lord called himself sent by the 
Father also on this account, because by sent is signified the same 
as by angel, for the word angel in the original language signifies 
sent, as in Isaiah j “ The Angel of the presence of Jehovah de- 
livered them : in his love and in his pity he redeemed them” 
(lxiii. 9) : and in Malachi : “ The Lord, whom ye seek shall sud- 
denly come to his temple, and the angel of the covenant whom 
ye delight in” (iii. 1) ; besides other passages. That the Divine 
Trinity, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is in the 
Lord, and that the Father in him is the All-originating Divinity 
(. Divinum a Quo), the Son the Divine Human, and the Holy 
Spirit the Divine Proceeding, will be shown in the third chapter 
of this w T ork, when we come to treat of the Divine Trinity. 

93. As the angel Gabriel said unto Mary, “ The Holy Thing 
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, we 
will produce some passages from the Word to show that the 
Lord, with respect to his Humanity, is called the Holy One oj 
Israel. The passages are these : “ I saw in visions, and behold a 
watcher, and a Holy One came down from heaven” (Dan. iv. 

116 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


93, 94 

13). “ God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from 

Mount Paran” (Ilabak. iii. 3). “Thus saith Jehovah, the 
Holy One of Israel, and his Maker” (Isaiah xlv. 11). “Thus 
saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One" (xlix. 7). 
“ I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour” 
(xliii. 3). “ As for our Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth is his name, 

the Holy One of Israel" (xlvii. 4). “ Thus saith Jehovah your 
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel" (xliii. 14 ; xlviii. 17). Jeho- 
vah Zebaoth is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of 
Israel" (liv. 5). “ They tempted God, and limited the Holy 

One of Israel" (Psalm lxxviii. 41). “They have forsaken Jeho- 
vah, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah i. 4). 
“ They said, Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before 
us : wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel" (xxx. 11, 12). 
“ That say, let him make speed and hasten -his work that we 
may see it • and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw 
nigh and come” (v. 19). “In that day they shall stay upon 
Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth” (x. 20). “ Cry out 

and shout, O daughter of Zion ; for great is the Holy One of 
Israel in the midst of thee” (xii. 6). “ At that day shall a man 

look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have 'respect to the Holy 
One of Israel" (xvii. 7). “The poor among men shall rejoice 
in the Holy One of Israel l" (xxix. 19). “The earth is full of 
guilt against the Holy One of Israel" (Jerem. 1. 29) : not to 
mention several other places, as Isaiah lv. 5 ; lx. 9, and else- 
where. In all these passages, by the Holy One of Israel is sig- 
nified the Lord with respect to his Divine Humanity ; for the 
angel said to Mary, “ The Holy Thing which shall be born of 
thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke i. 35), That Jehovah 
and the Holy One of Israel are one, notwithstanding their being 
mentioned separately, is evident from the passages already 
quoted, in which it appears that Jehovah is that Lloly One of 
Israel.- That the Lord is called the God of Israel, is manifest 
also from a great number of passages in the Word, as in Isaiah 
xvii. 6 ; xxi. 10, 17 ; xxiv. 15 ; xxix. 23 ; Jer. vii. 3 ; ix. 15 ; xi. 
3 ; xiii. 12 ; xvi. 9 ; xix. 3, 15 ; xxiii. 2 ; xxiv. 5 ; xxv. 15, 27 ; 
xxix. 4, 8, 21, 25 ; xxx. 2 ; xxxi. 23 ; xxxii. 14, 15, 36 ; xxxiii. 
4 ; xxxiv. 2, 13 ; xxxv. 13, 17, 18, 19 ; xxxvii. 7 ; xxxviii. 17 ; 
xxxix. 16 ; xlii. 9, 15, 18 ; xliii. 10 ; xliv. 2, 7, 11, 25 ; xlviii. 1 ; 
1. 18 ; li. 33 ; Ezek. viii. 4 ; ix. 3 ; x. 19, 20 ; xi. 22 ; xliii. 2 ; 
xliv. 2 ; Zeph. ii. 9 ; Psalm xli. 13 ; lix. 5 ; lxviii. 8. 

94. It is usual throughout the several churches at this day 
in Christendom to call the Lord our Saviour the Son of Mary, 
and seldom the Son of God, except they mean by it the Son of 
God as born from eternity. The reason of this is, because the 
Roman Catholics have considered the Virgin Mary as the most 
holy of the saints, and have exalted her as a goddess or queen 
above the rest ; and yet the Lord, when he glorified his Hu- 
117 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


inanity, put off all that he received from his mother, and put o*» 
all that belonged to his Father, as will be fully proved in the 
following pages. From this common mode of speaking of the 
Lord as the Son of Mary, several monstrous opinions have been 
propagated throughout the church, which have been particularly 
cherished by such as have never paid attention to those passages 
in the Word in which it is said of the Lord, that he and the 
Father are one ; that he is in the Father, and the Father in 
him *, and all the Father hath are his ; in which he called Jeho- 
vah his Father, and his Father Jehovah called him his Son. The 
sad consequence of thus calling the Lord the Son of Mary, and 
not the Son of God is, that thus all notion of his Divinity is 
lost, and with it is lost all that is said in the Word concerning 
him as the Son of God. Hence arise Judaism, Arianism, Socin- 
ianism, Calvinism, according to its original, principles, and at 
length naturalism, attended with that fanatical conceit that he 
was the Son of Mary by Joseph, and that he received his soul 
from his mother, consequently that he is called the Son of God 
when in reality he is not so. For I appeal to any person, be he 
clergyman or layman, whether he can conceive and entertain 
any other idea of the Lord, considered as the Son of Mary, than 
as of a mere man. Since this idea began to prevail among 
Christians so early as the third century, when the doctrines of 
Arias were first propagated, therefore the council of Nice, with 
a view of vindicating the Lord’s Divinity, invented the fiction of 
a Son of God born from eternity ; but by this device the Lord’s 
Humanity was indeed at that time exalted to a participation of 
divinity, and is so exalted at this day also among many persons, 
yet not among such as understand, by the hypostatical union of 
which they speak, a union subsisting between two, one of whom 
is superior to the other. What however is the necessary conse- - 
quence of this, but the total destruction of the whole Christian 
church, which was founded solely on the worship of Jehovah in 
the Humanity, that is, of God-Man ? That no one can see the 
Father, or know' him, or come unto him, or believe in him, ex- 
cept by his Humanity, is declared by the Lord in numerous 
places. If then this declaration be disregarded, all the precious 
seed of the church is changed instantly into that which is vile ; 
the seed of the olive into that of the pine; the seed of the 
orange, the citron, the apple, and the pear, Into the seed of the 
willowq the elm, the linden, and the oak ; the vine is turned 
into the bulrush of a bog ; the wheat and the barley into mere 
chaff : yea, all spiritual food is converted into the dust of the 
earth, fit only to be the food of serpents ; the spiritual light in 
man becomes natural light, and at last corporeally sensual, 
which, if truly considered, is the light of falsehood and infatua- 
tion ; yea, a man in that case becomes like a bird, which having 
its wings cut in its high flight through the air, falls dow r n to the 
118 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


94 -96 


ground, where it no longer enjoys its delightful prospects, but 
can see nothing beyond the little spot of earth on which it 
treads ; and then, with respect to all the spiritual things of the 
church, such as concern his eternal life, he is guided by mere 
guess and conjecture. All this must of necessity be the conse- 
quence while men regard the Lord God, the Redeemer and 
Saviour, as the mere Son of Mary, or, in other words, as a mere 
man. 

95. Y. That the lord, by acts of redemption, made himself 

RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

It is at this day asserted and believed in all the Christian 
churches, that the Lord alone has merit and righteousness, by 
virtue of the obedience which he yielded to his Father during 
his abode in the world, and particularly by his passion on the 
cross ; but it is imagined that the passion on the cross was the 
very act itself of redemption ; it did not, however, constitute 
the act of redemption, but of the glorification of his humanity, 
of which we shall speak hereafter in the lemma on Redemption. 
The acts of redemption by which the Lord made himself right- 
eousness, consisted in this, that he accomplished a last judg- 
ment which was executed in the spiritual world, and then 
separated the evil from the good, and the goats from the sheep, 
aud drove out of heaven those who were united with the beasts 
that belonged to the dragon, and formed a new heaven of such 
as were found worthy, and a new hell of such as were found 
unworthy, and by degrees reduced all things in each place to 
order, and moreover established a new church on earth. These 
were the acts of redemption, by which the Lord made himself 
righteousness ; for righteousness consists in doing all things 
according to divine • order, and reducing to order whatever has 
departed from it ; for righteousness is divine order itself. All 
this is understood by these words of the Lord, “ It becometh us 
to fulfil all righteousness ” (Matt. iii. 15); and by these expres- 
sions in the Old Testament : u Behold, the days come, saith Je- 
hovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch , who 
shall reign a king, and shall do righteousness in the earth : and 
this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our right- 
eousness” (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 ; xxxiii. 15, 16). “ I that speak in right- 
eousness, mighty to save” (Isaiah lxiii. 1). “ He shall sit upon 

the throne of David, to establish it in judgment and in righteous- 
ness” (Isaiah ix. 7). “ Zion shall be redeemed in righteousness” 

<i. 27). 

96. The modern rulers of the church give a very different 
description of the Lord’s righteousness, and. also assert, that the 
power which they attribute to their faith of inscribing it on the 
hearts pf men, is what gives to faith its saving quality; whereas 
the truth is, that the Lord’s righteousness, being of such a 
nature and origin, and in : tself purely divine, cannot possibly be 

119 


96, 97 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER.. 


conjoined to any man, and therefore cannot possibly produce 
salvation, any more than can the divine life, which is divine 
love and divine wisdom. The Lord enters indeed, with these, 
into every man ; but unless a man lives according to order, 
though he thus has life from the Lord in him, it contributes noth- 
ing to his salvation, but simply communicates to him the capa- 
city of understanding truth and doing good. To live according 
to order is to live according to the commandments of God ; and 
when a man so lives and does, he procures for himself righteous- 
ness; not the righteousness of redemption as effected by the 
Lord, but the Lord himself as his righteousness. These are those 
who are pointed at in these words : “Unless your righteousness 
shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye 
shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. v. 
20). u Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteous- 
ness* sake ; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. v. 10) : 
“ In the consummation of the age the angels shall go forth and 
shall separate the evil from amongst the righteous ” (Matt. xiii. 
49) : not to mention other passages ; in all which by the right- 
eous are meant those who have lived according to divine order, 
since divine order is righteousness. The essential righteousness, 
which the Lord became by acts of redemption, cannot be 
ascribed, inscribed, adapted, or conjoined to a man, in any other 
way than as light is to the eye, sound to the ear, will to the 
muscles in action, thought to the lips of the speaker, air to the 
lungs in respiration, heat to the blood, &c. ; in all which cases 
every one may perceive that there, is an influx, and what may 
be properly termed adjunction, but not conjunction. But right- 
eousness is acquired in proportion as a man lives in the exer- 
cise of righteousness ; and he lives in the exercise of righteous- 
ness in proportion as in all his conduct towards his neighbor 
he acts under the influence of the love of righteousness and 
truth ; for righteousness dwells in the real good, or the real use, 
which a man does ; and therefore the Lord declares that every 
tree is known by its fruit. Who does not judge of another by 
his works, attending at the same time to the end and design by 
which he is influenced, and his intention or motive of action ? 
These are attended to and regarded by the angels, and likewise 
by every wise man here below. In general, every plant and 
shrub that springs out of the ground is estimated by its flower, 
seed, and use ; every metal by its goodness ; every stone by its 
quality ; all kinds of land, all kinds of food, every animal on the 
earth, and every bird of the air, by their qualities ; how much 
more then every man ? But the quality of a man’s works, and 
on what it depends, will be explained more particularly in the 
chapter on Faith. 

97. YI. That by the same acts the lord united himself to 

THE FATHER, AND THE FATHER UNITED HIMSELF TO HIM. 

120 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


97, 98 

The reason why union was effected by acts of redemption, is, 
because -the Lord performed those acts by his Humanity, and as 
he performed them, in the same degree the Divinity, which is 
understood by the Father, approached, assisted, and co-operated, 
till at length they were so conjoined, as to be no longer two, but 
one ; and this union was the glorification, of which we shall 
speak hereafter. 

98. That the Father and the Son, that is, the Divinity and 
the Humanity, are united in the Lord, like soul and body, is 
indeed acknowledged by the church, at this day, as an article of 
faith, and is also confirmed by the Word of Lloly Scripture: but 
yet scarcely five persons in a hundred, or fifty in a thousand, 
acknowledge it as a truth. This is owing to the doctrine of 
justification by faith alone, which engages the whole attention 
of many among the clergy, who are ambitious to secure the rep- 
utation of learning, for the sake of worldly honor and preferment ; 
and since they are intoxicated in all their thoughts by that doc- 
trine, just as if they had drunk of the vinous spirit called alco- 
hol, therefore in such* a state of inebriation they cannot discern 
this most essential tenet of the church, viz. that Jehovah God 
descended, and assumed the Humanity ; when nevertheless 
it is by that union alone of the Divinity and Humanity, that the 
way is opened for a man to attain conjunction with God, and by 
conjunction salvation. That salvation depends on a man’s 
knowledge and acknowledgment of God, must appear evident 
to every one who considers that God is all in all, in both heaven 
and the church, and consequently in theology. But we will 
first prove, that the union of the Father and the Son, or of the 
Divinity and Humanity, in the Lord, is like the union of soul 
and body ; and then, that this union is reciprocal. How the 
similitude of this union to that of soul and body, is established 
in the creed of Athanasius, which, as a rule of doctrine concern- 
ing the Deity, is received throughout all Christendom. We there 
read, “ Our Lord Jesus Christ is God and man ; and although 
he be God and man, yet they are not two, but one Christ ; one 
by the taking of the manhood into God ; one altogether in unity 
of person ; for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so 
God and man is one Christ.” In this passage it is understood, 
that such union subsisted between the Son of God born from 
eternity, and the Son that was born in time ; but, since there is 
only one God and not three, supposing the union there spoken 
of to relate to the one eternal God with the humanity, the doc- 
trine then agrees with the Word ; for in the Word we read, that 
he was conceived of Jehovah the Father (Luke i. 34, 35). Hence 
he derived his soul and life ; therefore he says, that he and the 
Father are One (John x. 30): “He that hath seen me hath seen 
the Father” t (xiv. 9) : “If ye had known me, ye would have 
known my Father also” (viii. 19) : “ He that receiveth me, re 
121 


98—100 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


ceiveth him that sent me” (xiii. 20): that he a is in the bosom 
of the Father” (i. 18) : that all that the Father hath are his (xvi. 
15). He is called “ the Father of eternity” (Isaiah ix. 6) : Hence 
he hath “power over all flesh” (John xvii. 2); and “all power 
in heaven and in earth” (Matt, xxviii. 18). From these and 
many other passages in the Word, it may be clearly seen, that 
the union of the Father and him is like that which subsists be- 
tween the soul and the body ; therefore also in the Old Testa- 
ment he is frequently called Jehovah, Jehovah Zebaoth, and 
Jehovah the Redeemer, as may be seen above (n. 83). 

99. That this union is reciprocal, appears evidently from 
these passages in the Word : “ Philip, belie vest thou not that 1 
am in the Father, and the Father in me? Believe me, that 1 
am in the Father, and the Father in me” (John xiv. 10, 11) : 
“That ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and 
I in him” (x. 38) : “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, 
art in me, and I in thee” (xvii. 21) : “ Father, all mine are thine, 
and all thine are mine” (xvii. 10). The reason of the union’s 
being reciprocal, is, because there Is no possibility of any union 
or conjunction being effected between two, unless there be a 
mutual approach the one towards the other. All conjunction 
throughout the universal heaven, the universal world, and the 
whole of man, has no other source than from the reciprocal ap- 
proach of one part to another, attended at the same time with a 
unity of will on both sides ; hence arises a principle of homoge- 
neity and sympathy, unanimity and concord, in all the partic- 
ulars of each. Such is the reciprocal conjunction of soul and 
body in every individual man ; such is the conjunction subsisting 
between a man’s spirit and his bodily organs of sensation and 
motion ; such is the conjunction of the heart and lungs ; such ot 
the will and understanding ; such of all the members and viscera 
in and among each other in the human frame ; such of the minds 
of those persons who inwardly love one another ; for such con- 
junction is inscribed on all love and friendship, it being the very 
nature of love to desire to love and be beloved. There is a re- 
ciprocal conjunction subsisting between all things in the world 
that are perfectly and completely united ; a similar conjunction 
prevails between the sun’s heat, and that of wood and stone ; 
between the vital heat, and that of all the animal fibres ; between 
a tree and its root ; between the magnet and iron, &c. Where 
conjunction is not effected by the approach or accession of one 
to another,' reciprocally and mutually, there is oidy an external 
conjunction, but no internal one ; and such conjunction, in 
course of time, is mutually and spontaneously dissolved, and 
sometimes so entirely, that the parties do not even retain any 
recollection of each other. 

100. How since it is not possible for conjunction, properl} 
so called, to be effected, unless it be reciprocal and mutual 

122 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


100, 101 

therefore the conjunction of the Lord and man is subject to this 
same law, as appears evident from the following passages : “ lie 
that eatetli my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me , and 
I in him” (John vi. 56) : “ Abide in me, and I in you ; he that 
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit” 
(xv. 4, 5) : “ If any man open the door, I will come in to him, and 
will sujy with him, and he with me” (Rev. iii. 20) ; besides many 
other places. This conjunction is effected by a man’s drawing 
nigh to the Lord, and the Lord to him ; for it is a fixed and 
unchangeable law, that in proportion as a man draws nigh to the 
Lord, the Lord draws nigh to him. But we shall treat more 
particularly on this subject in the chapters concerning Charity 
and Faith. 

101. VII. That thus god was made man, and man god, in 

ONE PERSON. 

That Jehovah God was made man, and man God, in one 
person, follows as a necessary conclusion from all the forego- 
ing articles of this chapter, and particularly from these two : 
Jehovah the Creator of the Universe descended, and assumed 
the Humanity, for the purpose of redeeming and saving man- 
kind” (see n. 82 — -84) ; and “ The Lord by acts of redemp- 
tion united himself to the Father, and the Father united 
himself to him, so that the union was reciprocal and mutual” 
(See n. 97 — 100). From that reciprocal union it appears evi- 
dent, that God was made man, and man God, in one person. 
The same conclusion also follows from this circumstance in the 
union, that it is like the union of soul and body ; and that it is 
agreeable to the faith of the church at this day, as explained in 
the Creed of Athanasius, may be seen above (n. 98) : it is also 
agreeable to the faith of the Evangelical Protestants, as stated 
in their chief book of orthodoxy, called the Formula Con- 
cordia:, where the doctrine that the human nature of Christ 
was exalted to divine majesty, omnipotence, and omnipresence, 
and also that in Christ man is God, and God man, is strongly 
confirmed, both from Holy Scripture and the Fathers, and also 
by rational arguments, as may be seen in that book (p. 607, 
765). Besides, in this chapter it has been proved, that Jehovah 
God, with respect to his humanity, is called in the Word, 
Jehovah, Jehovah God, the Lord of Hosts, and also the God 
of Israel ; therefore Paul says, that in Jesus Christ tc dwelleth 
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Coloss. ii. 9) ; and John 
says, that Jesus Christ the Son of God u is the true God, and 
eternal life” (1 Epist. v. 20). That by the Son of God, properly 
speaking, is meant his humanity, may be seen above (n. 92). 
And moreover Jehovah God calls both himself and him Lord ; 
for it is written, “ The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my 
right hand” (Psalm cx. 1); and in Isaiah, “ Unto us a Child is 
born, unto us a Son is given ; and bis name shall be called God^ 

123 


101 , 102 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


the Father, of eternity? &c. (ix. 6). By the Son is also meant 
the Lord as to his humanity, in David, where he says, “ I will 
declare the statute : Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my 
Son • this day have I begotten thee. Kiss the Son, lest he be 
angry, and ye perish in the way” (Psalm ii. 7 , 12). In this 
passage is not meant a Son born from eternity, but the Son that 
was born in time ; for it is a prophetical psalm relating to the 
Lord who was to come, and therefore it is called the statute 
which Jehovah declared unto David ; wherefore it is written 
before in the same Psalm, “ I have anointed my king over Sion” 
(ver. 6) ; and it follows, “ I will give him the nations for an in- 
heritance” (ver. 8) : of consequence, the expression, this day , 
does not mean from eternity, but in time ; for with Jehovah the 
future is present. 

102. It is believed at this day, that the Lord as to his 
humanity not only was, but also is, the Son of Mary : but in 
this the Christian world is under a great mistake. That he was 
the Son of Mary, is true ; but that he is so still, is not true ; for 
by acts of redemption he put off the humanity which he derived 
from his mother, and put on a humanity from his Father; in 
consequence of which the humanity of the Lord is divine, and 
in him God is man, and man God. That he put off the 
humanity from the mother, and put on a humanity from his 
Father, which is a divine humanity, may appear evident from 
this circumstance, that he himself never called Mary his 
mother : as may be seen in the following passages : “ The 
mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus 
eaith unto her, Woman , what have I to do with thee ? Mine 
hour is not yet come” (John ii. 3, 4) ; and in another place : 
“ When J esus saw his mother, and the disciple standing by 
whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy 
Son ! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother !” 
(John xix. 26, 27) ; and at one time we find he did not acknow- 
ledge her to be his mother : “ It was told him by some who 
said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to 
see thee. And he said unto them, My mother and brethren are 
these who hear the Word of God, and do it” (Luke viii. 20, 21 ; 
Matt. xii. 46 — 49). Thus the Lord did not call her mother, but 
woman, and gave her to John as a mother ; in other places she 
is called indeed his mother, but not by himself. This is further 
confirmed from the circumstance, that he did not allow himself 
to be the Son of David : for we read in the evangelists, that 
Jesus asked the Pharisees, “saying, What think ye of Christ? 
whose Son is he ? They say unto him, The Son of David. He 
saith unto them, IIow then doth David in spirit call him Lord, 
saying, The Lord said unto my Lord , Sit thou on my right hand, 
till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call 
him Lord, how is he his son ? And no man was able to answei 
124 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


102.- 103 


him a word” (Matt. xxii. 41 — 46 ; Mark xii. 35 — 37 ; Lake 
xx. 41 — 44 ; Psalm cx. 1). 1 shall here subjoin this extraordi- 

nary particular : “ It was once granted me to speak with the 
mother Mary. As she passed by she appeared in the heaven 
immediately over my head, clothed in white raiment, as of silk ; 
when stopping awhile she said, that she had been the mother of 
the Lord, for he was born of her ; but that when he was made 
God, he put off all the humanity which he had from her, and 
that therefore she worships him as her God, and is unwilling 
that any one should acknowledge him as her son, because in him 
all is divine.” 

From what has been said, then, this truth appears in all its 
brightness, that thus Jehovah is a man, as in first principles, sc 
also in ultimates ; according to these words : “ I am Alpha and 
Omega, the Beginning and the End, saith the Lord, who is, and 
who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. i. 8, 11) : 
“ And I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of the 
seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man. And when I 
saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand 
upon me, saying unto me, Fear not'; I am the First and the 
Last” (Rev. i. 12 — 17 ; xxi. 6) : “ Behold, I come quickly ; to 
give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and 
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” 
(Rev. xxii. 12, 13) : and in Isaiah : u Thus saith Jehovah the 
King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth, I am the 
First and I am the Last” (xliv. 6 ; xlviii. 12). 

103. I shall here subjoin this arcanum. The soul, which is 
from the father, is the real man, and the body, which is from the 
mother, is not the man in itself, but by derivation from the soul, 
and is only the clothing of the real man, composed of such ma- 
terials as belong to the natural world ; whereas the soul is com- 
posed of such substances as belong to the spiritual world. Every 
man after death casts off the natural, which he had from his 
mother, and retains the spiritual which he had from his father, 
together with a certain containing ultimate ( limbo ), derived 
from the purest parts of nature. But this containing ultimate, 
in such as are admitted into heaven, is beneath, and the 
spiritual uppermost; whereas in such as go to hell, it is upper- 
most, and* the spiritual beneath. Hence it is that a man-angel 
speaks by influence from heaven, consequently what is good and 
true ; but a man-devil speaks by influence from hell, while he 
speaks from his heart, and yet in appearance as from heaven, ii 
we judge only by his external speech. This appearance ol 
heavenly influence he assumes in his intercourse with the world, 
while infernal influence governs him when alone, or in his own 
family. Since a man’s soul is the real man, and is spiritual in 
its origin, we may hence see the reason why the mind, temper, 
disposition, inclination, and affection of love, in the father, is 
125 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


103,. 104 

communicated to his children in succession, reviving and dis- 
covering itself anew from generation to generation. Hence it is 
that many families, yea, even whole nations, may he distin- 
guished by the resemblance they bear to their common original 
progenitor, a general image or likeness discovering itself in the 
countenance of every particular descendant ; which image can. 
only be changed by the influence of religion and the spiritual 
things of the church. The reason why the general image of 
Jacob and Judah still remains in their posterity-, by which they 
are easily distinguished from all other people, is, because they 
have hitherto adhered steadily to their religious principles ; for 
there is in the seed, of which every one is conceived, the graft, 
or offset, of the father’s soul in its fulness, enveloped with a 
kind of covering taken from the natural elements, by which in 
the womb of the mother his body is formed, which may be after 
either the father’s or mother’s likeness, the true image of the 
father still remaining within, and continually endeavoring to 
unfold itself, which if it cannot do in one generation it effects 
in another. The true cause why the image of the father is in 
its fulness in the seed, is, because, as was observed, the soul is 
spiritual in its origin, and what is spiritual possesses nothing in 
common with space ; of consequence, it is equally similar to 
itself in a small as in a large compass. With respect to the 
Lord, he, during his abode in the world, by acts of redemption, 
pat off the whole humanity which he had from his mother, and 
put on a humanity from the Father, which is the Divine Hu- 
manity ; so that in him Man is God, and God Man. 

104. VIII. That the progress towards union was his state 

OF EXIN ANITION , AND THE UNION ITSELF IS HIS STATE OF GLORIFI- 
CATION. * 

It is acknowledged in the church, that the Lord, during his 
abode in the world, passed through two states, called states of 
exinanition and glorification. The former state, or that of ex- 
inanition, is described in many passages of the Word, particu- 
larly in the Psalms of David, also by the prophets, and more 
especially by Isaiah, liii., where it is said, that he “poured out 
his soul unto death” (ver. 12). This same state was his state 
of humiliation before the Father ; for therein he prayed to the 
Father, and speaks of doing his will, and ascribes all that he did 
or said to the Father. That he prayed to the Father, may be 
seen, Matt. xxvi. 42 ; Mark i. 35 ; vi. 46 ; xiv. 32 — 39 ; Luke 
v. 16; vi. 12; xxii. 41 — 44; John xvii. 9, 15, 20. That he did 
the will of the Father, John iv. 34 ; v. 30. That he ascribed all 
that he did and said to the Father, John viii. 26 — 28 ; xii. 49, 
50 ; xiv. 10 ; yea, he even cried out on the cross, “ My God, my 
God ! why hast thou forsaken me ?” (Matt, xxvii. 46 ; Mark 
xv. 34) ; and unless he had been in this state he could not have 
been crucified. The state of glorification is also a state of union. 

126 


THE J.< RD THE REDEEMER. 


104,105 


He was in this state when he was transfigured before his three 
disciples, also when he wrought miracles, and when he said that 
he and his Father are one; that the Father is in him and he in 
the Father; that all things that the Father hath are his ; and 
when the union was fully completed, that he had “ power over 
all flesh” (John xvii. 2), and that he had “ all j:>ower in heaven 
and in earth” (Matt, xxviii. 18) ; besides many other passages. 

105. The reason why the Lord passed through these two 
states of exinanition and glorification, was, because there is no 
other possible way of attaining unto union, since this is accord- 
ing to the divine order, which is unchangeable. Divine order 
requires that a man should dispose himself for the reception of 
God, and prepare himself to be a receptacle and habitation into 
which God may enter, and dwell as in his own temple. A man 
ought to do this of himself, but yet to acknowledge that it is an 
effect of divine influence. This he must acknowledge, because 
he does not perceive the presence and operation of God, although 
God by his most immediate presence and operation produces in 
him all the good of love, and all the truth of faith. According 
to this order every man proceeds and must proceed, who from 
natural wishes to become spiritual. In like manner the Lord 
proceeded, for the purpose of making his natural humanity 
divine. This was the reason why he prayed to the Father, that 
he did his will, that he ascribed to him whatever he did or 
spoke, and that he cried out on the cross, “ My God, my God ! 
why hast thou forsaken me ?” for in this state God appears to 
be absent. But this state is succeeded by another, which is con- 
junction with God, in which the man acts indeed as in the 
former state, but now from God ; and it is not necessary that he 
should now, as before, ascribe to God all the good which he wills 
and does, and all the truth which he thinks and speaks, since 
this acknowledgment is inscribed on his heart, and is inwardly 
contained in all his words and actions. In this same manner 
the Lord united himself to his Father, and the Father himself 
to him. In short, the Lord glorified his Humanity, that is, 
made it divine, by a similar process to that by which he regen- 
erates a man, that is, makes him spiritual. 

That every man, who from natural becomes spiritual, passes 
through two states, and is introduced by the one into the other, 
and so is led from the world to heaven, will be fully proved in 
the chapters concerning Freewill, Charity, and Faith, and 
concerning Reformation and Regeneration. We shall merely 
observe here, that in the first state, which is called the state of 
reformation, the man is at full liberty to act according to the 
dictates of his rational understanding; and that in the second, 
which is the state of regeneration, he is likew_se in the same 
liberty, but that he then wills and acts, thinks and speaks, under 
the influence of a new love and a new intelligence from the 
127 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


105, 106 

Lord ; for in the former state the understanding holds the first 
station, and the will the second, but in the latter state the will 
holds the first station, and the understanding the second ; still, 
however, in this state it is the understanding which acts by in- 
fluence from the will, and not the will which acts by means ot 
the understanding. The conjunction of good and truth, of 
charity and faith, and of the internal and external man, is no 
otherwise effected. 

106. These two states are represented by various circum- 
stances and effects in the universe ; the reason of which is, be- 
cause they are according to divine order, and divine order fills 
all and every thing in the universe, even to the most minute 
particulars. The first state is represented in the life of every 
man by his state of infancy and childhood, until he grows up to 
riper years of youth and manhood ; and this is his state of 
humiliation before his parents, and of obedience, and likewise 
of instruction under masters and teachers ; but the other state 
is represented by the state of the same person when he comes 
to be his own master, and at his own disposal ; or, in other 
words, when he has no one’s will and understanding to con- 
sult but his ovrn, in which state he has absolute rule in his 
own house. The first state is also represented by the state 
of a prince, or the son of a king, or of a duke, before he be- 
comes a king or a duke; also by the state of every citizen 
before he is advanced to the office of a magistrate ; of every sub- 
ject before he holds any post in the government ; likewise ot 
every student who is preparing for the ministry, before he be- 
comes a priest, of every priest before he becomes a pastor, and 
of every pastor before he is a primate ; also of every virgin before 
she becomes a wife, and of every maid-servant before she be- 
comes a mistress ; in general of every clerk before he becomes a 
merchant ; of every soldier before he is made an officer ; and of 
every servant before he becomes a master. In all these cases 
the first state is that of servitude and obedience, and the second 
is that of rule and government from a man’s own will and under- 
standing. These two states are represented also by various par- 
ticulars in the animal kingdom; the first by beasts and birds, 
so long as they continue with their dams, following them, and 
depending upon them for direction and sustenance; and the 
second by their leaving their dams, and providing for them- 
selves : in like manner in the case of caterpillars, the first state 
is represented by their creeping, and feeding on the leaves ot 
trees, and the second by their casting their skins, and becoming 
butterflies. Those two states are represented also in the sub- 
jects of the vegetable kingdom ; the first by the vegetable 
springing up from the seed, and putting forth branches, buds, 
and leaves, and the second by its bearing fruit, and producing 
new seeds ; which process may be compared to the conjunction 
128 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


106, 107 

of truth and good, since the several parts of a tree correspond 
to truths, and its fruit to goods. But the man who stops at the 
first state, and does not enter into the second, is like a tree 
which only bears leaves and no fruit, concerning which it is said 
in the Word that it is fit only to be rooted up and cast into the 
fire (Matt. xxi. 19 ; Luke xiii. 9 ; John xv. 5, 6). And he is 
like a servant that is unwilling to be made free, concerning 
whom it was appointed “ that he should be brought to the door, 
or to the door-post, and his master should bore his ear through 
with an awl” (Exod. xxi. 6). Servants are such as are not con- 
joined to the Lord, but freemen are such as are conjoined to 
him ; for the Lord says., u If the Son make you free, then are 
ye free indeed” (John viii. 36). 

107. IX. Henceforth no Christian can be admitted into 

HEAVEN UNLESS HE BELIEVE IN THE LORD GOD AND SAVIOUR, AND 
APPROACH HIM ALONE. 

It is written in Isaiah, “ Behold, I create new heavens and a 
new earth : and the former shall not be remembered, or come 
into mind. Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her 
people a joy” (lxv. 17, 18); £ind in the Revelation, U I saw a 
new heaven and a new earth : and I saw the holy Jerusalem 
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband : and he that sat upon the throne said, 
Behold, I make all things new” (xxi. 1, 2, 5). It is declared 
too in many places that none shall enter into heaven except 
those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev. xiii. 8 ; 
xvii. 8 ; xx. 12, 15 ; xxi. 27). By heaven here is meant not the 
visible heaven which we see with our eyes, but the angelic 
heaven ; by Jerusalem, not any city from heaven, but the church 
which shall descend out of heaven from the Lord ; by the book 
of life is meant not any book written in heaven, which shall be 
opened, but the Word which is from the Lord, and treats of 
him. That Jehovah God, who is called the Creator and Father, 
descended and assumed the humanity, for the purpose of ena- 
bling man to approach to and be conjoined with him, has been 
fully proved, evinced, and confirmed in the foregoing parts of 
this chapter. For what person, when he addresses himself to 
another, directs his address to his invisible soul ? Or indeed 
how is such address practicable ? Does he not rather address 
the man himself, whom he sees face to face, and with whom he 
converses mouth to mouth? Just so it is with God the Father 
and the Son ; for God the Father is in the Son, as the soul in 
its body. That the Lord God and Saviour is the true object of 
faith, is evident from these passages in the Word : u God so 
loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth in him should not perish, but should have ever- 
lasting life” (John iii. 16). “ He that believeth on the Son is not 

condemned ; but he that believeth not is condemned already, be- 
129 k 


107 THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 

cause he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son 
of God” (John iii. 18). “ He that helieveth on the Son. hath 

eternal life ; and he that helieveth not the Son shall not see life ; 
but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John iii. 36). ‘‘The 
bread of God is he that cometh down from heaven, and giveth 
life unto the world. He that cometh to me shall never hunger ; 
and he that helieveth on me shall never thirst” (vi. 33, 35). 
“ This is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth 
the Son, and helieveth on him , may have eternal life : and I will 
raise him up at the last day” (vi. 40). “They said unto Jesus, 
What shall we do, that we may work the works of God ? Jesus 
answered, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom 
he hath sent” (vi. 28, 29). “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, 

He that helieveth on me hath eternal life” (vi. 47). “ J esus 

stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto 
me, and drink. He that helieveth on' me, out of his belly shall 
flow rivers of living water” (vii. 37, 38). “ If ye believe not 

that I am, ye will die in your sins” (viii. 24). “ Jesus, said 

unto her, I am the resurrection and the life : he that helieveth 
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever 
liveth and helieveth in me shall never die” (xi. 25, 26). “ Jesus 

said, I am come alight into the world, that whosoever helieveth 
in me should not abide in darkness” (viii. 12 ; xii. 46). “ While 

ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the chil- 
dren of the light” (xii. 36). That they should abide in the 
Lord, and the Lord in them (xiv. 20 ; xv. 1 — 5 ; xvii. 23) ; and 
this is effected by faith. Paul testified “to the Jews, and also 
to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our 
Lord Jesus Christ ” (Acts xx. 21). “ I am the way, the truth, 

and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me” 
(John xiv. 6). That whosoever believes on the Son believes on 
the Father (since, as we said above, the Father is in him, as the 
soul is in the body), is evident from these passages : “ If ye had 
known me, ye would have known my Father also” (viii. 19 ; 
xiv. 7). “ He that seeth me seeth him that sent me” (xii. 45). 

“ He that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (xiii. 20). 
The reason of this is, because no one can see the Father and 
live (Exod. xxxiii. 20) ; therefore the Lord says, “ Ho man hath 
seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, who is in the 
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John i. 18). “ Ho 

man hath seen the Father, save he who is of God ; he hath seen 
the Father” (vi. 46). “ Ye have neither heard his voice at any 

time, nor seen his shape” (v. 37). But those persons who are 
unacquainted with the Lord, as is the case with numbers in Asia 
and Africa, and also in the Indies, if they believe in one God, 
and live agreeably to the precepts which their religion enjoins, 
are saved by virtue of such faith and life ; for those who know 
their duty, and not those who are ignorant of it, are the objects 
130 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


107 — 109 


of imputation, whether it be of righteousness or of guilt ; just as 
blind men, when they stumble, are no objects of blame ; for the 
Lord says, “ If ye were blind, ye would have no sin ; but now 
ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John ix. 41). 

108. For the further confirmation of what has been said, I 
shall relate the following particulars, which I know, because I 
have been an eye-witness of them, and therefore can testify 
their truth. There is at this day a new angelic heaven forming 
by the Lord, consisting of such only as believe on the Lord God 
the Saviour, and approach him immediately in their worship, 
all others being rejected. If therefore from henceforth any one 
coming from a Christian country into the spiritual world, where 
every man is received after death, does not believe on the Lord, 
and approach him alone in worship, and is not then able to re- 
ceive this doctrine, in consequence of having lived wickedly, or 
confirmed himself in falses, he is rejected at his first approach 
towards heaven, his face is thence averted, and is turned towards 
the region below, called the lower earth, whither he goes, and 
there joins himself in society with those who are signified in the 
Revelation by the dragon and the false prophet. The prayers 
also of every man that lives in a Christian country, and does not 
believe on the Lord, are henceforth not attended to, but are in 
heaven, like ill-scented odors, or like eructations from corrupted 
lungs ; and although he may fancy that his prayer is like the 
perfume of incense, yet in its ascent to the angelic heaven, it is 
but like the smoke of a chimney, which, by the violence of the 
wind, is driven down into the eyes of men below ; or like in- 
cense from a censer under a monk’s cloak. This is fhe case 
from henceforward with all worship which is directed towards a 
Trinity of distinct persons, and not towards a Trinity conjoined 
in one person. To show that the Divine Trinity is conjoined in 
the Lord’s person, is the principal object of this work. 

I will here add this extraordinary information: — Some 
months ago the Lord called together his twelve apostles, and 
sent them forth throughout the whole spiritual world, as he had 
formerly done throughout the whole natural world, with a com- 
mission to preach this gospel ; and then every apostle had his 
particular district assigned him ; and they are each of them ful- 
filling their charge with the utmost zeal and industry. But 

I shall treat more particularly on this subject in the last chapter 
of this work, when I come to speak of the consummation of the 

AGE, THE COMING OF THE LORD, AND OF A NEW CHURCH. 

A COROLLARY. 

109. All the churches before the coming of the Lord were 
representative churches, which could only see divine truths as in 
shade ; but after the Lord’s coming into the world a church was 

131 


109 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


established by him which saw divine truths, or rather had a 
capacity to see them, in a full and clear light. The difference 
was like that between evening and morning ; and indeed the 
state' of the church before the coming of the Lord is in the 
Word called evening, and its state after his coming, morning. 
The Lord, before his advent into the world, was indeed present 
with the members of the church, but then his presence was 
mediate, through the angels, who represented him ; whereas, 
since his advent, he is present with the members of the church 
immediately ; for during his abode in the world he put on the 
divine natural, in which he is present with mankind. The 
glorification of the Lord is the glorification of his Humanity 
which he assumed in the world ; and the glorified Humanity of 
the Lord is the divine natural. That this is the case, is evi- 
dent from this circumstance, that the Lord rose from the sepul- 
chre with his whole body which he had in the world, and left 
nothing behind him therein ; consequently, that he took thence 
along with him thei real natural Humanity from first to last : 
therefore he said to his disciples, after his resurrection, when 
they supposed that they saw a spirit, “ Behold my hands and 
my feet, that it is I myself : handle me and see : for a spirit 
hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have” (Luke xxiv. 37, 
39). Hence it appears that his natural body, by glorification, 
was made divine ; therefore Paul says, that in Christ “ dwelleth 
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Coloss. ii. 9) ; and John 
says, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “ is the true God” 
(1st Epist. v. 20). Hence the angels know that the Lord alone, 
in the whole spiritual world, is fully a man. 

It is known in the church, that all worship among the race 
of the Israelites and of the Jews was merely external, and was 
but a shadow of the internal worship w T hich the Lord opened ; 
thus that all worship before the coming of the Lord consisted in 
types and figures, which were representative of true worship 
according to its just and real portraiture. The Lord indeed 
appeared to the people of old, for he said unto the Jews, u Your 
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day : and he saw it and was 
glad. I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John viii. 
56, 58). But as the Lord was then only represented, which was 
effected by angels, therefore whatever belonged to the church at 
that time was made representative ; whereas, after he came into 
the world, those representations vanished, and that for this hid- 
den reason, because the Lord, during his abode in the world, 
put on also the divine natural, by which he enlightens not only 
the internal spiritual man, but likewise the external natural, 
both of which must be enlightened in order that the man may 
enjoy the daylight of truth ; otherwise he sees only as in a twi- 
light shade ; for, while the internal man alone is enlightened 
without the external, or the external alone without the internal, 
132 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 109, 1 1 0 

he is as one who sleeps and dreams, and presently when he 
awakes he recollects his dream, and forms various conclu- 
sions upon it, which nevertheless are the suggestions of mere 
fancy and imagination ; or he is like a person walking in his 
sleep, who seeing a variety of objects, fancies that he sees them 
in broad daylight. The difference between the state of the 
church before the Lord’s coming, and after it, is like the dif- 
ference between reading a piece of writing in the night by the 
light of the moon and the stars, and in the day by the light of 
the sun ; and it is well known, that in the former case the eye is 
liable to be deceived, because it sees only by a pale light, where- 
as in the latter, the light being fiery and full, the eye is not liable 
to deception. On this account it is written concerning the 
Lord, u The God of Israel said, the Bock of Israel spake to me, 
He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, 
even a morning without clouds” (2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4) : The God 
of Israel, and the Bock of Israel, is the Lord. In another 
place : u Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of 
the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light 
of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach 
of his people” (Isaiah xxx. 26) ; which words are descriptive of 
the state of the church after the coming of the Lord. In a word, 
the state of the church before the coming of the Lord may be 
compared to an aged woman, whose face is painted, and who 
fancies herself beautiful, by reason of the vivid colors of the 
paint ; but the state of the church after his coming may be com- 
pared to a young virgin in all the native beauty of her own com- 
plexion ; further, the state of the church before the Lord’s com- 
ing, may be compared to the outward rind of any sort of fruit, 
as of an orange, an apple, a pear, or a grape, and its flavor ; but 
the state of the church after his coming may be compared to 
the inner parts of those fruits, and their Havor ; not to mention 
many other similar comparisons. The reason of this difference 
arose from the Lord’s putting on the divine natural, in which 
state he enlightens the internal spiritual man and the external 
natural at the same time ; whereas, when the internal man alone 
is enlightened without the external, or the external alone with- 
out the internal, there is no clear light, but only shade. 

110. I shall here adduce the following memorable rela- 
tions; — First. I once saw in the spiritual world a meteor in 
the air falling to the ground, encompassed about with a lucid 
brightness, and noted the place where it fell ; but, as is the case 
wdth all such phenomena, at day-dawn before sunrise it had 
totally disappeared. I went in the morning to the place where 
I had observed the meteor fall the night before, and behold, the 
ground was a composition of sulphur, iron-filings, and clay : and 
suddenly there appeared two tents, one immediately over the 
place, and the other beside it, towards the south. I then looked 
133 


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THE LOUD THE BEDEEMEB. 


upwards, and saw a certain spirit falling down from heaven, like 
lightning, into the tent which stood directly over the spot where 
the meteor fell, while I was standing in the door of the other 
tent which was beside it towards the south : and presently I 
observed the spirit standing also at the door of his tent ; and 
immediately I asked him the reason of his falling so precipitately 
from heaven ; to which he answered, “ I was cast down by the 
angels of Michael, as being an angel of the dragon, because I 
spoke upon certain points of that faith which I had embraced 
and confirmed in the world, particularly that. God the Father 
and God the Son are two, and not one ; for at this day, all the 
angels in heaven believe that they are one, like soul and body ; 
and every word that contradicts this belief, causes the same 
emotion and pain in them as if they should snufif up some pun- 
gent powder into their nostrils, or. as if one should bore their 
ears through with an awl ; therefore whoever maintains a con- 
trary opinion is ordered to depart, and in case of refusal or re- 
luctance, he is cast down headlong.” IJpon this I asked him 
why he did not believe as they did. He replied, that after 
death no one has it in his power to alter the belief which he had 
impressed on his mind by arguments of confirmation ; it remains 
fixed, and cannot be rooted out, especially whatever relates to 
God ; for every one has a place in heaven according to his idea 
of God. I then asked him, by what arguments he had persuaded 
himself to believe that the Father and the Son were two. He 
answered, by what he had read in the Word, concerning the Son’s 
praying to the Father, not only before his passion on the cross, 
but even at the time he suffered, and also concerning his hu- 
miliation before the Father; “for in this case,” said he, “ how 
could they be one, like the soul and the body of a man ? Who 
ever prays as to another, or humbles himself as before another, 
while he himself is that other ? Ho man in his senses could so 
act, much less the Son of God ; and besides, the universal 
Christian church in my time divided the Divinity into persons, 
making each person one by himself, and the term person is de- 
fined to be , that which has a proper and distinct subsistence .” In 
reply to this I said, “From your discourse it seems clear to me 
that you are utterly unacquainted how God the Father and Son 
are one, and in consequence of this you have confirmed yourself 
in the false notions which the church to this day entertains con- 
cerning God. Do you not know that the Lord, during his 
abode in the world, had a soul like every other man ? And 
whence had he that soul, but from God the Father? This is 
abundantly evident from the declaration of the Evangelists ; and 
what then is that which is called Son, but the Humanity, which 
was conceived by the Divinity of the Father, and born of the 
Virgin Mary ? A mother cannot conceive a soul ; this is totally 
repugnant to the order according to which every man is born : 
134 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 110 

and God the Father cannot beget a soul from himself, which 
shall be distinct from himself, as every father among men can 
do, since God is his own divine essence, and this is one, and in- 
capable of division ; and because it is incapable of division, it is 
himself. This is the reason why the Lord declares, that he and 
the Father are one, and that he is in the Father, and the Father 
in him, with many expressions to the same purport. The com- 
posers of the Athanasian creed had also some faint perception of 
this truth, in consequence of which, when they had divided the 
Deity into three persons, they still asserted that in Christ, God 
and man, that is, Divinity and Humanity, are not two, but one, 
like the soul and body in a man. That the Lord, wdien he was 
in the world, prayed to the Father as to a distinct person, and 
humbled himself before the Father as before a distinct person, 
was in conformity to the order established at creation, and which 
is immutable, according to which every one must proceed towards 
conjunction with God. The condition of this order is, that in 
proportion as a man conjoins himself to God, by living accord- 
ing to the laws of order, which are the divine precepts, in the 
same proportion God conjoins himself to him, and from natural 
makes him spiritual : according to this same law the Lord united 
himself to his Father, and God the Father united himself to 
him. For was not the Lord, when an infant, like an infant, and 
when a child, like a child? Is it not written, that he increased 
in wisdom and fav.or ; and afterwards, that he prayed the Father 
to glorify his name, that is, his humanity ? and to glorify it is to 
make it divine by union with himself. Hence it is evident, that 
when the Lord prayed to the Father, he was in the state of his 
exinanition, which was the state of liis progress towards union. 
This same order is inscribed oil every man since the creation of 
the world, and thus as he prepares his understanding by truths 
from the Word of God, he adapts it to the reception of faith 
from God ; and as he prepares his will by works of charity, he 
accommodates it to the reception of love from God ; just as a 
jeweller fits a diamond to receive and emit the brightness of the 
light, according to his manner of cutting it ; and so in other 
instances. To prepare one’s self for the reception of God, and for 
conjunction with him, is to live in conformity to divine order; 
and the laws of order are all the commandments of God. These 
the Lord fulfilled most minutely, and thus he became a recipient 
of the Godhead in all its fulness ; therefore Paul says, that in 
Jesus Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily ; and 
the Lord himself says, that all that the Father hath are his. It 
is further to be observed, that the Lord alone is active in man, 
and that man of himself is merely passive, but that by virtue of 
continual influx of life from the Lord, he is also rendered active, 
apparently as of himself: in consequence of this he has freedom 
of will, which was given him for the purpose of preparing him- 
135 


110 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


self for the reception of God, and thus for conjunction, which is 
not possible unless it be effected reciprocally ; and it is effected 
reciprocally when man is active by virtue of his free-will, and 
yet by faith attributes all activity to the Lord.” 

After this I asked him, whether he and his companions con- 
fessed that God is one? He replied in the affirmative. Then 
I said, “ But I am afraid that the confession of . your heart is 
against the existence of any God ; for do' not the words of the 
mouth proceed from the thoughts of the mind ? It must there- 
fore necessarily follow, that the confession of the mouth declar- 
ing God to be one, will expel from the mind its thoughts of 
three ; and again, that the thought of the mind concerning three 
Gods, will expel from the mouth its confession that there is only 
one: and what conclusion then will necessarily result, but that 
there is no God at all ? For will not that region which inter- 
venes between the thought and the mouth be thus rendered an 
empty void ? And when this is the case, wffiat conclusion can 
be espoused by the mind concerning God, but that nature is 
God? And what notion will it entertain of the Lord, but that 
he received his soul either from Mary or from Joseph ? both 
which opinions all the angels of heaven hold in utter aversion, 
as most horrid and abominable.” When I had concluded, the 
spirit was delivered up to the abyss or bottomless pit, men- 
tioned in the Revelation ix. 2 ; where the angels of the dragon 
dispute about the mysteries of their faith. The next day when 
I looked towards the same place, I saw, instead of the tents, two 
statues in the likeness of human beings, formed of the dust of 
the earth, which was a mixture of sulphur, iron, and clay. One 
statue seemed to have a sceptre in its left hand, a crown on its 
head, and a book in its right hand, and also a stomacher obliquely 
tied across with a band set with precious stones, and a long 
flowing robe behind, which reached to the other statue ; but 
these ornaments of the statue were the effect of fantasy. Then 
these words were heard from the bottomless pit, uttered by one 
of the spirits of the dragon : “This statue represents our Faith 
as a queen, and the other behind it represents Charity as her 
servant.” The other statue was composed of the same mixture 
of the dust, and stood just at the extremity of the robe which 
flowed from behind the queen, and had a paper in its hand, on 
which was written, “ Take heed lest you approach nearer, so as 
to touch the robe.” Then suddenly there fell from heaven a 
shower of rain, which thoroughly wetted both the statues ; and 
they, in consequence of the composition of sulphur, iron, and 
clay, of which they were made, began to ferment and bubble up, 
as is common with that mixture when water is poured upon it ; 
and being thus agitated with intestine fire, they sunk down into 
two heaps of dust, and lay there afterwards on the ground, like 
mounds of earth over the tombs of the dead. 

13fi 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


Ill 


111. The second memorable relation. — In the natural 
world man’s speech is twofold, because his thought is twofold, 
being both external and internal ; for he can speak from his in- 
ternal thought, and at the same time from his external ; and he 
can speak from his external thought separate from his internal, 
yea, in contradiction to it ; which is the ground of all dissimula- 
tion, flattery, and hypocrisy ; but in the spiritual world, man’s 
speech is not twofold, but single ; for he there speaks as he 
thinks, otherwise the tone of his voice is grating, and hurts the 
ear : he may however be silent, and by that means conceal the 
thoughts of his heart ; therefore a hypocrite, when he is in com- 
pany with the truly wise, either takes the first opportunity of 
leaving them, or else retires into a corner of the room, where he 
may sit unnoticed, and say nothing. There was once a large 
assembly in the world of spirits, when the conversation turned 
upon this subject ; and it was observed, that it is painful for 
such as have not formed right conceptions of God and the Lord, 
when in company with the good, to speak in agreement with 
their thoughts. In the middle of the assembly were those who 
belonged to the reformed churches, with several of the clergy ; 
and next to them stood the adherents of the Roman Pontiff, 
with some monks : and it was at first the' opinion of both these 
orders, that there could be no great pain in having the speech 
so confined ; u for what necessity is there,” said they, “ for a 
man to speak otherwise than as he thinks ? and if it happens 
that he does not think aright, cannot he shut his lips and be 
silent ?” Then one of the clergy said, “ Who is there that does 
not think aright concerning God and the Lord ?” But some 
of the assembly requested that the experiment might be made ; 
and they desired those who had confirmed themselves in the be- 
lief of a trinity of persons in the Godhead, to pronounce, from 
the real sentiments of their hearts, the words, “ One God 
but they were not able : and although they twisted and folded 
their lips every way, yet they could not articulate a sound in 
other words than what were in consonance with the ideas of 
their thoughts, which were of three persons, and consequently, 
three gods. The inquirers next desired those who had confirmed 
themselves in the sufficiency of faith separate from charity, to 
pronounce the word “ Jesus but they were not able, although 
they could all pronounce the word u Christ,” and likewise “God 
the Father.” They were much surprised at this, and on inquiry 
discovered the reason to be that they had been used to pray to 
God the Father for the sake of his Son, and had never prayed to 
the Saviour himself, and the name “ Jesus” signifies Saviour 
They were then requested, from their real thoughts concerning 
the Lord’s Humanity, to pronounce the words “ Divine Human 
but none of the clergy present were able ; but some of the laity 
could pronounce it; therefore it became the immediate subject 
137 


Ill 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


of serious debate. 1. First of all, these passages from the Evan- 
gelists were read in their presence : “The Father hath given all 
things into the hand of the Son” (John iii. 35). “The Father 
hath given the Son power over all flesh” (John xvii. 2). “ All 

things are delivered unto me of my Father” (Matt. xi. 27) : 
“ All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt, 
xxviii. 18) : and then they were desired to keep in mind, accord- 
ing to these words, that Christ is God of heaven and earth, both 
as to his divinity and his humanity, and so try to pronounce 
“ Divine Human :” but still they were not able, and they said, 
that from the passages they had heard, they had conceived some 
idea of it in their understandings, but yet it did not amount to 
any degree of acknowledgment, and therefore they could not 
pronounce it. 2. It was afterwards read to them from Luke i. 
32, 34, 35, that the Lord, as to his humanity, was the Son of 
Jehovah God, and that he is there called the Son of the Highest, 
and constantly in other places the Son of God, and also the only- 
begotten ; and then they were requested to keep this in mind, 
and likewise that the only-begotten Son of God, born in the 
world, must of necessity be God, as the Father is God, and so 
try to pronounce “ Divine Human :” but they said, “ We are not 
able, because our spiritual thought, which is interior, admits 
no ideas into the thought bordering upon speech but such as 
are similar to itself ; and hence we perceive that we have now 
no power to divide our thoughts, as in the natural world.” 
3. Then these words of the Lord to Philip were read before 
them: “Philip saith, Lord, shew us the Father. Jesus saith 
unto him, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Be- 
lievest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me” 
(John xiv. 8 — 11) % and also other passages declaring that he 
and the Father are one, as in John x. 30; and they were re- 
quested to retain this in their thought, and so pronounce 
“Divine Human:” but as that thought was not grounded in 
an acknowledgment that the Lord was God, even with respect 
to his humanity, they twisted their lips about until they were 
angry, striving to force the words from their mouths; but they 
could not. The reason was, because the ideas of thought which 
flow from acknowledgment are united and make one with the 
words of the mouth, among spirits in the spiritual world ; and 
where there are no such ideas, there are no words : for ideas be- 
come words in speech. 4. Then were read to them these words 
from the doctrine universally received in the Christian church. 
That the divinity and humanity in the Lord are not two, but one, 
yea, one person, united like soul and body in man, according to 
the creed of Athanasius, and the confession of general coun- 
cils ; and it was told them that hence they might have an idea 
grounded in the fullest acknowledgment that "the humanity ol 
the Lord is divine, because his soul is divine, this being an 
138 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


Ill 


article of the doctrine of their own church which the}' had ac« 
knowledged in the world. It was moreover added, that the soul 
is the very essence of a man, and the body is its form ; and 
essence and form make one like esse and existere, or like cause 
and effect. This idea they retained, and were desirous from its 
influence to pronounce the words “ Divine Human,” but they 
were not able ; for their interior idea concerning the Lord’s 
Humanity exterminated and expunged this new adventitious 
idea, as they called it. 5. There was further read to them this 
passage from John, “The Word was with God, and the Word 
was God. And the Word was made flesh” (John i. 1, 14); and 
also this, “ Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life” (1st 
Epist. v. 20) ; and from Paul, “ In him (Christ Jesus) dwelleth 
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Coloss. ii. 9) ; and they 
were desired to think according to the tenor of these words, that 
God, who was the Word, was made man ; that Jesus Christ is 
the true God ; and that in him dwells all the fulness of the God- 
head bodily : and they did so, yet only in their external thought ; 
wherefore by reason of the resistance of the internal they still 
could not pronounce “ Divine Human,” declaring openly that 
they could form no idea of a Divine Humanity, because God is 
God, and man is man, and God is a spirit, and of a spirit we can 
conceive no idea, but as of wind or ether. 6. At length they 
were desired to recollect what the Lord said, “ Abide in me, and 
I in you. Lie that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bring- 
eth forth much fruit : for without me ye can do nothing” (John 
xv. 4, 5). And because some of the English clergy were pres- 
ent, this passage was read to them from their exhortation at 
the holy communion : “For when we spiritually eat the flesh of 
Christ, and drink his blood, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ 
in us ;” and it was said to them, “ How if you only consider 
that this is impossible unless the humanity of the Lord be 
divine, you may then perhaps pronounce ‘ Divine Human’ 
from a true acknowledgment influencing your thought.” But 
still they were not able, the idea being so deeply rooted in their 
minds, that what is divine cannot be human, and what is human 
cannot be divine, and that the Lord’s Divinity was the Divinity 
of the Son born from eternity, and his humanity like that of 
another man: on which it wg-s said to them, “How can you 
think thus ? Can a reasonable mind ever conceive that any Son 
was born of God from eternity ?” 7. The inquirers afterwards 
addressed themselves to the Evangelical Protestants, telling 
them that both Luther and the Augsburg Confession taught 
that the Son of God and the Son of man in Christ are one per- 
son, and that even as to his human nature he is omnipotent and 
omnipresent, and that in respect to this he sits at the right hand 
of God the Father, and governs all things in heaven and oc 
earth, fills all things, is with us, and dwells aud operates in us 
139 


Ill, 112 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


and there is no difference of worship, because by the nature 
which is perceived, the Divinity, which is not perceived, is wor- 
shipped, and that in Christ, God is man, and man God. To 
this they made no other reply, than suggesting a doubt whether 
it was really so written ; and after some consideration they said, 
‘ ; We were entirely unacquainted with this before; therefore we 
cannot pronounce the words 4 Divine Human.’ ” One or two 
of them added, 44 We have indeed read and even written such 
sentiments ; but yet when we have considered them in our 
minds, we regarded them as mere words whereof we had no in 
terior idea.” 8. Lastly, addressing the Homan Catholics, the 
explorers said, 44 You possibly can pronounce 4 Divine Human,* 
because you believe that, in your eucharist, Christ is entire in 
the bread and wine, and in every part thereof : and you also 
worship him as the most holy God when you elevate and carry 
about the host; likewise you call Mary God-producing ( del - 
par am), or the mother of God, consequently you acknowledge 
that she brought forth God, that is, the Divine Humanity.” 
Then they attempted to pronounce the words ; but because a 
material idea intervened concerning the body and blood of 
Christ, attended with a belief that his human is separable from 
his divine, and that it actually is separated in the person of the 
Pope, to whom his human power only, and not his divine, is 
transferred, therefore they could not pronounce them. Then 
there arose a certain monk who said, that he could conceive a 
Divine Humanity in the person of the most holy Virgin Mary, 
and likewise in the saint of his order ; and another monk came, 
and said, 44 According to the idea which I at present entertain, 
I can pronounce the words 4 Divine Human’ in reference to the 
most holy Pope, rather than to Christ ;” but immediately some 
of the adherents of the Homan Pontiff pulled him back, and said, 
44 Fie, for shame !” After this, heaven appeared open, and there 
were seen tongues as of fire descending, and lighting upon some 
of the assembly ; and they instantly began to celebrate the 
Divine Human of the Lord, saying, 44 Hemove the idea of three 
Gods, and believe that in the Lord all the fulness of the Godhead 
dwells bodily, and that He and the Father are one, as the soul 
and body are one, and that God is not wind and ether, but that 
he is a man, and then, you will be conjoined with heaven, and 
be enabled by the Lord to pronounce the name Jesus , and to 
6ay, 4 Divine Human.’ ” 

112. The third memorable relation. — Awaking once a 
little before day, I walked out in the garden before the house, 
and saw the sun rising in his splendor, encompassed with a sort 
of border, which was at first very faint, but afterwards grew 
plainer and shone like gold ; under its edge I observed a cloud 
ascending, which from the flame of the sun had a ruddy glow 
like a carbuncle ; and immediately I fell into a meditation on 
140 


THE L0ED THE EEDEIMEE. 


112 


tlie fables of the ancients, who feigned Aurora to nave wings of 
silver, and to display in her countenance the ruddiness of gold. 
While my mind was delighting itself with these meditations, 
suddenly I was in the spirit, and heard several persons talking 
together, and saying, “ I wish I might be allowed to speak with 
that teacher of novelties, who has cast the apple of contention 
among the rulers of the church, which has been eagerly run 
after by many of the laity, who have picked it up and presented 
it to our view.” By that apple they meant the pamphlet en- 
titled, A beief Exposition of the Docteine of the New 
Chuech. They said, “It is a schismatical doctrine, which 
never before entered into any man’s head:” and then I heard 
one of them exclaim, “ How, schismatical ! it is altogether he- 
retical.” But some who stood behind him replied, “ Hush ! hold 
your tongue ; it is not heretical ; the author confirms what he 
says by numberless quotations from Scripture, to which our 
strangers, by whom we mean the laity, attend and assent.” On 
hearing these words, as I was in the spirit, I approached and 
said, “ Behold the teacher of novelties you talk of! what would 
you have with him ?” Then one of them, who, as I afterwards 
learnt, was a German, a native of Saxony, said in an authorita- 
tive tone, “ How could you have the impudence to overturn the 
worship which has been for so many ages established in the 
Christian world, which prescribes that God the Father should 
be invoked as the Creator of the universe, his Son as the Media- 
tor, and the Holy Ghost as the Operator ? whereas you separate 
the first and last God from our personality, notwithstanding the 
Lord himself says, 4 When ye pray, say, Our Father who art in 
the heavens , hallowed be thy name . Thy kingdom come? Is 
it not here enjoined that we should invoke God the Father ?” 
Hereupon there was a dead silence, and all who were his favor- 
ers stood, like brave warriors on board of ships of war, crying 
out when they see the enemy’s fleet, “ Lead us on to the battle ; 
we are sure of victory.” Then I began to speak, and said, 
44 Who among you does not know that God came down from 
heaven, and was made Man? for it is written, 4 The Word was 
with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made 
flesh ;’ also, who among you does not know” (and I looked to- 
wards the Evangelical Protestants, among whom was the dicta- 
tor who had just addressed me), 44 that in Christ, who was born 
of the Virgin Mary, God is Man, and Man God?” On this the 
company made a tumultuous noise; therefore I said, 44 Do not 
you know this ? It is according to the doctrine of your confession, 
which is called the Foemula Concoedle, where this tenet is as- 
serted, and confirmed by many proofs.” The dictator then turned 
towards the company, and asked whether they were acquainted 
with this? They replied, 44 We have paid but little attention to 
what is said in that book on the peeson of Cheist; but we 
141 


112 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


have laboriously studied what is taught in the article concerning 
justification by faith alone ; but however, if it be written in 
that book, we are satisfied.” Then one of them recollecting 
himself, said, u It is written therein, and further still it is 
asserted that the human nature of Christ is exalted to divine 
majesty and all its attributes, and also that Christ in that nature 
sits at the right hand of his 1 Father.” On hearing these words 
they were all silenced ; and finding them thus yield assent, I 
again addressed them, saying, “ Since this is the truth, what is 
the Father then but the Son, and the Son but the Father also?” 
But because this again sounded harsh in their ears, I proceeded, 
saying, “ Hearken to the words of the Lord himself, to which if 
you never attended before, it is time you should now ; for he 
has said, ‘I and my Father are one; the Father is in me, and I 
in the Father; Father, all mine are thine, and thine are mine; 
he that seeth me seeth the Father.’ What now can these words 
signify, but that the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the 
Father; and that they are one, like soul and body in a man, 
and thus that they are one person ? You must of necessity 
allow this also, if you believe the Athanasian creed, where the 
same truths are asserted. From the above passages, however, 
select only this declaration of the Lord’s, ‘ Father, all mine are 
thine, and thine are mine.’ What else can this mean, than that 
the Divine of the Father belongs to the Human of the Son, and 
the Human of the Son to the Divine of the Father, consequently 
that in Christ God is man, and man is God, and thus that they 
are one, as soul and body are one ? Every man also may say 
this of his own soul and body, that mine are thine, and thine 
are mine ; thou art in me, and I in thee ; he that seeth me seeth 
thee. We are one both with regard to person and to life: the 
reason hereof is, because the soul is in the whole and every part 
of a man ; for the life of the soul is the life of the body, and 
there is a mutual connection between them. Hence it is plain 
that the Divine of the Father is the soul of the Son, and that 
the Human of the Son is the body of the Father. From whence 
has a child his soul, but from his father? and his body, but from 
his mother? We speak of the Divine of the Father; but we 
mean thereby the Father himself, since he and his Divinity are 
the same thing, the Divine being one and indivisible. That this 
is the case, is evident also from these words of the angel Gabriel 
to Mary : ‘ The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power 
of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy 
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of 
God ;’ and a little before he is called ‘ The Son of the Highest,’ 
and in another place ‘ The only-begotten Son ;’ but you, who 
call him only the Son of Mary, destroy the idea of his Divinity. 
This idea, however, is lost only among the learned clergy and 
the deep-read laity, who, when they elevate their thoughts above 
142 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


112, 113 

the sensualities of tlie body, consult tbe aggrandizement of their 
own glory and reputation, which not only darkens but even ex- 
tinguishes the light by which the glory of God enters. But let 
us return to the Lord’s Prayer, where it is said, ‘ Our Father, 
who art in the heavens, hallowed be thy name : thy kingdom 
come.’ All you that are here present understand these words 
as relating to the Father in his Divinity alone ; whereas I under- 
stand them as relating to him in his Humanity. And this also 
is the Fathor’s name; for the Lord said, ‘Father, glorify thy 
name,’ that is, thy humanity ; and when this is done, the kingdom 
of God comes. This prayer was commanded for this present 
time, in order that God the Father might be approached by 
means of his Humanity. The Lord has also declared, ‘ Ho man 
cometli to the Father but by me;’ and in the prophet, ‘Unto 
us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given ; and his name shall 
be called God , Hero, the Father of eternity /’ and in another 
place, ‘ Thou, Jehovah, art our Father ; our Redeemer is thy 
name from ages ;’ also in a thousand other places, where the 
Lord our Saviour is called Jehovah. This is a true explanation 
of the words of that prayer.” After I had done speaking I 
looked upon them, and remarked the changes of their counte- 
nances according to the changes of the states of their minds ; 
and I observed some assenting and looking upon me, some dis- 
senting and turning themselves from me. Then towards the 
right I saw a cloud of the color of opal, and towards the left a 
dusky cloud, and under both the appearance as of a falling 
shower ; under the latter as of rain at the end of autumn, and 
under the former as of dew at the beginning of spring ; and im- 
mediately I returned from the spirit into the body, and thus 
from the spiritual into the natural world. 

113. The fourth memorable relation. — I was looking into 
the world of spirits, and saw an army mounted on red and 
black horses. Those who sat upon them appeared like apes, 
having their faces and breasts turned towards the horses’ tails, 
and the hinder parts of their heads and backs towards the 
horses’ heads, and the bridles hung about the necks of the 
riders ; and they cried out against a party that rode on white 
horses, but held the bridles with both their hands, and so re- 
strained their horses from combat; and this they continued 
doing for some time. Then two angels descended from heaven, 
and came to me, and said, “ What do you see ?” I told them 
I saw T a strange collection of horsemen ; and I asked what they 
meant, and who they were ? The angel answered, “ They are 
from a place which is called Armageddon (Rev. xvi. 16), wherein 
some thousands are assembled, to tight against those who are of 
the Hew Church of the Lord, which is called the Hew Jerusalem. 
They were talking there about the church and religion, and yet 
there was nothing of the church among them, because there was 
143 


113 


HIE ' LORD THE REDEEMER. 


no spiritual truth, and nothing of religion, because there was no 
spiritual good : they were talking with their mouths and lips on 
this opinion and that, but it was only for the purpose of extend- 
ing and securing dominion. They have been taught from their 
youth to confirm the doctrine of faith alone, and have imbibed 
some notions about God, which they retained for some time 
after they were advanced to high stations in the church ; but ap 
they then began to think no more concerning God and heaven, 
but about themselves and the world, consequently no more con- 
cerning eternal bliss and happiness, but about temporal wealth 
and exaltation, they cast out the doctrines which they had re- 
ceived in their eaifiy years from the interiors of the rational 
mind, which have communication with heaven, and are thus in 
the light of heaven, into the exteriors of the rational mind, which 
have communication with the world, and are thus in the light 
of the world ; and at length they thrust them down into the 
sensual-natural region of the mind, so that the doctrines of the 
church became merely topics for conversation, and had no longer 
any place in their thought from reason, much less any place in 
their affections from love. And because they have reduced 
themselves to such a state, they do not admit any divine truth 
which is of the church, or any divine good which is of religion. 
The interiors of their minds are become comparatively like 
bottles filled with a mixture of iron-filings and powder of brim- 
stone, into which if water be poured, there is at first heat ex- 
cited, afterwards fire, and so the bottles are burst : in like 
manner, when they admit any thing of that living «water, which 
is the genuine truth of the Word, in at their ears, they are 
violently heated and inflamed, and reject it as something that 
would burst their heads. These are those who appeared to you 
like apes, riding with their bodies inverted, on red and black 
horses, with bridles about their necks ; since those who do not 
love the truth and the good of the church, as derived from the 
Word of God, have no inclination to look at the fore parts of 
any horse, but towards his hinder parts ; for a horse signifies 
the understanding of the Word of God ; a red horse the under- 
standing of the Word destroyed with respect to good, and a 
black horse the understanding of the Word destroyed with re- 
spect to truth. The reason of their crying out to battle against 
those who ride on white horses is, because a white horse signifies 
the understanding of the Word of God with respect to truth and 
good ; and their appearing to pull back their horses was owing 
to their fear of the combat, lest the truth of the Word should 
thus become known to many, and so should come to light. This 
is the interpretation.” 

The angels said moreover, “We belong to the society in heav- 
en which is called Michael, and we were" ordered by the Lord 
to descend into the place called Armageddon, whence you saw 

144 : 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


118 


that troop of horsemen come forth. By Armageddon, with us 
in heaven, is signified a state and desire of the mind to wage 
war under the influence of falsified truths, arising from the love 
of eminence and universal dominion and because we have per- 
ceived in you a desire to know something of the nature of that 
war, we will give you a short account of it. Immediately on 
our descent from heaven we went to the place called Arma- 
geddon, where we saw several thousands assembled ; we did not 
however enter into the assembly, but went into some houses on 
the southern side of that place, where there were young children 
with their masters, who received us kindly : we were delighted 
with their company. Their countenances were full of beauty, 
arising from the life that shone in their eyes, and the zeal that 
animated their conversation : the life in their eyes was derived 
from the perception of truth, and the zeal in their conversation 
from the affection of good : therefore also we made them a 
present of caps, the edges of which were ornamented with 
bands composed of threads of gold interwoven with jewels, 
and likewise a present of garments variegated with white and 
blue (hyacinthinum) . We then asked them whether they had 
ever looked into the neighboring place called Armageddon ? 
They replied that they had seen it through a window below 
the roof of the house, and had observed a large assembly 
of persons there, but under different figures, sometimes appear- 
ing like men of authority, and at other times not like men, 
but like statues and graven images, and round about them a 
numerous company on their bended knees. These also appeared 
to us under various forms, some like men, some like leopards, 
some like goats with their horns pointed forwards, with which 
they dug up the ground. We interpreted to them those meta- 
morphoses, showing their representations and significations. 
But to come to the point : — That assembly of people, when they 
heard that we were entered into those houses, said one to an- 
other, 4 Who are they that have been admitted among the 
children ? Let us send some of our company to turn them out.’ 
So they sent some, who, when they came, said to us, 4 What is 
the reason of your entering into these houses ? Whence do you 
come? We are commissioned to insist upon your immediate 
departure.’ To this we replied, 4 You have no right to insist 
upon any such thing : you appear indeed in your own eyes like 
the giants called Anakim, ana those who are here seem to you 
like dwarfs ; but still you have no power and authority here, 
except by means of craft and cunning, which yet will be of no 
avail ; therefore carry word back to your companions that we 
were sent here from heaven, to come and see whether you have 
any religion or not ; and if not, you are to be cast out from this 
place : go therefore and propose to your companions this question, 
which involves the real essence of the church and of religion, 
145 l 


113 


THE eORD THE REDEEMER. 


how they understand these words in the Lord’s prayer, Our 
Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be thy name ; 
thy kingdom come.’ When we had thus opened our commis- 
sion, they said at first, 4 What is the meaning of all this ?’ But 
afterwards they promised that they would propose the ques- 
tion. So they went and related to their companions all that 
had passed, who asked to what end or purpose is this proposal ? 
But when they understood the reason of it, and that it was to 
determine the nature of their faith in God the Father, they said, 
‘ The meaning of the words is plain, that men ought to pray to 
God the Father; and as Christ is our Mediator, that prayer 
ought to be directed to God the Father for the sake of the Son 
and presently they determined, in a fit of passion, that they would 
come to us, and make this declaration to our faces, adding 
further, that they would pull our ears. So they left that place, 
and went into a grove that was near the houses where the chil- 
dren were with their masters, in the middle of which grove there 
was a plain piece of ground in the form of an amphitheatre, or 
place of exercise, into which they entered, holding by each other’s 
hands, and there they found us waiting for them. There were 
in the place small mounds of earth raised like little hillocks, 
upon which they seated themselves ; for they said one to another, 
‘ We will not stand in their presence, but will sit down.’ Then 
one of them, who had the art to assume an appearance as of an 
angel of light, and who was commissioned by the rest to speak 
with us, said, ‘ You have proposed to us that we should declare 
our sentiments respecting the sense of the first words in the 
Lord’s prayer. I must inform you therefore, that according to 
our interpretation they signify, that we ought to pray to God 
the Father ; and because Christ is our Mediator, and we are 
saved by his merits, we should pray to God. the Father from 
faith in his merits.’ We then informed them of our errand, 
saying, ‘We belong to a society in heaven which is called 
Michael, and we are sent to make visitation, and to inquire 
whether you who are assembled in this place have any religion 
or not ; for the idea of God enters into every part of religion, 
and thereby conjunction is effected, and by conjunction salva- 
tion. We in heaven, like men on earth, repeat that prayer 
daily, and at such times we do not think of God the Father, be- 
cause he is invisible, but we think of him in his Divine Human, 
because in this he is visible; and in this he is by you called 
Christ, but by us the Lord, and thus the Lord is our Father in 
the heavens. The Lord also taugnt that he and the Father are 
one : that the Father is in him, and he in the Father; and that 
he that seeth him, seeth the Father; also, that no man cometh 
to the Father but by him ; and likewise, that it is the will of the 
Father that we should believe on the Son ; and that he that 
doth not believe on the Son will not see life, but the wrath of 
146 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


113 


God abideth on him ; hence it is evident that the Father is to 
be approached by him and in him ; and since this is the case, 
he further taught that all power is given unto him in heaven 
and in earth. It is said in that prayer, Hallowed be thy 
name, thy kingdom come ; and we have proved from the Word 
that his Divine Humanity is the Father’s name, and that the 
kingdom of the Father then cometh when the Lord is ap- 
proached immediately; and not when God the Father is ap- 
proached immediately; therefore also the Lord commanded his 
disciples to preach the kingdom of God ; and this is the king- 
dom of God.’ On hearing these words the antagonists said, 
4 You make many quotations from the Word, and possibly we 
may have read those passages, but we do not recollect them ; 
therefore let us have the Word produced, and let us hear those 
passages read, particularly those which tend to show that the 
kingdom of the Father cometh when the kingdom of the Lord 
cometh.’ They then said to the children, ‘Bring us the Word;’ 
and they brought it. We then read out of it the following 
passages : Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and 
saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand 
(Mark i. 14, 15 ; Matt. iii. 2). Jesus himself preached the gos- 
pel of the kingdom, and that the kingdom of God was at hand 
(Matt. iv. 17, 23; ix. 35). Jesus gave commandment to his 
disciples that they should preach and teach the kingdom of God 
(Mark xvi. 15 ; Luke viii. 1 ; ix. 60). And also the seventy 
whom he sent out (Luke x. 9, 11 ; and in other places, as Matt, 
xi. 5 ; xvi. 28 ; ix. 1 ; Mark xi. 10 ; Luke iv. 43 ; xxi. 31 ; xxii. 18). 
The kingdom of God which was preached was the kingdom of 
the Lora, and thereby the kingdom of the Father, as is evident 
from these passages : ‘The Father hath given all things into the 
hands of the Son’ (John iii. 35). 4 All things are delivered 

unto me of my Father’ (Matt. xi. 27). ' 4 The Father hath given 
the Son power over all flesh’ (John xvii. 2). ‘ All power is 

given unto me in heaven and in earth’ (Matt, xxviii. 18). ‘The 
Lord of Hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of 
Israel ; The God of the whole earth shall he be called’ (Isaiah 
liv. 5). ‘ I saw, and behold, one like the Son of Man / and there 
w^as given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
people, nations, and languages should serve him : his dominion 
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass aw r ay, and his 
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed’ (Dan. vii. 13, 14). 
‘ And the seventh angel sounded ; and there were great voices 
in heaven, saying, The kingdom? of this world are become the 
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for 
ever and ever’ (Rev. xi. 15 ; xii. 10). We further instructed 
them from the Word that the Lord came into the world not 
only to redeem angels and men, but also that they might be 
united wfith God the Father by him and in him ; for he taught 
147 


113 


THE LORD THE REDEEMER. 


that such as believe in him are in him, and he in them (John vi 
56 ; xiv. 20; xv. 4, 5). Hereupon they asked, 4 How then can 
your ,Lord be called Father?’ We replied, ‘From what has 
been read to you already, and also from these passages. 4 Unto 
ns a child is born, unto us a son is given : and his name shall 
be called God , Hero, the Father of eternity ' (Isaiah ix. 6). 
1 Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant 
of us, and Israel acknowledge us not ; thou , 0 Jehovah , art our 
Father , our Redeemer ; thy name is from ages' (lxiii. 16). Did 
not he say to Philip, who desired to see the Father, 4 Hast thou 
not known me, Philip ? He that seeth me seeth the Father’ 
(John xiv. 9 ; xii. 45). 4 Who else then is the Father, but he 

whom Philip saw with his eyes ?’ We further added, 4 It is said 
throughout the whole Christian world that those who are of the 
church constitute the Lord’s body, and are in it ; how then can 
any member of the church approach to God the Father but by 
him, in whose body he is ? If not, he must of necessity go out 
of the body, and so approach.’ We lastly informed them that a 
Hew Church is now at this day establishing by the Lord, which 
is signified by the Hew Jerusalem in the Revelation, in which 
the Lord alone will be worshipped, as in heaven, and that thus 
all will be fulfilled that is contained in the Lord's Prayer from 
beginning to end. We produced so many passages in confirma- 
tion of this from the evangelists, the prophets, and the Revela- 
tion, which from beginning to end treats of that church, that 
they were tired of hearing them. 

Having listened with indignation, the Armageddons were 
desirous at every turn to interrupt our discourse : at length they 
broke out and exclaimed, 4 You have spoken against the doc- 
trine of our church, in which it is insisted that God the Father 
is to be approached immediately, and that men ought to believe 
on him ; thus you stand convicted of a violation of our faith ; 
therefore, depart hence instantly, or you shall be turned out by 
force.’ Then their minds being violently infiamed, they were 
about to proceed from threats to violence ; but at that instant, 
by virtue of the power committed to us, we struck them with 
blindness, in consequence of which, not seeing us, they rushed 
forth, and ran about in great confusion, and some fell into the 
bottomless pit, mentioned in the Revelation ix. 2, which is at 
this time in the southeast quarter, and where all those are con- 
fined who confirm the doctrine of justification by faith alone; 
and such of them as confirm that doctrine by the Word, are 
driven forth into a desert, where they are conveyed to the very 
extremity of the Christian world, and mixed with pagans.” 


148 


ON REDEMPTION. 


114, 115 


ON REDEMPTION 


114. It is acknowledged throughout the church that the 
Lord acts in a double office, as a priest and as a king ; but few 
persons know wherein the distinction between those two offices 
consists, therefore it shall be explained. The Lord, from his 
priestly office, is called Jesus, and from his regal office, Christ ; 
in the Word also, from his priestly office, he is called Jehovah 
and Lord, and from his regal office, God, and the Holy One of 
Israel, and likewise king. These two offices are distinguished 
from each other like love land wisdom, or what amounts to the 
same, like good and truth : hence, whatever the Lord did and 
performed from divine love or divine good, he did and performed 
in his priestly character ; but whatever from divine wisdom, or 
divine truth, that he did and performed in his regal character. 
In the Word also, priest and priesthood signify divine good, and 
king and royalty signify divine truth ; both which were repre- 
sented by the priests and kings in the Israelitish church. Re- 
demption has reference to both these offices; but in what re- 
spect to the one, and in what to the other, will be shown here- 
after. For the clearer perception however of this subject, we 
will arrange it under the following heads or articles : — I. That 
redemption itself consisted in bringing the hells into subjection , 
and the heavens into order / and in thus preparing the way for 
a new spiritual church. II. That without such redemption , nei- 
ther could men have been saved , nor could the angels have re- 
mained in a state of integrity. III. That the Lord thus redeemed 
not only men , but also angels. IV . That redemption was a work 
'purely divine. V. That this real redemption could not possibly 
have been effected ', but by God incarnate. VI. That the passion of 
the cross was not redemption , but the last temptation which the 
Lord endured as the Grand Prophet / and it was the means of 
the glorification of his humanity , that is , of the union with the 
divinity of his Father. VII. That it is a fundamental eiror of 
the Church to believe the passion of the cross to be redemption 
itself / and this error , together with that relating to Three Di- 
vine Persons existing from eternity , has perverted the whole 
church , so that nothing spiritual is left remaining in it. We 
will now proceed to a particular consideration of each article. 


115. I. That redemption itself consisted in bringing the 

HELLS INTO SUBJECTION, AND THE HEAVENS INTO ORDER; AND IN 
THUS PREPARING THE WAY FOR A NEW SPIRITUAL CHURCH. 

That redemption consists in these three things, I can declare 
with the utmost certainty, since the Lord at this day also is ac- 
complishing a redemption, which was begun in the year 1757, 
together with the Last Judgment, which was then executed. 
From that time redemption has continued even till now ; because 


L49 


ON REDEMPTION. 


115, 116 

Now is the Lord’s Second Advent, and a new church is to be 
established, which could not be effected unless the hells were 
first reduced into subjection and the heavens restored to order; 
and as I was permitted to see the whole process of this work, I 
could describe in what manner the hells were subdued, and 
the new heaven was formed and arranged ; but the description 
would take up an entire volume. With respect, however, to the 
Last Judgment, and the manner in which it was executed, I 
have published an account of it in a small treatise, printed at 
London in the year 1758. That the subjugation of the hells, 
the restoration of the heavens to order, and the establishment of 
a new church, constitute redemption, is a truth grounded in this 
circumstance, that without such a process no man could have 
been saved. The parts of that process also follow each other in 
an orderly connection; for it is necessary that the hells should 
be subdued before a new angelic heaven can be formed, and the 
formation of a new heaven is equally necessary before a new 
church on earth can be established ; for mankind on earth are so 
connected with the angels of heaven and the spirits of hell, that 
to whichever they. are joined, they make one with them as to the 
interiors of their minds. But we will treat more particularly on 
this subject in the last chapter of this work, when we come to. 
speak of the consummation of the age, of the coming of the 

LORD, AND OF THE NEW CHURCH. 

116. The Lord during his abode in the world fought against 
the hells, and overcame and subdued them, and thus reduced 
them to obedience, as is manifest from many passages in the 
Word, of which I will only produce these few: “Who is this 
that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrali ? this 
that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his 
strength ? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 
Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like 
him that treadeth in the wine-press ? I have trodden the wine- 
press alone, and of the people there was none with me : for I 
will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my wrath ; 
hence the blood of their mighty ones was sprinkled upon my 
garments. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the 
year of my redeemed is come. My arm brought salvation to 
me ; I brought down their victory to the earth. He said, Surely 
they are my people, my sons : so he became their Saviour. In 
his love and in his pit}' he redeemed them” (Isaiah lxiii. 1 — 9). 
This is spoken of the Lord’s combats against the hells. By the 
garments in which he was glorious, and which were red, is sig- 
nified the Word, which had suffered violence from the Jews ; 
his combats against the hells, and his victory over them, are 
described by his treading them in his anger, and trampling them 
in his wrath ; that he fought alone, and by his own strength, 
is described in these words : “ Of the people there was none* 
150 


ON REDEMPTION. 


116 


vvitli me ; my arm brought salvation to me. I brought down 
their victory to the earth.” That he thereby saved and re- 
deemed them, is signified by these words : “ So he became their 
Saviour. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them.” That 
this was the cause of his coming, is signified by these words : 
u The day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my re- 
deemed is come.” Again, it is written in Isaiah : “ He saw that 
there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor : 
therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his right- 
eousness sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breast- 
plate, and the helmet of salvation upon his head ; and he put on 
the garments of vengeance, and covered himself with zeal as a 
cloak: then came the Redeemer unto Zion” (lix. 16, 17, 20). 
And in Jeremiah: “They were dismayed; their mighty ones 
were beaten down ; they fled apace, and looked not back." For 
it was the day of the Lord Jehovah Zebaoth, a day of vengeance, 
that he may avenge him of his foes : and the sword shall devour 
and be satiated” (xlvi. 5, 10). Both these passages relate to 
the Lord’s combats against the hells, and his victory ov^r them. 
It is written also in David, “ Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O 
thou mighty One. Thine arrows are sharp, and the people shall 
fall under thee. Thy throne is forever and ever : thou hast 
loved righteousness : therefore God hath anointed thee” (Psalm 
xlv. 3 — 7) : the like is asserted* in many other places. As the 
Lord singly conquered the hells without the aid of any angel, he 
is therefore called a Hero or Mighty Man , and a Man of War 
(Isaiah xlii. 13 ; ix. 6) ; the King of glory , Jehovah strong and 
mighty , the Lord mighty in battle (Psalm xxiv. 8, 10) ; the mighty 
One of Jacob (Psalm cxxxii. 2); and in many places, Jehovah 
Zebaoth , that is, Jehovah of Hosts : and his coming is also called 
The day of Jehovah, terrible and cruel , a day of indignation, of 
wrath, of anger, of vengeance, of destruction, of war, of a trum- 
pet, of noise, of confusion, dec. It is written also in the evan- 
gelists, u JSTow is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince 
of this world be cast out” (John xii. 31). “The prince of this 
world is judged” (John xvi. 11). “Be of good cheer; I have 
overcome the world” (John xvi. 33). “I beheld Satan as light- 
ning fall from heaven” (Luke x. 18). By the world, the prince 
of the world, Satan, and the devil, is signified hell. Moreover, 
in the Revelation, from beginning to end, the present state of 
the Christian church is described ; and it is also foretold that 
the Lord would come again, and subdue the hells, and form a 
new angelic heaven, and afterwards establish a new church on 
earth. Though these particulars are there all foretold, they 
were never discovered before this time, because the book of 
Revelation, as well as all the prophetical parts of the Word, was 
written by mere correspondences ; without the discovery of which, 
by the Lord, scarcely anv one could rightly have understood one 
151 


ON REDEMPTION. 


116 , 117 

verse of that bo)k; but now, for the sake of a new church, all 
its contents are discovered in a work entitled the Apocalypse 
Revealed, published at Amsterdam in the year 1766, and they 
will be attended to by those who believe the Word of the Lord 
in Matt. xxiv. concerning the state of the church at this day, 
and concerning his coming. But this belief is still weak and 
wavering among those, and those only, in whose hearts the faith 
of the present church in a trinity of divine persons from eternity, 
and in the passion of Christ as constituting redemption itself, is 
so deeply rooted, that it cannot be eradicated. Such however 
(as was shown in the memorable relation above, n. 113) are 
like bottles filled with iron-filings and powder of brimstone, 
which, when water is poured into them, first grow hot, and after- 
wards break out into a flame, by which the bottles are burst : 
they also, in like manner, when they receive any living water, 
which is the genuine truth of the Word, either by their eyes or 
their ears, are vehemently heated and set on fire, and reject it 
as something that would burst their heads. 

117. The subjugation of the hells, the orderly arrangement 
of the heavens, and the consequent establishment of a church, 
may be illustrated by various similitudes. The character of the 
hells may be compared to an army of robbers or rebels who 
invade a kingdom or city, set fire to the houses, lay waste the 
possessions of the inhabitants, and divide the spoil, with great 
joy and triumph; but redemption may be compared with a 
righteous king, who marches against them with his army, and 
puts part of them to the sword, confines another part in prison, 
takes away their spoil, and having restored it to his subjects, 
afterwards establishes his kingdom in peace and order, and 
secures it against the like outrages for the future. The hells may 
also be compared with a number of wild beasts sallying forth 
in a body from the forests, and committing depredations on 
flocks and herds, and even on men, so that none dare stir out 
beyond the walls of the city to till the ground ; in consequence 
of which the fields are left uncultivated, and the inhabitants of 
the city are in fear of perishing by famine ; but redemption may 
be compared with the slaughter and dispersion of those wild 
beasts, and with the defence of the plains and fields against all 
further depredations. The hells may be compared also with 
locusts that consume every green thing growing on the earth ; 
and redemption, with the means to prevent their further pro 
gress ; in like manner, to a multitude of grubs, which at the 
beginning of summer devour the leaves of trees, and thus pre- 
vent the growth of any fruit, so that the boughs are left bare 
and barren as in the depth of winter ; but redemption, to the 
destruction of such vermin, by which the trees of the garden are 
restored to their natural state of bloom and fruitfulness. All 
diese are exact pictures of the state in which the church must 
152 


ON REDEMPTION. 


117—119 


have remained, unless the Lord, by redemption, had separated 
the good from the evil, and cast the latter into hell, and elevated 
the former into heaven ; for what consequences are not to be 
dreaded, where there is neither justice nor judgment in a king- 
dom, to separate the evil from the good, and to secure the latter 
from injuries, so that every one may dwell safely in his own 
house, and, as the Scripture expresses it, may sit in safety under 
his own vine and his own fig-tree ? 

118. II. That without such redemption neither could men 

HAVE BEEN SAVED, NOR COULD THE ANGELS HAVE REMAINED IN A 
STATE OF INTEGRITY. 

It may be proper first to state the true nature and meaning 
of redemption. To redeem signifies to deliver from damnation, 
to rescue from eternal death, to snatch out of hell, and to pluck 
out of the hands of the devil those that were led captive and 
bound. This was effected by the Lord when he reduced the 
hells to subjection, and formed a new heaven. Men could not 
otherwise have been saved, because the spiritual world and the 
natural have such a connection with each other, that they are 
incapable of separation, particularly with respect to men’s in- 
teriors, which are called their souls and minds, and which, if good, 
are connected with the souls and minds of angels, but if evil, 
with the souls and minds of infernal spirits. Such is the nature 
of this union, that if angels and spirits were to be removed from 
a man he would instantly fall down dead like a stock or a stone ; 
and they, on the other hand, could not subsist, if they were de- 
prived of their support and resting-place in mankind. Hence 
may be seen a reason why redemption took jfiace in the spiritual 
world ; and why heaven and hell w T ere first to be regulated be- 
fore the church on earth could be established. The truth of 
this appears evident from the book of Revelation, where it is 
said, that after the formation of the new heaven, the Hew Jeru- 
salem, which is a new church, came down from that heaven 
'(xxi. 1, 2). 

119. The angels could not have stood in their state of integ- 
rity, had not redemption been effected by the Lord, because 
the whole angelic heaven, together wfith the church on earth, is 
before the Lord as a single man, whose internal is constituted 
by the angelic heaven 1 , and whose external is constituted by the 
church ; or, to be more particular, the highest heaven constitutes 
the head ; the second and lowest heaven constitute the breast 
and middle region of the body ; the church on earth constitutes 
the loins and feet ; and the Lord himself is the soul and life of 
that whole man : therefore, unless the Lord had effected redemp- 
tion, this man must have been destroyed ; the feet and loins 
riiust have perished by the defection of the church on earth ; the 
region of the stomach and intestines, by the defection of the 
lowest heaven ; the region of the breast, by the defection of the 

153 


119, 120 ON REDEMPTION. 

second heaven ; and then the head, being left without a corre- 
sponding body, must of necessity have fallen into a state of in- 
sensibility. But we will endeavor to illustrate this by com- 
parisons. It is as when a mortification begins in the feet of the 
natural body, and by degrees advances upwards, and infects first 
the loins, and afterwards the viscera of the abdomen, and at 
length seizes upon the parts near the heart; in which case, it is 
well known that the infection instantly proves fatal. Or it may 
be compared with disorders of the viscera below the diaphragm ; 
for no sooner do they receive any material injury, than the heart 
begins to palpitate, and the lungs to pant heavily, and presently 
all motion ceases in both. It may be illustrated also by this 
circumstance relating to the internal and external man, that all 
goes well with the internal, so long as the external is obedient 
in the discharge of its duties ; but in case the external man is 
not obedient, but refractory, and especially if it assaults the in- 
ternal, then this latter is gradually weakened and overthrown, 
and at length is betrayed by the pleasures of the external into a 
base assent to, and compliance with, its suggestions. It may 
likewise be illustrated by comparison with a man standing on 
the top of a mountain, who sees a flood of waters inundating the 
country below, and observes the waves rising by degrees towards 
the summit where he stands, which having reached, he himself 
must perish in the inundation, unless he can provide for his 
safety in a boat till the waters are subsided : or as if a person 
from the top of a mountain sees a thick fog rising higher and 
higher from beneath, and hiding from his view the plains, the 
villages, and cities, Jtill at length it reaches himself, and then he 
can neither see any thing, nor know where he himself is situated. 
Exactly similar to this is the case of the angels when the church 
on earth perishes ; then also the inferior heavens pass away, be- 
cause the heavens consist of men from earth, and where there is 
no longer any real goodness of heart and truth of the Word re- 
maining among men, the heavens are overwhelmed by the evils 
thence arising, and are choked up by them as by Stygian waters ; 
nevertheless the inhabitants are preserved elsewhere by the Lord, 
and reserved till the day of the last judgment, and are then 
raised up into a new heaven. These are those who are signified 
in the Revelation in this passage : “ I saw under the altar the 
souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the 
testimony which they held ; and they cried wi f h a loud voice, 
saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge 
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on tk^ earth ? And 
white robes were given unto every one of them ; «\nd it was said 
unto them that they should rest yet for a little time, until their 
fellow*servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as 
they were, should be fulfilled” (vi. 9 — 11). 

120. Had it not been, therefore, for the redeim'tic'- which 
154 


ON REDEMPTION. 


120, 121 

the Lord effected, iniquity and evil would have overspread tha 
whole body of Christians, both in the natural and the spiritual 
world ; and of the many reasons for this, one is, because every 
man after death enters into the world of spirits, and takes along 
with him altogether the same nature that he had in the natural 
world ; and no person, at his first coming, can be prevented from 
conversing with his deceased parents, brethren, relations, and 
friends. Every husband is immediately eager in quest of his 
wife, and every wife of her husband ; and by one or other they 
are introduced into a variety of acquaintance among such as out- 
wardly appear like lambs, but inwardly are like wolves; and thus 
even those of a religious character are corrupted, and turned 
from the right way. In consequence of this, and of many wicked 
artifices there practised, which are unknown in the natural 
world, the world of spirits is so full of subtle wickedness, that it 
may be compared to a pool of water replete with the spawn of 
frogs. That evil communications have such an effect even in 
the spiritual world, may appear from this circumstance, that 
whoever associates much with robbers or pirates, by degrees 
acquires a disposition to the same evils ; whoever lives among 
adulterers and harlots, in course of time makes light of adultery ; 
and whoever connects himself with rebellious persons, presently 
makes no scruple to do all kinds of violence. For all evils are 
infectious, and may be compared to the plague, whose contagion 
is communicated even by the breath and perspiration of the in- 
fected person ; or they may be compared to a cancer and gan- 
grene, which spread slowly, and corrupt first the parts which lie 
near, and by degrees those which are more remote, till at last 
they infect and destroy the whole system. The delights of evil, 
which are hereditary in every man, are what make him so sus- 
ceptible of the contagion of wickedness. Hence, then, it may 
appear plain, that unless redemption had been wrought by the 
Lord, no mail could have been saved, nor could the angels have 
remained in their state of integrity. The only refuge for any 
one against destruction is in the Lord ; for he says, u Abide in 
me, and I in you : as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, ex- 
cept it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 
I am the vine, ye are the branches : he that abideth in me, and 
I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for without me 
ye can do nothing. If any one abide not in me, he is cast 
forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them and 
cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John xv. 
4 — 6 ). 

121. III. That the lord thus redeemed not only men, but 

ALSO ANGELS. 

This follows from what has been said in the foregoing article, 
that unless redemption had been wrought by the Lord, the 
angels could not have remained in a state of integrity. To the 
155 


121 


ON REDEMPTION. 


reasons above assigned, the following may be added : — 1 . At the 
time of the Lord’s first coming the hells had grown to such a 
height, that they filled the whole world of spirits, which is in 
the middle between heaven and hell, and had thereby not only 
disturbed the last or lowest heaven, but had also made attempts 
upon the middle heaven, which they infested a thousand differ- 
ent ways, and which would have been destroyed unless . the 
Lord had protected it. Such insurrection of the hells is signi- 
fied by the tower that was built in the land of Shinar, whose 
head was to reach unto heaven ; which attempt was prevented 
by the confusion of languages, when the builders were dispersed, 
and the city was called Babel (Gen. xi. 1 — 9). What is there 
signified by the tower and the confusion of languages, is ex- 
plained in the work entitled Arcana Ccelestia, published at 
London. The hells had grown to such a height, because at the 
time when the Lord came into the world, the whole earth was 
altogether alienated from God by idolatries and magic ; and the 
church, which had formerly been established among the children 
of Israel, and lastly among the Jews, was entirely destroyed in 
consequence of the falsification and adulteration of the Word. 
In the mean time both Jews and Gentiles after death flocked 
into the world of spirits, where in process of time they so in- 
creased and multiplied, that there was no possibility of driving 
them out thence but by the coming down of God himself, and 
by the strength of his divine arm. The means by which this 
work was effected is described in a small treatise on the Last 
Judgment, published at London in the year 1758. This was 
accomplished by the Lord during his abode in the world. A 
similar judgment also is accomplished by the Lord at this day, 
because, as was observed above, this is the time of his second 
coming, according to his predictions in every part of the Reve- 
lation, and in Matt. xxiv. 3 — 30 ; in Mark xiii. 26 ; in Luke xxi. 
27 ; in the Acts of the Apostles, i. 11 ; and in many other places. 
There is this difference, indeed, that at his first coming the hells 
had grown to their great height, in consequence of being 
crowded with idolaters, magicians, and falsifiers of the Word; 
but at this his second coming they are crowded with Christians, 
so called, both such as are immersed in naturalism, and such as 
have falsified the Word by confirmations of their invented 
scheme of faith concerning the existence of three divine persons 
from eternity, and concerning the Lord’s passion as constituting 
the sum and substance of redemption ; for these are those who 
are signified by the dragon and his two beasts in the Revela- 
tion (xii. and xiii). 2. The second reason why the Lord also 
redeemed angels is, because not only every individual man, but 
likewise every individual angel, is withheld from evil and pre- 
served in good by the Lord ; for no one, whether he be an angel 
or a man, is in good of himself, but all good is from the Lord : 

156 


ON .REDEMPTION. 


121 , 122 

when therefore the footstool of the angels, which is in the world 
of spirits, was removed from under them, they were in a similar 
situation with a person sitting on a throne when its pedestals 
are taken away. That the angels are not pure in the sight of 
God,js evident from the prophetical parts of the Word, and 
also from the book of Job, iv. 18 ; and from this consideration, 
that there is not a single angel who was not once a man. This 
then is the confirmation of ‘that part of the Faith of the New 
Heaven and the New Church, in its universal and particu- 
lar form, prefixed to this work, where it is said, “That the 
Lord came into the world to remove hell from man, and that 
he removed it by combats against it and victories over it, by 
which he subdued it, and reduced it under obedience to his 
authority;” and further, “That Jehovah God descended and 
assumed the Humanity, for the purpose of reducing to order all 
things in heaven and in the church : since at that time the 
power of the devil, that is, of hell, prevailed over the power of 
heaven, and on earth the power of evil over the power of good ; 
in consequence of which a total damnation was at hand, and 
threatened every creature. This impending damnation Jehovah 
God removed by his Humanity, and thus redeemed both angels 
and men ; from whence it is evident, that unless the Lord had 
come into the world, no flesh could have been saved. The case 
is similar at this day ; consequently, unless the Lord come 
again into the world, no flesh can be saved.” (See above, 
n. 2, 8.) 

122. The deliverance wrought by the Lord, by which both 
the spiritual world and the church on earth were rescued from 
universal damnation, may be illustrated by comparison with a 
king, who, by victories obtained over his enemies, sets at liberty, 
and brings back to his palace the princes, his sons, who had 
been taken prisoners, bound in chains, and shut up in a dun- 
geon. It may be illustrated also by comparison with a shep- 
herd, who, like Samson and David, rescues his sheep from the 
jaws of a lion or a bear, drives back those wild beasts into the 
forests from which they came, pursues them to their retreats, 
and at last forces them to take refuge in bogs or deserts, and 
afterwards returns to his sheep, feeds them in safety, and gives 
them drink out of fountains of pure water. It may be illus- 
trated also by a comparison with a person who sees a serpent 
lying coiled up in the way, and just ready to bite a traveller 
by the heel, which he immediately seizes by the head, and in 
spite of its twisting and twining about his hand, carries it to his 
house, where he cuts off* its head, and casts its body into the 
fire. It is capable of receiving further illustration from the case 
of a bridegroom or husband, who seeing an adulterer attempt to 
do violence to his bride or wife, immediately attacks him, and 
either wounds his hand with his sword, or disables him with 
157 


ON REDEMPTION. 


122, 123 

blows on his legs and loins, or else orders his servants to cast 
him into the streets, and beat him with clubs to his own house, 
thus rescuing his beloved, and conducting her in safety to his 
own chamber. Moreover, by a bride and wife, in the Word, is 
signified the church of the Lord, and by adulterers are signified 
the violators of the church; as all those are who adulterate the 
Word of the Lord. It was because the Jews did so, that the 
Lord called them an adulterous generation. 

123. IV. That redemption was a work purely divine. 

Whoever considers the true nature of hell, and how it had 
arisen and overflowed the whole world of spirits at the time ot 
the Lord’s coming, and with what power the Lord cast it down 
and dispersed it, and afterwards reduced it to order together 
with heaven, cannot but stand in amazement, and exclaim, that 
all was a work purely divine. For first, with respect to the 
nature of hell ; it consists of myriads of myriads of spirits, being 
composed of all those who, from the creation of the world, have 
alienated themselves from God, by evils of life, and falses of 
faith. Secondly, with respect to the manner in which hell had 
arisen , and overflowed the whole world of spirits , at the time of 
the Lord's coming / this was in some measure explained in the 
foregoing article. What was its state at the time of the Lord’s 
first coming, was never made known to any person, because it 
is not revealed in the literal sense of the Word ; but what it was 
at the time of his second coming, I was permitted to be an eye- 
witness ; and hence some idea may be collected of its former 
state, according to the description given in a small treatise on 
the Last Judgment, published at London in the year 1758 ; in 
which treatise there is also described with what power the Lord 
cast down the hells , and dispersed them. It is therefore needless 
in this place to transcribe the account of all that I was an eye- 
witness of, since every reader may plainly see from what is said 
in that treatise, that such casting down and dispersion of the 
hells was the work of an omnipotent God. Fourthly, with re- 
gard to the manner in which the Lord afterwards reduced to 
order all things both in heaven and in hell: this I have not as 
yet described, since the reduction of the heavens and the hells 
,to order is not yet accomplished, but has continued in its pro- 
cess since the day of the Last Judgment until now, and still 
continues ; nevertheless, if it be desired, it shall be made public 
after the completion of this work. With respect to myself, I 
have seen, and do see daily, the divine omnipotence of the Lora 
manifested in this as in a true mirror. The latter process is 
indeed peculiarly that of redemption, whereas the former belongs 
more properly to the Last Judgment; and such persons as 
have a distinct idea of each, may discern several things that lie 
concealed under figures in the prophetical parts of the Word, 
and yet stand plainly revealed, if by an explication of corre* 
158 


ON REDEMPTION. 


123, 124 

epondences they are exposed to the light of the understanding. 
Forasmuch as each ‘work, both the former and the latter, is 
divine, therefore they can only be illustrated by comparisons, 
and that in a very imperfect manner. They may be illustrated 
by comparison with a battle against the armies of all the nations 
throughout the whole world, accoutred with spears, shields, 
swords, guns, and cannon, headed by skilful and cunning gen- 
erals and commanders : they are called skilful and cunning, be- 
cause numbers in hell are acquainted with arts unknown in our 
w r orld, in which they exercise themselves, that they may attack, 
ensnare, beset, and assault, to the greatest advantage, the in- 
habitants of heaven. The Lord’s combat with hell may also be 
compared, but yet imperfectly, with a combat against all the 
wild beasts throughout the whole world, and with their slaughter 
and complete subjugation, so that not one of them dare to stir 
out of his den, and attack any man who is in the Lord ; hence, 
if any such man looks at them with a menacing aspect, they 
suddenly shrink back, as if they felt a vulture in their bosoms, 
endeavoring to eat his way into their hearts. Infernal spirits 
are also described in the Word by wild beasts, and are signified 
particularly by those among which the Lord is said to have been 
forty days (Mark i. 13). It may be compared also with an op- 
position to the whole body of the ocean, when the dykes which 
confine it are broken down, and it deluges whole countries and 
cities with its waters. The reducing of hell to subjection by the 
Lord is also signified by his calming the raging sea, when he 
said, “ Peace, be still” (Mark iv. 38, 39 ; Matt. viii. 26 ; Luke viii. 
23, 24) ; for by the sea there, as in many other places, is signi- 
fied hell. The Lord, by the same divine power, fights at this 
day against hell in every particular person who is advancing in 
regeneration ; for hell rises up against every such person with 
all its diabolical fury ; and unless the Lord opposed and sub- 
dued it, the man must of necessity fall an easy prey to its 
tyranny. For hell is like a single gigantic monster or a savage 
lion, with which it is also compared in the Word; and conse- 
quently, unless the Lord kept that lion or monster bound hand 
and foot, it must of necessity happen, that a man, though res- 
cued from one evil, would of himself fall into another, and so on 
into others, without end. 

124. V. That this real redemption could not possibly 

HAVE BEEN EFFECTED BUT BY GOD INCARNATE. 

It was shown in the foregoing article, that redemption was a 
work purely divine, consequently that it could only be effected 
by an omnipotent God. The reason why it was necessary for 
God to become incarnate, that is, to be made a man, in order to 
effect redemption, is, because Jehovah God, such as he is in his 
infinite essence, cannot approach unto hell, much less enter into 
it, being in that essence in purest and first principles; there' 
159 


124 


ON REDEMPTION. 


fore Jehovah God being such in himself, if he had only breathed 
on the inhabitants of hell, would have deprived them instantly 
of life ; for he said to Moses, who was desirous of seeing him, 
“ Thou canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see me 
and live” (Exod. xxxiii. 20); and if Moses could not see him, 
much less could the infernal spirits, who, being in the lowest 
degree natural, are in last and grossest principles, and thus in 
such as are most remote from God ; consequently, unless 
Jehovah God had assumed the Humanity, and thus clothed 
himself with a body, which is in last or ultimate principles, it 
would have been vain to have attempted any thing like redemp 
tion. For who can attack an enemy, unless he approach towards 
him, and be furnished with arms for the battle ? Or who can 
disperse and destroy dragons, hydras, and basilisks in the wilder- 
ness, unless he cover his body with a coat of mail, and his head 
with a helmet, and be armed with a spear in his hand ? Or who 
can catch whales in the sea without a ship, and the necessary 
tackle for the purpose? By these, and such like comparisons, 
the combat which the omnipotent God waged with the hells may 
in some sort be illustrated, though by no means perfectly repre- 
sented. In this combat he could not possibly have engaged, un- 
less he had first put on the Humanity. But it is to be observed, 
that the combat which the Lord waged with the hells was not 
an oral combat, as between reasoners and disputers, for here 
such kind of warfare would have had no effect ; but it was a 
spiritual combat, or the combat of divine truth from divine 
good, which was the Lord’s very principle of life, the influx of 
which, when made through the medium of sight or aspect, is 
irresistible to all in the hells ; for such power is contained in it, 
that the infernal genii, at the mere perception of it, flee away, 
cast themselves into the deep, and creep into clefts and caverns 
to conceal themselves, according to the description given of them 
by Isaiah in these words : 44 They shall go into the caverns of 
the rocks, and into the clefts of the earth, for fear of Jehovah, 
when he ariseth to affright the earth” (ii. 19) ; and in tffe Reve- 
lation : 44 They hid themselves in the dens and in the' rocks of 
the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, 
and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and 
from the anger of the Lamb” (vi. 15, 16,. 17). How great the 
power is which the Lord exercised when he accomplished the last 

a ment in the year 1757, and which he possesses by virtue 
vine good, may appear from the circumstances described in 
the small treatise concerning that judgment; as that he plucked 
up from their foundations the hills and mountains which the in- 
fernal spirits had taken possession of in the world of spirits, and 
cast them to a vast distance, caused some to sink down into the 
earth, deluged their cities, villages, and fields with a flood oi 
water, and rooted up the ground on which they stood, and cast 
160 


ON REDEMPTION. 


124 - 126 


it with its inhabitants into whirlpools, bogs, and fens, with many 
other particulars ; all which operations were effected by the 
Lord alone, though the power of divine truth derived from 
divine good. 

125. That Jehovah God could not have been thus active and 
operative, except by his Humanity, may be illustrated by vari- 
ous comparisons ; as, for example, it is impossible for persons 
that are invisible to each other to unite in salutation or conver- 
sation : angels or spirits cannot join hands, or engage in dis- 
course with a man, even though they should stand just beside 
his person and before his face ; and the soul of any one cannot 
converse and negotiate business with another, except by means 
of his body. The sun cannot enter with its light and heat into 
any man, beast, or vegetable, unless it first enter into the air, 
and act by that as a conveying medium; in like manner also 
that heat and light cannot enter into fish but by the medium of 
water ; for it is necessary it should act by means of the element 
in which the subject of its operation dwells. jST o one can scrape 
off the scales of a fish with a knife, or pluck the feathers from a 
bird without fingers, or go down to the bottom of a lake without 
a diving-bell. In short, one thing must be accommodated to 
another before there can be any communication between them, 
or a '* ' 0 * J her contrariety or concord. 



PASSION OF THE CROSS WAS NOT REDEMP- 


TION, BUT THE LAST TEMPTATION WHICH THE LORD ENDURED AS THE 
GRAND PROPHET ; AND IT WAS THE MEANS OF THE GLORIFICATION OF 
HIS HUMANITY, THAT IS, OF THE UNION WITH THE DIVINITY OF HIS 
FATHER. 

The two purposes for which the Lord came into the world, 
and by which he saved men and angels, are these, redemption 
and the glorification of his Humanity. These two are distinct 
from each other, but yet they make one with respect to salva- 
tion. It has been shown in the foregoing articles, that redemp- 
tion was a combat with the hells and their subjugation, and 
afterwards the orderly establishment of the heavens. But 
glorification was the uniting of the Lord’s Humanity with 
the Divinity of his Father, which was effected by successive 
steps, and was fully completed by the passion of the cross ; so 
every man, on his part, ought to approach towards God, and as 
he so approaches, God enters, on his part, in the same propor- 
tion. It is in this case as with a temple, which must first be 
built by men’s hands, and afterwards consecrated, and lastly 
sanctified by prayer, that God would make it the abode of his 
presence, and unite himself with his church assembled there. 
The reason why that union was fully effected by the passion ol 
the cross, is, because this was the last temptation which the 
Lord underwent during his abode in the w r orld; and conjunc- 
tion is effected by temptations ; for in them, the man, to all 


161 


M 


12G— 128 


ON REDEMPTION . 


appearance, is left to himself alone ; yet it is but in appearance ; 
for God is then most present with him, in the inmost principles 
of his mind, and supports him. When therefore a person con- 
quers in temptation, he is then most intimately conjoined with 
God ; and this was the case with the Lord in the union with 
his Father. That the Lord during his sufferings on the cross, 
was left to himself, is evident from his exclamation at that time, 
“ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?” and also 
from his own words, “Ho man taketh my life from me, but I 
lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have 
power to take it again. This commandment have I received of 
my Father” (John x. 18). It is evident then from this, that 
the Lord suffered not as to his Divinity, but as to his Humanity, 
and that, at the time of suffering, the most intimate and thereby 
the most complete union was effected. This may be illustrated 
by the consideration, that while a man suffers with respect to his 
body, his soul does not suffer, but only mourns ; which mourn- 
ing God removes after victory obtained, and as it 'were wipes the 
tears from his eyes. 

127. These two points, redemption and the passion of the 

cross, ought to be considered as distinct; otherwise the human 
mind, like a ship, strikes upon quicksands or rocks, and is lost, 
together with the pilot, the captain, and the sailors ; that is, it 
falls into error respecting all those truths that relate to salvation 
by the Lord. For unless he has right ideas of these two points, 
as distinct from each other, a man is as in a dream, in which he 
sees imaginary objects, and forms conclusions on things which 
he fancies to be real, but which at last prove visionary ; or he is 
like a person 'walking by night, who lays hold on the leaves of 
a tree, supposing them to be the hair of a man’s head, and, 
coming near, entangles his own hair in the branches. But 
although redemption and the passion of the cross are two dis- 
tinct things, yet they are united and make one in the matter of 
salvation ; since the Lord, by union with his Father, which was 
completed by the passion of the cross, became a Redeemer to all 
eternity. * # 

128. Concerning the glorification, which signifies the 
uniting of the Divine Human of the Lord with the Divinity of 
the Father, 'which was fully completed by the passion of the 
cross, the Lord thus speaks in the Gospef : “ When Judas was 
gone out, Jesus said, How is the Son of Man glorified, and God 
is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God will also 
glorify him in himself, and will straightway glorify him” (John 
xiii. 31, 32). Here glorification is spoken^both of God the 
Father and of the Son; for it is said, God is glorified in him, 
and will glorify him in himself; it is evident, therefore, that 
glorification signifies union. “ Father, the hour is come : glorify 
thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee” (John xvii. 1, 5). 


ON KEDEMPTION. 


128 1&0 


Tliis is to intimate that the union was reciprocal, and, as it is 
also said, that the Father was in him, and he in the Father. 
“ Now is my soul troubled: and he said, Father, glorify thy 
name ; and there came a voice from heaven, saying, I both have 
glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John xii. 27, 28). This 
was said because the union was effected successively, or by de 
grees. u Ought not Christ to suffer these things, and to entei 
into his glory?” (Luke xxiv. 26). Glory, in the Word, when 
spoken of the Lord, signifies divine truth united with divine 
good. Hence it appears evident, that the Humanity of the Lord 
is Divine. 

129. The Lord was willing to be tempted, even to his suffer 

ing on the cross, because he was the Grand Prophet ; and pro- 
phets formerly signified the doctrine of the church derived from 
the Word, and hence they represented the church, according to 
its nature and quality, by various emblems, and also by unjust, 
grievous, and even wicked acts, which were enjoined them by 
God for that purpose. But the Lord, since he was the Word 
itself, by his suffering on the cross as the Prophet, represented 
the Jewish church, as to the manner in which it had profaned 
the Word. To this may be added another reason, that he might 
thus be acknowledged in the heavens as the Saviour of both 
worlds ; for all the particulars of his suffering or passion were 
significative of such things as relate to the profanation of the 
Word, and the angels understand them in a spiritual sense, 
while men on earth understand them in a natural sense. That 
the Lord was the Prophet is evident from these passages : “ A 
Projphet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in 
his own house” (Matt. xiii. 57 ; Mark vi. 4; Luke iv. 24). 
“ Jesus said, It is not fitting that a Prophet perish out of Jeru- 
salem” (Luke xiii. 33). “ And there came a fear on all, and 

they glorified God, saying that a great Prophet is raised up 
amongst us” (Luke vih 16). “ They said of Jesus, This is the 

Prophet of Nazareth” (Matt. xxi. 11 \ John vii. 40). “That a 
Prophet should be raised up out of their brethren, whom they 
should obey” (Deut. xviii. 15 — 19). 

130. The prophets represented the state of the church to 
which they belonged, with respect to doctrine derived from the 
Word, and with respect to life according to such doctrine, as is 
evident from the following passages : Isaiah the prophet was en- 
joined to loose the sackcloth from off his loins, and the shoe 
from off his foot, and to go naked and barefoot three years for a 
sign and a wonder (Isaiah xx. 2, 3). The prophet Ezekiel was 
enjoined, for the purpose of representing the state of the church, 
to prepare him stuff for removing, and to remove to another 
place in the eyes of the cnildren of Israel, and to bring forth his 
stuff by day, and to go forth at even, through a hole dug in the 
wall, and to cover his face that he might not see the earth, and 

163 


130 


ON REDEMPTION. 


that thus he should be a sign to the house of Israel : and should 
say, “ Behold, I am your sign ; like as I have done, so shall it 
be done unto you” (Ezek. xii. 3 — 7, 11). The prophet Ilosea 
was commanded, for the purpose of representing the state of the 
church, to take unto him a harlot to wife ; so he took her, and 
she bare him three children, one of whom he called Jezreel, and 
another Not- to-be-pitied, and the third Not-a-people. And 
again he was commanded to go and love a woman beloved of her 
companion, and an adulteress, whom he bought for himself 
(Hos. i. 2 — 9 ; and iii. 1, 2). A certain prophet was enjoined to 
cast ashes on his eyes, and to suffer himself to be smitten and 
beaten (1 Kings xx'. 35 — 38). Further, as a representative of 
the state of the church, the prophet Ezekiel was ordered to take 
„ a tile, to engrave upon it Jerusalem, to lay siege to it, to cast a 
trench and mound against it, to put an iron pan between him 
and the city, and to lie upon his left side and upon his right 
side. Also, to take wheat and barley, beans, and lentiles, millet 
and vetches, and to make bread thereof, also to make a cake of 
barley with man’s dung ; and because he prayed that it might 
not be so, he was permitted to make it with cow’s dung. The 
injunction was thus expressed : “ Lie thou upon thy left side, 
and put the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it ; the number 
of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their 
iniquity / for I will give the years of their iniquity, according 
to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days, to 
bear the iniquity of the house of Israel ; and when thou hast 
accomplished them, thou shalt lie again on thy right side, to 
bear the iniquity of the house of Judah ” (Ezek. iv. 1 — 15). 
The prophet herein bore the iniquities of the house of Israel 
and the house of Judah, and did not take them avmy ; thus 
he represented them, and pointed them- out, but did not ex- 
piate them, as is plain from what follows in the same chap- 
ter : “ And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the children of 
Israel eat their unclean bread. Behold I will break the staff 
of bread in Jerusalem, that they may want bread and water, 
and be desolated, a man and his brother, and consume away 
for their iniquity” (ver. 13, 16, 17). The same therefore is 
understood of the Lord, where it is said, “Surely he hath 
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows ; Jehovah hath laid on 
him the iniquities of us all : by his knowledge shall he justify 
many, for he shall bear their iniquities ” (Isaiah liii. 4 — 11) : 
throughout the whole of which chapter the sufferings or passion 
of the Lord are treated of. The Lord, as the Prophet, repre- 
sented the state of the Jewish church with respect to the Word, 
as is evident from the particulars of his sufferings ; as that he 
was betrayed by Judas, and was taken and condemned by the 
chief priests and elders ; that he was buffeted, and struck on the 
head with a reed, and was crowned with thorns ; that thev 
164 


ON REDEMPTION. 


130 — 132 


divided his garments, and cast lots upon his vesture ; that they 
crucified him ; that they gave him vinegar to drink, and pierced 
his side ; that he was buried, and rose again the third day. Ilis 
being betrayed by Judas signified that he was betrayed by the 
Jewish nation, who were in possession of the Word, and were 
represented by Judas : his being taken and condemned by the 
chief priests and elders, signified that he was dealt with in like 
manner by the whole Jewish church ; his being buffeted and 
6pit upon, scourged, and struck on the head with a reed, signi- 
fied. that the like had been done to the Word with regard to its 
divine truths ; his being crowned with thorns signified that the 
Jewish nation had falsified and adulterated divine truths ; the di- 
vision of his garments, and the casting lots upon his vesture, sig- 
nified that they had dissipated all the truths of the Word, but 
had not injured its spiritual sense, which the Lord’s vesture or 
tunic represented ; his crucifixion signified the destruction and 
profanation of the whole Word ; the offering him vinegar to 
drink signified that the truths of the Word were altogether 
falsified, wherefore lie 'did not drink it ; the piercing his side 
signified that they had totally extinguished all the truth and all 
the good of the Word ; his burial signified the rejection of what 
remained from the mother; his rising again on the third day 
signified his glorification, or the union of his humanity with the 
divinity of the Father. Hence then it appears, that to bear ini- 
quities does not mean to remove them, but to represent the 
profanation of the truths of the Word. 

131. This may also be illustrated by comparisons, which are 
employed for the sake of the simple and unlearned, who see 
better by such illustrations than by analytical conclusions de- 
duced from the Word and from reason. Every citizen or subject 
is united with his king by virtue of obedience to his commands 
and injunctions, particularly if he undergoes any hardships for 
the sake of his sovereign, and still more if he sacrifices his life 
in his service, either in single combat or in a general battle. In 
like manner, a friend is united with a friend, a son wdth a father, 
a servant with a master, in consequence of doing such things as 
are agreeable to their will, and especially by standing up in 
their defence against enemies, and still more by fighting for 
their honor. Who that wishes to be united with the virgin 
whom he desires for a bride, is not ready to fight with those 
that defame her, and to contend with his rival even to blows 
and wounds ? for that the union is promoted by such means is 
according to the law inscribed on nature. Therefore the Lord 
says, “ I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd layeth down 
his life for the sheep ; therefore my Father loveth me” (John 
x. 11,17). 

132. YII. That it is A fundamental error of the church 
to believe the passion of the cross to be redemption itself ; 

165 


132 


ON REDEMPTION. 


AND THIS ERROR, TOGETHER WITH THAT RELATING TO THREE DITINE 
PERSONS FROM ETERNITY, HAS PERVERTED THE WHOLE CHURCH, SO 
THAT NOTHING SPIRITUAL IS LEFT REMAINING IN IT. 

What doctrine more abounds in the books of the orthodox 
at this day, or what is more zealously taught and insisted on in 
the schools of divinity, or more constantly preached and cried 
up in the pulpit, than this, that God the Father, being full of 
wrath against mankind, not only separated them from himself, 
but also sentenced them to universal damnation, and thus ex- 
communicated them from his favor; but, because he was gra- 
cious and merciful, that he persuaded or excited his Son to 
descend, and take upon himself the determined curse, and so to 
expiate the wrath of his Father; and that thus, and no other- 
wise, could the Father be prevailed upon to look again with an 
eye of mercy on mankind ? Likewise, that this was effected by 
the Son, who, in taking upon himself the curse pronounced 
against men, suffered himself to be scourged by the Jews, to be 
spit upon, and lastly to be crucified as the accursed of God 
(I)eut. xxi. 23) ; and that by this means the Father was ap- 
peased, and, out of love towards his Son, cancelled the sentence 
of damnation, yet only in favor of those for whom the Son should 
intercede, who was thus to be a perpetual Mediator in the pres- 
ence of the Father? These and similar doctrines are at this 
day sounded forth from the pulpit, and re-echoed from the walls 
of the temple, as an echo from a wood, and the ears of all pres- 
ent are filled with it. But who that has his reason enlightened, 
and is restored to health by the Word, cannot see that God is 
mercy and clemency itself, because he is love itself, and good- 
ness itself, and that these constitute his essence ; and conse- 
quently that it is a contradiction to say, that mercy itself, or 
goodness itself, can behold a man with an angry eye, and sentence 
him to damnation, and still abide in his own divine essence \ 
Such dispositions are never ascribed to a good man or an angel 
of heaven, but only to a wicked man and a spirit of hell ; it^ is 
therefore blasphemy to ascribe them to God. But if we inquire 
into the cause of this false judgment, we shall find it to be this, 
that men have mistaken the passion of the cross for redemption 
itself : hence have flowed those opinions, as falses flow in a con- 
tinued series from one false principle; or as from a cask of 
vinegar nothing but vinegar can come forth ; or as from an in- 
sane mind, we can expect nothing but insanity. For one point 
being taked for granted, the conclusions that are made from it 
must be of the same family, because they are included in it, and 
are severally and successively produced from it ; and from this 
one point concerning the passion of the cross, as constituting 
ihe sum of redemption, many more scandalous opinions, impious 
and disgraceful as referring to God, may still arise and go forth 
into the world, until that prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, where it 
166 


ON REDEMPTION. 


132, 1^3 

is said, “The priest and the prophet have erred, through strong 
drink; they stumble in judgment: all tables are full of vomit 
and filthiness” (xxviii. 7, 8). 

133. From this idea concerning God and redemption, the 
whole system of theology has lost its spirituality, and is become 
in the lowest degree natural. This was the necessary conse- 
quence of ascribing to God merely natural properties and attri- 
butes ; and yet on the idea entertained of God and of redemp- 
tion, which makes one with salvation, every thing that has rela- 
tion to the church depends. For that idea is like the head, from 
which all parts of the body are derived; when therefore that 
idea is spiritual, every thing that belongs to the church becomes 
spiritual also ; but when that idea is natural, then every thing 
belonging to the church becomes natural : therefore, as the idea 
of God and of redemption is become merely natural, that is, 
sensual and corporeal, of consequence all those things are merely 
natural which the heads and members of the church have main- 
tained, and do maintain, in their systems and forms of doctrine. 
That idea must of necessity give birth to nothing but falses, be- 
cause the natural man is in continual opposition to the spiritual 
man, and thus regards spiritual things as airy and visionary 
fantasies ; it may therefore be truly said, that in consequence of 
that sensual idea concerning redemption, and thence concerning 
God, the ways towards heaven, which are those that lead to the 
Lord God the Saviour, are beset with thieves and robbers (John 
x. 1, 8, 9) ; and that the doors of the temple are thrown down, 
so that dragons and owls, and the tzjim and jiim, have entered 
and made a concert of dreadful discord. That this idea con- 
cerning redemption, and concerning God, pervades the faith 
which prevails at this day throughout all Christendom, is an ac- 
knowledged truth ; for that faith requires men to pray to God 
the Father that he would remit their sins for the sake of the 
cross and blood of his Son, and to God the Son, that he would 
pray and intercede for them, and to God the Holy Ghost, that 
he would justify and sanctify them ; and what is all this but to 
supplicate three distinct gods one after another? And, in such 
a case, how can the notion which the mind forms of the divine 
government differ from that of an aristocratical or hierarchical 
government ? or from that of the triumvirate which once existed 
at Rome, if only instead of triumvirate, it be called a triumper- 
sonate ? And in such a government, what is easier than for the 
devil to put in practice the old maxim, Divide and govern ; that 
is, to distract men’s minds, and excite rebellious motions, some- 
times against one God, and sometimes against another, as has 
been his practice since the time of Arius to this day ; and thus 
to thrust the Lord God the Saviour from his throne, “ who hath 
all power in heaven and in earth” (Matt, xxviii. 18) ; and tc 
exalt some creature of his own in his place, and to enjorn men 
167 


ON REDEMPTION. 


13*, 134 

Co worship him, or, when the folly of this is detected, to destroy 
the worship of the Lord himself together with that of the ima- 
ginary idol ? 


134r. I shall here adjoin the following memorable rela- 
tions. — First. I once entered into a temple in the world of 
spirits, where there was a large congregation ; and before the 
sermon they reasoned together about redemption. The temple 
was a square building, with no windows in the walls, but a large 
opening above in the centre of the roof, through which the light 
from heaven entered, and illuminated it better than if there had 
been windows at the sides. As they were talking about redemp- 
tion, a black cloud gathering from the north, on a sudden 
covered the opening, which occasioned so thick a darkness, that 
they could not see each other, and scarce any one could discern 
his own hand. While they were standing lost in amazement at 
this circumstance, lo! the black cloud was divided in the midst, 
and through the aperture were seen angels descending from 
heaven, who dispersed the cloud on each side, so that the temple 
became again full of light {lumen ) ; and immediately the angels 
sent one of their party down into the temple, who, in the name 
of the rest, inquired of the congregation the subject of their dis- 
pute, which had occasioned so thick a cloud to gather over them, 
and prevent the admission of light. They replied, that they 
were debating about redemption, and had concluded that it was 
effected by the Son of God, through the passion of the cross, by 
which he made atonement, and delivered mankind from damna- 
tion and eternal death. Hereupon the deputed angel said, 
“ How by the passion of the cross ? Why do you conceive that 
redemption was thus effected ?” Immediately a priest ap- 
proached, and said, “ I will explain to you in order what we 
know and believe. It is our opinion that God the Father being 
angry with mankind, condemned them, and excluded them from 
his mercy, pronounced them all accursed and reprobate, and ac- 
cordingly sentenced them all to hell ; but that he desired his Son 
would take that curse upon himself, and that the Son consented, 
and for that purpose descended, and assumed the humanity, and 
suffered himself to be crucified, and the condemnation of man- 
kind thus to be transferred to himself; for it is written, Cursed 
is every one that hangeth on a tree / that thus the Son appeased 
the Father by his intercession and mediation ; and then the 
Father, out of love towards the Son, and moved with the misery 
which he had endured on the cross, determined to pass an act 
of pardon, but only in favor of those to whom he imputes his 
Son’s righteousness ; these he would make children of grace and 
blessing, who were before children of wrath and the curse, and 
would give them justification and salvation ; but all others must 
168 


ON REDEMPTION. 


134 


continue children of wrath, as was before decreed. This is our 
faith, and this is the righteousness which God inserts in our 
faith, which faith alone justifies and saves.” The angel, on 
hearing this was silent for a long time, standing motionless in 
astonishment; and when his surprise was somewhat abated, he 
thus delivered himself: u Is it possible that the Christian world 
should be so infatuated, and should wander so far from sound 
reason into such crooked devices and establish the funda- 
mental doctrine of salvation on these paradoxes ? Who cannot 
see that such delusions are diametrically opposite to the very 
divine essence itself, that is, to God’s divine love and wisdom, 
and at the same time, to his omnipotence and omnipresence ? 
For no upright master could Meal in such manner with his 
men-servants or maid-servants ; or even a wild beast with its 
cubs ; or a bird of prey with its young : it is therefore a most 
unsound doctrine. Besides, is it not contrary to his divine 
essence to annul the call which is made to every individual of 
the human race ? Is it not contrary to his divine essence to 
change the order established from eternity, which declares that 
every one should be judged according to his life? Is it not con- 
trary to the divine essence to withdraw his love and mercy from 
any man, and much more from the whole race of men ? Is it 
not contrary to the divine essence to be brought back again to 
mercy by a sight of the Son’s misery, that is, to be brought back 
again to his own essence, since mercy is the very essence of 
God ? And is it not wicked to suppose that he ever departed 
from it ? for his essence is himself from eternity to eternity. 
Is it not also an impossibility to introduce into an entity, such 
as your faith, the righteousness of redemption, which in itself 
is a property of divine omnipotence, and to impute and ascribe 
that righteousness to a man, and to declare him righteous, pure, 
and holy, without the assistance of any other means? Is it 
not an impossibility to remit a person’s sins, and to renew, re- 
generate, and save him, by virtue of imputation only, and thus 
to change unrighteousness into righteousness, and the curse into 
blessing ? In such a case would it not be possible to turn hell 
into heaven, and heaven into hell, or the dragon into Michael, 
and Michael into the dragon, and thus to put an end to the 
combat between them ? For what is there wanting to produce 
such an effect, but to remove the imputation which your faith 
teaches from the one, and to inscribe it on the other? But were 
this possible, we in heaven must live in eternal anxiety and 
trembling. Justice and judgment cannot allow that one person 
should take upon himself the wickedness of another, and so 
make the wicked innocent, and wash away his guilt : surely this 
is contrary to all righteousness, both divine and human ! The 
Christian world, moreover, is ignorant of the existence of order, 
and especially what is meant by the order which God introducd 
109 


ON REDEMPTION. 


13 4-, 135 

into the world at its creation, and contrary to which God cannot 
act, because he would then act contrary to himself; for God is 
order itself.” The priest understood what the angel said, be 
cause the angels who were above infused light from heaven ; and 
immediately he sighed and said, “What must be done? All at 
this day preach, and pray, and believe, according to the faith I 
have mentioned : this is the form of supplication in every mouth, 
‘ Good Father, have mercy on us, and forgive our sins for the 
sake of thy Son’s blood, which he shed for us on the cross 
and to Christ, ‘Lord, intercede for us;’ to which we priests 
make this addition, ‘ Send the Holy Spirit upon us.’ ” Then 
the angel said, “ I observe that you priests prepare a kind of 
eye-salve from the Word, which you do not understand in its 
inward sense, and that with it you anoint the eyes of such as are 
blinded by your faith, or make to yourselves a sort of plaster of 
it, which you spread upon the wounds that your doctrines have 
occasioned, but which does not heal them, because they are too 
deep to admit of such a cure : go therefore to the man who 
stands there (and he pointed to me), and he will instruct you 
from the Lord, that the passion of the cross was the uniting of 
the Lord’s Humanity with the Divinity of the Father, but that 
it was not redemption ; for this consisted in subduing the hells, 
and restoring the heavens to order ; and that unless the Lord, 
during his abode in the world, had accomplished these works, 
no one could have been saved either on earth or in heaven : he 
will instruct you further concerning the order that was intro- 
duced at creation, and which must be the rule of life to such as 
would be saved, and that all who live according to that rule are 
reckoned among the redeemed, and are called the elect.” As 
the angel ended, there appeared windows on the sides of the 
temple, through which there entered a luminous influx from the 
four quarters of the world, and there appeared cherubs flying in 
the brightness of the light ; and the angel was taken up to his 
companions above the aperture, and we all retired full of joy. 

135. The second memorable relation. — One morning as 
I awoke out of sleep, the sun of the spiritual world appeared to 
me in all its splendor, and underneath I saw the heavens at a 
distance, as the earth appears distant from her sun. Then were 
heard from the heavens words unutterable in natural language, 
from which when collected into one this utterable sentence was 
articulated, “ That there is one God, who is a Man, and whose 
habitation is in that sun.” This articulate sentence descended 
through the middle heavens down to the lowest, and from thence 
into the world of spirits where I was ; and I perceived that the 
idea of one God, which the angels entertained, was changed ac- 
cording to the degrees 6f descent into the idea of three Gods ; 
and when I observed this, I entered into conversation with those 
who conceived there were three Gods, and said, “ Oh what an 
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ON REDEMPTION. 


135 


enormity is this ! Whence did yon receive it ?” They replied, 
u We conceive there are three in consequence of the idea we 
entertain concerning the triune God, but this idea nevertheless 
does not influence our speech ; for when we speak, we always say 
roundly that God is one : if our minds and our lips be at vari- 
ance, what does it signify, so long as the idea is confined in our 
minds, and does not descend and divide the unity of God in our 
mouths ? But still it does descend at times, because it has taken 
inward possession of ns, and if we were then to speak out 
we should say there are three Gods. We are however on our 
guard against this, lest we should be exposed to the ridicule of 
those that hear us.” At that instent they began to speak under 
the immediate influence of their real thoughts, saying, “ Are 
there not three Gods, since there are three divine persons, each 
of which is God ? We cannot think otherwise, since the great 
oracle of our church, out of the shrine of his holy doctrines, 
ascribes creation to one, redemption to another, and sanctifica- 
tion to a third ; and especially since he assigns to each his pecu- 
liar properties, which he declares to be incommunicable ; and 
these are not only creation, redemption, and sanctification, but 
also imputation, mediation, and operation. Is there not then 
one who has created us, and who has also the office of imputa- 
tion ? another who has redeemed us, and who has also the office 
of mediation ? and a third who operates this mediated imputa- 
tion, and who has also the office of sanctification ? Who does 
not know that the Son of God was sent into the world by God 
the Father to redeem mankind, and thereby to become an 
atoner, mediator, propitiator, and intercessor ? And since he is 
one with the Son of God from eternity, are not these two per- 
sons, the Father and the Son, distinct from each other ? Since 
these two are in heaven, one sitting at the right hand of the 
other, must there not necessarily be a third person to execute 
on earth what is decreed in heaven ?” On hearing these words 
I held my peace ; yet I thought within myself, “ What infatua- 
tion is this ! they are in utter ignorance of what is meant in the 
Word by mediation.” At that instant, by the command of the 
Lord, three angels descended from heaven, and joined company 
with me, to the end that from an interior perception I might 
converse with those who entertained an idea of three Gods, par- 
ticularly on the subject of mediation, intercession, propitiation, 
and atonement, which offices are by them ascribed to the second 
person, or the Son, but not till after he was made Man ; and he 
was made Man several ages after the creation, when those four 
means of salvation had previously no existence, and thus God 
the Father was not rendered propitious, mankind was not 
atoned, and no one was sent from heaven to be an intercessor 
and mediator. 

Then under the influence of the offered inspiration, I entered 

171 


135 


ON REDEMPTION. 


into conversation with them, saying, “ Come near, as many as 
are able, and hear what is meant in the Word by mediation, in 
tercession, atonement, and propitiation. They are four terms 
expressive of the grace of the one only God in his Humanity. 
God the Father can never be approached, nor can he come to 
any man, because he is infinite, and dwells in his Esse, which is 
Jehovah, from which Esse, if he should come to a man, he would 
consume him or decompose him, as fire does wood when it re- 
duces it to ashes. This is evident from what he said to Moses, 
who desired to see him ; 4 Ho man shall see me, and live’ 
(Exod. xxxiii. 20); and the Lord says, 4 Ho one hath seen God 
at any time, except the Son who is in the bosom of the Father’ 
(John i. 18 ; Matt. xi. 27) ; also, that no one hath heard the 
voice of the Father, or seen his shape (John v. 37). It is written 
indeed that Moses saw Jehovah face to face, and conversed with 
him as one man does with another ; but this was done by the 
medium of an angel, as was the case also with Abraham and 
Gideon. How since God the Father in himself is such, there- 
fore he was pleased to assume the Humanity, and in this Hu- 
manity to admit mankind to himself, and so to hear them, and 
converse with them ; and this Humanity it is which is called 
the Son of God, and which mediates, intercedes, propitiates, and 
atones. I will explain, therefore, what these four terms, predi- 
cated of the Humanity of God the Father, signify. Mediation 
signifies that the Humanity is the medium by which a man may 
come to God the Father, and God the Father to him, and thus 
be his teacher and guide unto salvation ; therefore the Son of 
God, by whom is meant the Humanity of God the Father, is 
called Saviour, and on earth Jesus, that is, Salvation. Inter- 
cession signifies perpetual mediation ; for love itself, the prop- 
erties of which are mercy, clemency, and grace, perpetually 
intercedes, that is, mediates for those who do his command- 
ments, and who are thus the objects of his love. Atonement 
signifies the removal of sins, into which a man would rush head- 
long, were he to approach Jehovah unclothed with the Humanity. 
Propitiation signifies the operation of clemency and grace, to 
prevent a man from falling into damnation by sin, and at the 
same time to guard against the profanation of holiness : this was 
signified by the propitiatory, or mercy-seat, over the ark in the 
tabernacle. It is acknowledged that God spoke in his Word 
according to appearances, as when it is said that he is angry, 
that be avenges, that he tempts, that he punishes, that he casts 
into hell, that he condemns, yea, that he does evil ; when the 
truth is, that God is never angry with any one, he never avenges, 
tempts, punishes, casts into hell, or condemns ; such things are 
as far from God as hell is from heaven, and infinitely farther. 
They are forms of speech, then, used only according to appear- 
ances ; so also, but in a different sense, are the terms atonement 
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ON REDEMPTION. 


135, 136 

propitiation, intercession, and mediation, for tliese are forms of 
speech expressive of the approach which is opened to God, ami 
of the grace communicated from God by means of his Hu- 
manity ; which terms being misunderstood, men have divided 
God into three, and upon that division have grounded all the 
doctrine of the church, and so falsified the Word : hence has 
arisen the abomination of desolation foretold by the Lord in 
Daniel, and again in Matt. xxiv.” When I had ended, the 
company of spirits retired from about me, and I observed that 
those who actually entertained an idea of three gods looked to- 
wards heli, and that those who conceived there is one God, in 
whom there is a Divine Trinity, and that this trinity is in the 
Lord God the Saviour, looked towards heaven ; and to these 
appeared the sun of heaven, in which Jehovah is in his Hu- 
manity. 

136. The third memorable relation. — I saw at a dis- 
tance five buildings called Gymnasia, each of which was over- 
spread with light from heaven. The first was overspread with a 
light, such as before sunrise is seen to tinge the clouds in a 
morning here on earth ; the second with a yellow light, such as 
appears in the morning after sunrise ; the third with a bright 
clear light, such as we see on earth at midday ; the fourth with 
a light of a middle kind, as when it begins to be mixed with the 
shades of evening ; and the fifth was completely involved in 
twilight. The gymnasia in the world of spirits are spacious 
halls, where the learned assemble to discuss various arcana that 
may be of service to them in the promotion of science, intelli- 
gence, and wisdom. On seeing them I was seized with a strong 
desire to go to one of them ; so I went in the spirit to that 
which was overspread with a light of a middle kind. When I 
entered I found a company of the learned met together, who 
were debating about the true interpretation of that passage 
where it is said of the Lord, that “ when he was received up into 
heaven, he sat on the right hand of God” (Mark xvi. 19). Many 
of the assembly insisted that those words were to be understood 
literally, and that the Son does really so sit beside the Father; 
but being asked for what reason he could be so placed, some of 
them replied, that he was exalted to the right hand of the Father 
on account of the redemption which he accomplished ; some, that 
he w T as seated there out of the love with which he is regarded by 
the Father ; some, for this purpose, that he might be the Father’s 
counsellor to advise with, and therefore that in that character he 
might receive honor from the angels ; and some, that he was 
placed there by the Father to reign in his stead, for it is written 
that “ all power is ^iven unto him in heaven and in earth but 
the greater part affirmed that he was placed there to hear those 
on the right hand for whom he intercedes ; for all the members 
of the church at this day approach God the Father, and beseech 
173 


136 ON REDEMPTION. 

him to have mere}" for the sake of his Son, believing that this 
causes the Father to turn himself to the Son, for the purpose of 
receiving his mediation ; some, however, asserted that only the 
Son of God born from eternity sits on the right hand of the 
Father, to communicate his divinity with the Son of Man that 
was born in the world. On hearing this I was much amazed 
that people of such learning, who had resided some time in the 
spiritual world, should yet be so ignorant upon heavenly sub- 
jects ; but I perceived their ignorance to be owing to this cause, 
that from a trust in their own self-derived intelligence they had 
not submitted to be taught by those who are truly wise. But 
that they might not continue any longer ignorant of what is 
meant by the Son’s sitting -at the right hand of the Father, I 
waved my hand, begging them to listen to what I wished to say 
on that subject; and as I saw them disposed to attend, I said, 
“ Have you not learned from the Word that the Father and the 
Son are one, and that the Father is in the Son, and the Son in 
the Father? This the Lord plainly declares (John x. 30; xiv. 
10, 11). If you do not believe these words, you divide God into 
two, in which case you must of necessity form natural, sensual, 
yea, material conceptions of God, as the church on earth has 
done since the time of the Council of Hice, when the doctrine 
'of the existence of three divine persons from eternity was intro- 
duced, whereby the church was turned into a theatre, orna- 
mented with painted scenery, before which the performers ex- 
hibited new scenes. Who does not know and acknowledge that 
God is one ? If you acknowledge this in heart and spirit, all 
that you have said instantly vanishes of itself, and rebounds into 
the air like idle tales from the ear of a wise man.” At these 
words many of the company were much enraged, and wished to 
pull my ears, and enjoin me silence ; but the president of the 
assembly in great indignation said, “We are here speaking not 
of the unity and plurality of God, because we believe both ; but 
we are debating about the true interpretation of that passage 
where it is said that the Son sits on the right hand of the 
Father; if you can give us any information on this subject, let 
us hear it?” I replied, “ You shall hear it; only, I beseech you, 
be not so tumultuous.” I then added, “ To sit on the right 
hand does not mean literally to sit on the right hand, but it 
signifies the omnipotence of God by means of the Humanity 
which he assumed in the world : by this Humanity he is in last 
md lowest principles as well as in first ; and by this he entered 
into, destroyed, and subdued the hells, and by this he restored 
the heavens to order ; consequently, by this he redeemed both 
men and angels, and redeems them to all eternity. If you con- 
sult the Word of God, and are in a capacity to receive illustra- 
tion, you will be enabled to discover that by the right hand is 
there meant omnipotence ; as in Isaiah : 4 My hand lai d the 
174 


ON REDEMPTION. 


136, 13T 

foundation of the earth, and ray right hand spanned the heavens’ 
(xlviii. 13). 4 God hath sworn by his right hand , and by the arm 

of his strength’ (lxii. 8). 4 Thy right hand holdeth me up’ 

(Psalm xviii. 35). 4 Let thy hand be upon the Man of thy right 

hand , and upon the Son of Man whom thou madest strong for 
thyself’ (lxxx. 17). Hence it is evident how this passage is to 
be understood : 4 Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my 
right hand , until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord 
shall send the rod of tliy strength out of Zion : rule thou in the 
midst of thine enemies’ (cx. 1, 2). This whole psalm through 
out treats of the Lord’s combats with the hells, and of their sub- 
jugation; and since the right hand of God signifies omnipo- 
tence, therefore the Lord says that he shall sit at 4 the right hand 
of power ’ (Matt. xxvi. 64) ; and at 4 the right hand of the 
power of God ’ (Luke xxii. 69).” On hearing these texts, the 
assembly grew tumultuous ; and I said, 44 Take heed to your- 
selves : possibly a hand may appear from heaven, which, when 
it appears, never fails to strike the beholder with an incredible 
terror of its power, and which, when I saw it, was a convincing 
proof to me that the right hand of God signifies omnipotence.” 
I had scarcely uttered these words, when there appeared under 
heaven a stretched-out hand, at the sight of which the company 
w r as struck with such terror, that they rushed in crowds towards 
the gates ; some ran to throw themselves out at the windows, 
and some fell down fainting and breathless. With respect to 
myself, I remained without the least apprehension, but walked 
out quietly after them ; and when I had proceeded to some dis- 
tance I turned about, and observed the gymnasium overspread 
with a dark cloud ; and I was informed from heaven that it was 
in consequence of their having been influenced in their discus- 
sion by a- belief in three gods, and that the former light would 
return whenever a congregation of sounder minds should assem- 
ble there. 

137. The fourth memorable relation. — I was informed 
on a time that a council was convened of those who had been 
distinguished for their writings and erudition on the subject of 
the faith now professed, and of the justification of the elect by 
it. This council was to be held in the world of spirits, and it 
was permitted me to be present there in the spirit. I saw a 
large assembly of the clergy, both of the same and of different 
professions : on the right side stood those who in the world were 
called apostolic fathers, and who lived before the time of the 
council of Hice ; and on the left stood those who had distin- 
guished themselves since that time by their printed or written 
books. Many of the latter had their faces shaven, and wore 
wigs on their heads made of women’s hair ; some of them had 
collars round their necks made of twisted intestines, and some 
of other materials ; but the former appeared with their beards 

175 


137 


ON REDEMPTION. 


at full length, and wore their own hair. Before both parties 
there stood a person who was esteemed a great judge and critic 
m the writings of the present age ; he had a wand in his hand, 
with which he struck the ground, and proclaimed silence ; then 
ascending to the highest step of the pulpit, he fetched a deep 
sigh, and after that prepared to lift up his voice aloud, but the 
sighing gasp drew back his voice into his throat. At last how- 
ever he broke out into the following exclamation : “ Oh ! my 
brethren, what an age is this ! There is risen up a person out ot 
the common herd of laymen, who having neither gown, nor cap, 
nor laurelled crown, has yet had the assurance to pull down our 
faith from heaven, and cast it into the stygian lake. What a sin 
and a shame is this ! when yet that faith is our star, which shines 
like Orion in the night, and like Lucifer in the morning ! This 
person, although advanced in years, is altogether blind as to the 
mysteries of our faith, having neither opened it, nor discovered 
in it the Lord’s righteousness, or his mediation and propitiation ; 
in consequence of which he is totally blind to the wonders ol 
justification, such as the remission of sins, regeneration, sancti- 
fication, and salvation. This person, in opposition to our faith, 
which has a transcendent saving power, because it is directed 
towards three divine persons, and thus towards the whole Deity, 
has transferred all faith to the second person, and not even to 
him, but to his Humanity, which we indeed call divine in con- 
sequence of the incarnation of the Son begotten from eternity ; 
but who considers it as any thing more than merely human ? 
And what faith can be thence -derived, but such as must give 
birth to naturalism ? for such a faith, having nothing spiritual 
in it, differs little from a faith directed towards a pope or a 
saint. You know what Calvin in his time used to say of wor- 
ship derived from such faith ; and I beseech you tell me, any 
one of you, whence faith comes ? Is it not the immediate gift 
of God ? and does it not therefore contain all tilings relating to 
salvation ?” Hereupon his companions on the left, who had 
their faces shaven, and wore wigs, with collars round their necks, 
clapped their hands, and cried out, “ Most wisely spoken ! We 
know that we cannot take any thing, unless it be given us from 
above. Let that prophet inform us of any other origin to faith, 
and what else does faith mean : it is impossible that it should 
either have any other meaning, or any other origin ; and to talk 
of another faith which deserves the name beside this, is as ab- 
surd as to think of a man’s riding on horseback to a constella- 
tion in the heavens, and taking a star from thence, and putting 
it in his pocket, and bringing it along with him to the world 
below.” This they said by way of exposing every new faith to 
ridicule among their companions. On hearing this, the men on 
the right, who wore their beards, and their own natural hair, 
expressed great indignation ; and one of them rose up to speak 


ON REDEMPTION. 


137 


(he appeared as an old man, but afterwards he was seen to be 
young, for he w T as an angel from heaven, where every age is 
turned to youth). He said, 44 I have heard the nature and 
quality of your faith, which the man in the pulpit has so mag- 
nified ; but what is such a faith but the sepulchre of our Lord 
alter his resurrection, shut up a second time, by the soldiers of 
Pilate? I have opened it, and can find in it nothing but the 
rods of jugglers, by which the magicians in Egypt performed 
miracles. Truly this faith of yours is ip your e}^es like a chest 
of wrought gold, set with precious stones ; but when it is opened 
it is found to contain nothing, except perhaps the dust of some 
relics in its corners : it is therefore (to use comparisons) like the 
vestal virgin among the ancients, buried under ground, for 
letting the sacred fire go out ; and I do solemnly assure you, 
that in my eyes it appears like the golden calf, around which 
the children of Israel danced, after Moses had left them to 
ascend and be with Jehovah on mount Sinai. Do not be sur- 
prised todiear me speak of your faith by such comparisons, for 
such we are accustomed to use when we speak of it in heaven. 
But our faith is, was, and will be to eternity, directed towards 
the Lord God the Saviour, whose humanity is divine, and whose 
divinity is human ; which faith is thus accommodated to man’s 
reception, and by virtue of which a divine spiritual principle is 
united with what is natural in man, so that it becomes a spirit- 
ual faith implanted in the natural principle, whereby the natural 
principle becomes as it were transparent from the spiritual light 
in which our faith dwells. The truths which constitute this 
faith are equal in number to the verses in the sacred volume, 
and all those truths are so many stars, which by their several 
lights give it both manifestation and form. A man acquires 
this faith from the Word by means of his own natural light 
( lumen ), in which light it is science, thought, and persuasion; 
but the Lord, in such as believe on him, causes it to be- 
come conviction, trust, and confidence ; thus natural faith be- 
comes spiritual faith, and by means of charity is made living. 
This faith, with us in heaven, is like a queen adorned with all 
the variety of precious stones described in the wall of the Hew 
Jerusalem (Rev. xxi. 17— -20). Lest, however, you should ima- 
gine that what I have said is a mere flight of fancy and imagi- 
nation, and should accordingly slight and despise it, I will read 
you some passages out of the Holy Word, from which it will 
appear that our faith is not, as you suppose, directed towards a 
mere man, but towards the true God, in whom is all the Divin- 
ity. John says, 4 Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life’ 
(1 Epis. v. 20) ; Paul says, 4 In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of 
the Godhead bodily’ (Coloss. ii. 9) ; and it is written in the Acts 
of the Apostles, 4 that ho preached to the Jews and also to the 
Greeks, repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus 
177 m 


137 


ON REDEMPTION, 


Christ’ (xx. 21) ; and the Lord himself Hays, c All power is given 
to me in heaven and in earth’ (Matt, xxviii. 18). But these are 
only a few of the numerous passages which teach this great 
truth.” After this the angel looked towards me, and said, 
“ You know what the Evangelical Protestants, so called, believe, 
or profess to believe, concerning the Lord and Saviour : read us 
then some passages from their writings, that we may know 
whether they are so infatuated as to suppose that his humanity 
is merely human, or whether they ascribe divinity to it, or how. 
Then in the presence of all the assembly, I read the following 
passages, being some I had collected from their book of ortho- 
doxy, called Formula Concordee, the edition of Leipzig, 1756 : 
In Christ the divine and human natures are so united, as to 
make one person (p. 606, 762). Christ is very God and Man 
in one individual person, and remains so forever (p. 609, 673, 
762). In Christ God is Man, and Man is God (p. 607, 765). 
The human nature of Christ is exalted to all Divine Majesty, 
proved also from many of the Fathers (p. 844 — 852," 860 — 865, 
869 — 878). Christ, as to his human nature, is omnipresent, and 
fills all things (p. 768, 783 — 785). Christ as to his human na- 
ture has all power in heaven and in earth (p. 775, 776, 780). 
Christ, as to his human nature, sits on the right hand of God 
(p. 608, 764). Christ is to be prayed to, as to his human nature, 
proved by many quotations from Scripture (p. 226). The Augs- 
burg confession greatly approves of that worship (p. 19). After 
reading these passages, I turned towards the president of the 
council, and said, “ I know that all here present are consociated 
with their like in the natural world : tell me, I pray, do you 
know with whom you are so connected ?” He replied in a 
deep tone of voice, “ Yes ; I am consociated with a famous man, 
a leader of the troops that compose the army of church worthies.” 
And because he spoke in so deep a tone of voice, I said, “Pardon 
me, if I ask you further, whether you know where that famous 
leader lives?” He said, “I do know; he lives not far from 
Luther’s tomb.”* TJpon this, I said, with a smile, “ Why do 
you speak of his tomb ? Do you not know that Luther has 
risen again, and that he has now renounced his errors respect- 
ing justification by a faith in three divine persons from eternity, 
and is in consequence translated into the societies of the blessed 
in the new heaven, and that he sees and pities those who follow 
his insane opinions?” He then rejoined, “I do know it; but 
what is that to me ?” Then addressing him in the same tone of 
voice with his own, I said, “ Be so good as to exert your in- 

* At Eysleben in Saxony. The person here alluded to was Dr. John A. Ernesti, 
of Leipzig, who published some virulent attacks on our author and his writings ; 
who, in reply, only printed a few lines on a slip of paper for circulation among his 
friends, a translation of which may be seen at the end of the Coronis or Append far 
to this work, 

178 


ON REDEMPTION. 


137 


fluence on your dignified friend with whom you are consociated, 
and communicate to him my fears, that in contradiction to the 
opinions deemed orthodox by his church, he has in his great 
haste robbed the Lord of his Divinity, and suffered his pen to 
open a furrow, in which he has thoughtlessly sown the seed of 
naturalism, by writing as he did against the worship of our Lord 
and Saviour.” To this he replied, “ That is impossible ; for he 
and I, on that subject, make almost one mind : but what I say 
upon it he does not understand, whereas I understand clearly 
-whatever he says ; for the spiritual world enters into the natural 
world, and perceives the thoughts of men there, but not con- 
trariwise ; such is the nature of the connection between spirits 
and men.” As I had now engaged in conversation with the 
president of the council, I took the liberty of asking him this 
further question: “Do you know,” said I, “that the orthodoxy 
of the Evangelical Protestants, as expressed in , their manual, 
called the Formula Concordle, teaches that in Christ God is 
Man, and Man is God ? and that his divinity and humanity exist 
together, and forever abide in one individual person ? How then 
could either you or he defile the worship of the Lord with natu- 
ralism ?” To which he replied, “ I know that, and yet I do not 
know it.” I therefore continued, and 'said, “I could wish to 
ask your friend, or you as his representative, Whence had our 
Lord and Saviour his soul ? If you answer, from his mother, 
you talk foolishly; if from Joseph, you profane the Word ; but 
if from the Holy Spirit, you say riglft ; if by the Holy Spirit 
you mean the Divinity proceeding and operating, and that 
thereby the Lord is the Son of Jehovah God. I ask you again, 
What is meant by hypostatic union ? If you say that it is a 
union as of two persons, one superior and the other inferior, you 
talk foolishly ; for at that rate you might divide the Saviour into 
two persons; as you divide God into three ; but if you say, that 
it is a personal union, like that of soul and body, you say 
rightly ; for this is agreeable to your own doctrine and that of 
the Fathers, as you may see by consulting the Formula Con 
cordle (p. 765 — 768); and also the Creed of Athanasius, 
where it is said, ‘The right faith is, that we believe and con- 
fess, that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man ; who although 
he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ ; one 
altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of per- 
son ; for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God 
and Man is one Christ.’ I womd ask you further, In what did 
the damnable heresy of Arius consist (which gave occasion to 
the calling of the Council of Hice by the emperor Constantine 
the Great), but in a denial of the divinity of the Lord’s hu- 
manity ? Tell me moreover, Who do you suppose is meant by 
these -words in Jeremiah: ‘Behold, the days come when I will 
raise unto David a righteous branch, who shall reign as a king ; 
179 


137 


ON REDEMPTION. 


and this is his name, Jehovah our righteousness ’ (xxiii. 5, 0 ; 
xxxiii, 15, 16). If you say, the Son born from eternity, you 
'alk foolishly, for he was not the Redeemer ; but if you say, the 
Son born in time, who was the only begotten Son of God (John 
l 18 ; iii. 16), you say rightly ; for he by redemption was made 
righteousness, on which you found your faith. Read also Isaiah 
ix. 6 ; and several other passages, in which it is foretold, that 
lehovah himself should come into the world.” On hearing this 
the president of the council was silent and turned away. 

When the debate was thus concluded, the president was 
desirous to close the council with prayer ; but suddenly a man 
started up from the party on the left, having on his head a tiara, 
and over that a cap ; and he touched his cap with his finger, and 
said, “ I also am joined by spiritual consociation with a man in 
your world, who is honorable for his eminent station : I know 
this, because I speak from him as from myself.” I then in- 
quired where that honorable person lived. He replied, “ At 
Gottenburg ;* and I was once of opinion, from the ideas in 
him, that this new doctrine of yours has a tincture of Mahom- 
etanism.” At these words, I perceived that all those on the 
right, where the apostolic fathers stood, seemed astonished and 
changed color; and I could hear these exclamations often re- 
peated, “ Oh ! what a scandal ! What an age is- this !” In 
order, however, to appease their just indignation, I weaved my 
hand, requesting to be heard, and said, “ I know indeed that a 
persQn of that distinction did bring some such charge against 
me, in an epistle which he afterwards published ; but had he 
known at the time what a blasphemous charge it was, he would 
l^ave torn the letter to pieces, and committed it to the fire, 
rather than to the press. It was such contumely which the 
Lord condemned in the Jews, when they ascribed his miracles 
to some other power than that which is divine (Matt. xii. 22 — 
32) ; and to this he adds in the same place, c Whosoever is not 
with me is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me scat- 
tered abroad 5 (ver. 30).” At these words the associate spirit 
hung down his head, but presently raising it again, he said, 
“ This is the severest speech I have yet heard from you ;” but 
I resumed my discourse, and said, “ The fault is in the two ac- 
cusations brought against me, of naturalism and Mahometanism, 
which are both wicked lies and deadly stigmas, invented in sub- 
tlety, with a design to prejudice the hearer, and deter him from 
the holy worship of the Lord.” Then addressing myself to th^ 
former associate spirit, I said, “ Desire your friend at Gotten- 

• 

* The individual here alluded to, is Dr. Ekebon, Dean of Gottenburg, in Sweden 
who wrote a violent philippic against our author’s writings, with a view of procuring 
their condemnation as heretical by ecclesiastical authority. Our author vindicated 
himself : n two letters addressed to the consistory of the clergy, which may be seen 
in the Intellectual Repository for the New Church , vol. i., p. 169 and 172. 

180 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


, 137, 138 

burg, if it be possible, to read what the Lord says in the Revela- 
tion (iii. IS, and also ii. 16).” As I concluded, the council 
began to grow noisy ; but the noise was appeased by the descent 
of light from heaven, on which several of those who were on the 
left hand passed over to those on the right, so that none re- 
mained but those who thought vainly, and who consequently 
pinned their faith on the opinion of their leaders, or such as be- 
lieved the Lord to be no more than a mere man : from these 
the heavenly light appeared to be diverted, and to pour its in- 
fluence on those who had passed from the left side to the right. 


CHAPTER IH. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE DIVINE OPERATION. 

138. All of the sacred order, who have entertained any just 
idea of the Lord our Saviour, on 'their entrance into the spiritual 
world, which is generally on the third day after their decease, 
are first instructed concerning the Divine Trinity, and partic- 
ularly concerning the Holy Spirit. This, they are informed, 
is not a God of itself, but, when mentioned in the Word, 
signifies the divine operation proceeding from the one omni- 
present God. The reason why they are particularly instructed 
concerning the Holy Spirit, is, because most enthusiasts, after 
death, fall into the insane fancy that they themselves are the 
Holy Spirit ; and also because many people of the church, who 
have imagined, during their abode on earth, that the Holy Spirit 
spoke by them, frighten others with the words of the Lord in 
Matthew xii. 31, 32 ; affirming that the unpardonable sin there 
spoken of consists in contradicting what they speak by the in- 
spiration of the Holy Spirit. Those who, after instruction, 
depart from their belief that the Ploly Spirit is a God of itself, 
are afterwards taught, concerning the unity of God, that it is 
not divided into three persons, each of which singly, and by 
himself, is God and Lord, according to the doctrine of the 
Athanasian creed, but that the Divine Trinity is in the Lord 
the Saviour, as the soul, the body, and the virtues thence pro- 
ceeding, are in every individual man. These are further pre- 
pared to receive the faith of the new heaven, and after such 
preparation a way is opened for them to a society in heaven 
which is under the influence of a similar faith, and a mansion is 
given them among their brethren, with whom they live in eter- 
nal blessedness. .Now as we have already treated on God the 
Creator, and on the Lord the Redeemer, it is necessary also to 
treat on the Holy Spirit ; and as we have arranged the previous 
181 


THIS HOLY SPIRIT. 


138, 139 

subjects under particular heads or articles, we will pursue the 
same rule in the present case, according to the following divi- 
sion. I. That the Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth , and also the 
Divine Virtue and Operation , proceeding from the one only 
God , in whom there is a Divine Trinity , consequently proceed- 
ing from the Lord God the Saviour. II. That the divine virtue 
a/ndj operation signified by the Holy Spirit , consists , in general , 
in reformation and regeneration / and in proportion as these are 
effected , in renovation , vivification , sanctification , and justifica- 
tion ’ and in p , roportion as these are effected , in purification 
from evils , remission of sins, and finally salvation. III. That 
such divine virtue and operation , which is understood by the 
mission of the Holy Spirit , consists , with the clergy in particu- 
lar , m illustration and instruction. TV. That the Lord ope- 
rates those virtues in such as believe on him. V. That the Lord 
operates of Himself from the Father , and not contrariwise. 
VI. That a marts spirit is his mind , and whatever proceeds 
from it. 

139. I. That the holy spirit is the divine truth, and also 

THE DIVINE VIRTUE AND OPERATION, PROCEEDING FROM THE ONE ONLY 
GOD, IN WHOM THERE IS A DIVINE TRINITY, CONSEQUENTLY PROCEED- 
ING FROM THE LORD GOD THE SAVIOUR. 

Properly speaking, the divine truth, and consequently the 
Word, is signified by the Holy Spirit, and in this sense the Lord 
Himself is also the Holy Spirit; but whereas, in the church # at 
this day, the divine operation, which is specified by the Holy 
Spirit, is actual justification, therefore this divine operation is 
here considered as the Holy Spirit. Of this we now propose 
chiefly to speak, especially as the divine operation is effected by 
means of the divine truth which proceeds from the Lord ; and 
that which proceeds is of one and the same essence with him 
from whom it proceeds, like these three, the soul, the body, and 
the proceeding virtues, which together form one essence; in a 
man a merely human essence, but in the Lord divine and human 
also ; these being, after his glorification, united together like the 
prior with its posterior, and like essence with its form : thus the 
three essentials, called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the 
Lord are a one. The Lord is divine truth, or the very divine 
truth itself, as was shown above ; and the Holy Spirit is also 
the same, as is evident from these passages : “ There shall come 
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse : and the Spirit of Jehovah 
shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and intelligence, the 
Spirit of counsel and might : he shall smite the earth wfith the 
rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay 
the wicked : and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, 
and truth the girdle of his reins” (Isaiah xi. 1, 2, 4, 5). “ When 
the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah shall 
lift up a standard against him; then shall the Redeemer comp 
182 


THE HOLY SP1F.IT. 


139, HO 

to Zion” (Isaiah lix. 19, 20). “ The Spirit of the Lord Jehovih 
is upon me ; Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings 
to the poor; he hath sent me” (Isaiah lxi. 1; Luke iv. 18). 
“This is my covenant, my spirit that is upon thee, and my 
words which I have put in thy month shall not depart from out 
of thy mouth from henceforth and for ever” (Isaiah lix. 21). 
Since the Lord is the very truth itself, therefore all that which 
proceeds from him must be truth ; and this is understood by 
the Comforter, who is also called the Spirit of Truth, and the 
Holy Spirit, as is evident from the following passages : “ I tell 
you the truth ; it is expedient for you that I go away : for if I 
go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I 
depart, I will send him unto you” (John xvi. 7). “ Howbeit 

when lie, the Spirit of Truth , is come, he will lead you into all 
truth : for he shall not speak of himself ; but whatsoever he shall 
hear, that shall he speak” (xvi. 13). “ He 'shall glorify me ; for 

he shall receive of mine , and shall show it unto you. All things 
that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I that he shall 
take of mine, and shall show it unto you” (xvi. 14, 15). “ I 

w T ill pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter, the 
Spirit of Truth , whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth 
him not, neither knoweth him ; but ye know him ; for he 
dw*elleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you 
comfortless ; I will come to you, and ye shall see me” (xiv. 16, 
17, 18, 19). “ When the Comforter is come, whom I will send 

unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth , he shall 
testify of me” (xv. 26). He is called the Holy Spirit (xiv. 26). 
That the Lord by the Comforter, or Holy Spirit, meant him- 
self, is manifest from his saying, that the world would not 
know him ; “ but ye know him. I will not leave you comfort- 
less ; I will come unto you ; and ye shall see me.” And in an- 
other place : “ Lo ! I am with you always, even to the consum- 
mation of the age” (Matt, xxviii. 20). And also from this : 
“ he shall not speak of himself, but he shall take of mine.” 

140. How since the divine truth, which w r as in the Lord, 
and was the Lord (John xiv. 6), is meant by the Holy Spirit; 
and since the Holy Spirit could therefore proceed from him 
only, it was for this reason said, u The Holy Spirit was not yet, 
because Jesus was not yet glorified” (vii. 39). And after his 
glorification, “ He breathed on his disciples, and said, Receive 
ye the Holy Spirit” (xx. 22). The reason why the Lord 
breathed on his disciples was, because breathing was an ex- 
ternal representative sign of divine inspiration; and inspiration 
is an insertion into the angelic societies. After these elucida- 
tions the understanding will be enabled to comprehend the words 
of the angel Gabriel concerning the conception of the Lord ; 
“ The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the 
Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore that holy thing which 
183 


14:0 14:2 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God'’ (Lake i. 
85). Again : u The angel of the Lord said to Joseph in a dream, 
Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife ; for that which is con- 
ceived in her is of the Holy Spirit: and Joseph knew her not 
till she brought forth her first-born Son” (Matt. i. 20, 25*). 
The Holy Spirit mentioned in these passages is the divine truth 
proceeding from Jehovah the Father ; and this proceeding is 
the power of the Highest which then overshadowed the mother 
Mary, which coincides therefore with what is said in John : 
u The Word was with God, and the Word was God: and the 
Word was made flesh” (i. 1, 14). The Word there signifies the 
divine truth, as may be seen above, in the Faith of the Hew 
Church, n. 3. 

141. It was demonstrated above, and will be evinced still 
more at large when we come to treat particularly on the subject, 
that the Divine Trinity is in the Lord : at present we shall only 
point out some incongruities arising from the division of that 
trinity into separate persons. This may be compared to a 
minister of the church teaching from the pulpit what ought to 
be believed and practised, and another minister standing near 
him, and whispering in his ear, “ That is well said ; go on ;” 
and then both saying to a third minister, who stands on the 
stairs, “Descend into the temple, and open the people’s ears, 
and infuse into their hearts the good advice which is given, and 
at the same time make them pure, holy, and vessels of right- 
eousness.” A divine trinity, divided into distinct persons, each 
of which singly is God and Lord, would be similar to three suns 
in one world, the first in the upper firmament, the second near 
it, and the third beneath, encompassing angels and men, and 
introducing the heat and light of the two former, with all power 
into*their minds, hearts, and bodies ; and, like fire acting upon 
matter in a retort, subtilizing, clarifying, and subliming them ; 
but who cannot see that in such a case a man would instantly be 
reduced to ashes ? A government of three divine persons in 
heaven may also be compared with a government of three kings 
in one kingdom, or of three generals, of equal authority, over 
one army.; or rather with the Homan government, before the 
time of the Ctesars, when there were consuls, a senate, and tri- 
bunes of the people, among whom the power was divided, but 
yet the sovereignty was in them all conjointly. Who does not 
see the inconsistency, trifling, and folly of introducing such a 
government into heaven, by ascribing to God the Father a 
power like that of the consuls, to the Son a power like that of 
the senate, and to the Holy Spirit a power like that of the 
tribunes of the people? and yet this must necessarily be the 
case when a peculiar office is ascribed to each, especially if it be 
insisted that the properties are not communicable. 

142. II. That the divine virtue and operation, signified 
184 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


142, 143 


BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, CONSISTS IN GENERAL IN REFORMATION 
AND REGENERATION ; AND, IN PROPORTION AS THESE ARE EFFECT- 
ED, IN RENOVATION, VlVIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION, AND JUSTI- 
FICATION ; AND, IN PROPORTION AS THESE ARE EFFECTED, IN 
PURIFICATION FROM EVILS, REMISSION OF SINS, AND FINALLY 
SALVATION. 

These are the virtues in their order which the Lord operates 
in those who believe on him, and accommodate and prepare 
themselves for his reception and abode ; and this is effected by 
means of divine truth, and among Christians by means of the 
Word, this being the only medium by which a man can approach 
the Lord, and into which the Lord enters ; for, as was said 
above, the Lord is the divine truth itself, and whatever proceeds 
from him is divine truth. But the divine truth here spoken of 
must be understood as originating in good, which is the same 
thing as faith originating in charity ; for faith is nothing else 
but truth, and charity is nothing else but. goodness. By means 
of divine truth originating in good, that is, by means of faith 
originating in charity, a man is reformed and regenerated, and 
also renewed, quickened, sanctified, justified, and in proportion 
to his progress and growth in these graces, is purified from evils, 
in which purification consists the remission of sins. But all 
these several operations of the Lord cannot here be particularly 
explained ; for each requires its particular analysis confirmed 
from the Word, and illustrated by rational considerations, and 
this is foreign to Gur present subject; we must therefore refer 
the reader to a future part of this work, where we shall treat on 
charity, faith, free-will, repentance, reformation, and regenera- 
tion. it is to be observed, that the Lord operates those saving 
graces continually in every man, for they are the steps that lead 
to heaven, and the Lord wills the salvation of all men ; there- 
fore the salvation of all men is the end which he proposes, and 
whoever desires to promote an end, desires also to promote the 
means conducive thereto. The coming of the. Lord, the redemp- 
tion which he wrought, and his passion on the cross, were all 
for the sake of man’s salvation (Matt, xviii. 11 ; Luke xix. 10) ; 
and as the salvation of mankind ever was, and ever will be, the 
end which the Lord proposes, it follows that the above-men- 
tioned' operations are mediate ends, and salvation the ultimate 
end. 

143. The operation of these virtues is the Holy Spirit, which 
the Lord sends to those who believe in him, and prepare them- 
selves to receive him ; and this is understood by the spirit in 
these passages : “A new heart also will I give you, and a new 
spirit will 1 put within you ; I will put my spirit in the midst ot 
you, aftd will cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezek. xxxvi. 
26, 27 ; xi. 19). “ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and re- 

new a right spirit within me : cast me not away from thy pres 
185 


143, 144 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


ence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me : restore unto me 
the joy of thy salvation, and establish me with thy free Spirit” 
(Psalm li. 10, 11, 12). “Jehovah formeth the spirit of man in 
the midst of him” (Zech. xii. 1). “With my soul have I de- 
sired thee in the night ; yea, with my spirit in the midst of me 
have I looked for thee in the morning” (Isaiah xxvi. 9). “Make 
you a new heart, and a new spirit : why will ye die, O house of 
Israel ?” (Ezek. xviii. 31) ; besides many other places. In* these 
passages a new heart signifies a will towards good, and a new 
spirit the understanding of truth. The Lord operates such a 
will and understanding in those who practise what is good and 
believe what is true, that is, who are principled in a faith origi- 
nating in charity, as is very plain from these words, that he 
giveth his Spirit to those who walk in the way of salvation, and 
that it is called a free spirit ; and that a man also ought to op- 
erate on his part, is evident from these words, “Make you a new 
heart, and a new spirit : why will ye die, O house of Israel ?” 

144. It is written, that when Jesus was baptized the heavens 
were opened, and John saw the Holy Spirit descending like a 
dove (Matt. iii. 16; Mark i. 10; Luke iii. 22; John i. 32, 33). 
The reason of this was, because baptism signifies regeneration 
and purification, and these are also represented by a dove. Who 
cannot perceive that the dove was not the Holy Spirit, and that 
the Holy Spirit was not in the dove ? Doves often appear in 
heaven, and the angels know when they observe them that they 
are correspondences of the affections, and thence of the thoughts 
relating to regeneration and purification, in some persons not 
far off : when therefore they approach those persons, and con- 
verse with them on a subject foreign to what was in their 
thoughts when that appearance was presented, the doves in- 
stantly vanish. The case was the same with respect to many 
things that appeared to the prophets, as when John saw a lamb 
on Mount Sion (Rev. xiv.), and in other places. How plain 
must it be to every one that the Lord neither was that lamb, 
nor in it, but that it was a representation of his innocence ! 
Hence their error is manifest, who, from this appearance of the 
dove when the Lord was baptized, and from the voice then heard 
from heaven, This is my beloved Son , conclude that the Trinity 
consists of three persons. That the Lord regenerates man by 
means of faith and charity, is signified by these words of John 
the Baptist : “I baptize you with water unto repentance ; but he 
that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and 
with fire” (Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 8 ; Luke iii. 16). To baptize 
with the Holy Spirit and with fire, is to regenerate by divine 
truth which is of faith, and by divine good which is of pharity. 
The same is signified by these words of the Lord : “ Except a 
man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into tins 
kingdom of God” (John iii. 5). By water here, as in cthei 
186 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


144—146 


parts of the Word, truth in the natural or external man is sig- 
nified, and by spirit, truth derived from good in the spiritual or 
internal man. 

145. Now since the Lord is the divine truth itself, originat- 
ing in the divine good, and this is his very essence, and every 
one of necessity acts at all times from his essence, it is evident 
that the Lord continually wills to implant truth and good, or 
faith and charity, in every man, and that he cannot will any 
thing else. This may be illustrated by many similar cases here 
on earth ; as, for instance, every man wills and thinks, and, so 
far as he is permitted, speaks and acts from his own essence. 
A faithful man thinks and intends what is faithful ; an honest, 
upright, pious, and religious man thinks and intends what is 
honest, upright, pious, and religious ; so, on the contrary, a 
haughty, cunning, treacherous, and covetous man thinks and 
intends such things as are in unity with his essence : a fortune- 
teller would be always telling fortunes ; a fool always opposing 
the lessons of wisdom ; in a word, an angel is always meditating 
and practising what is in agreement with his heavenly nature, 
and a devil what is in agreement with his infernal nature. The 
case i^ similar with regard to every subject of an inferior rank 
in the animal kingdom, as with a bird, a beast, a fish, a winged 
or a creeping insect ; each is known by its essence or nature, 
from, and according to which, the instinct of each is derived and 
directed. In like manner, in the vegetable kingdom, every tree, 
shrub, and herb is known by its fruit and seed, in which its 
essence is innate ; and nothing can be thence produced but what 
has a similar nature and essence ; so likewise every kind of 
earth, clay, stone, mineral, and metal, has a determined value 
according to its essence. 

146. III. That that divine virtue and operation, which is 

SIGNIFIED BY THE MISSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, CONSISTS, WITH THE 
CLERGY IN PARTICULAR, IN ILLUSTRATION AND INSTRUCTION. 

The operations of the Lord, enumerated in the foregoing 
article, viz., reformation, regeneration, renovation, vivification, 
sanctification, justification, purification, the remission of sins, and 
finally salvation, are effected by influx from the Lord, among 
both clergy and laity, and are received by all those who are in 
the Lord, and who have the Lord in them (John vi. 56 ; xiv. 20 ; 
xv. 4, 5) ; but the reasons why the clergy are particularly gifted 
with the graces of illustration and instruction are, because those 
graces have particular relation to their ministerial office, and 
their ordination to the ministry conveys those graces ; and they 
believe also that while they are preaching in the heat of zeal, 
they are inspired like the disciples of the Lord, on whom he 
breathed, saying, “ Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (John xx. 22 ; 
Mark xiii. 11) : some of them also affirm that they have perceived 
the influx. Rut let them be very cautious how they persuade 
187 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


146, 147 

themselves that the zeal with which many of them are heated 
during their preaching, is the divine operation in their hearts ; 
for a similar and even warmer zeal is often kindled in the breasts 
of enthusiasts, and also among those who maintain doctrines the 
most false, yea, even among those who slight the Word of God, 
and worship nature instead of God, and reject faith and charity, 
which they tie up, as it were, in a bag behind them, but whicii 
in their preaching and teaching, they hang before them, as if it 
were a ruminatory stomach, from which they press out and 
disgorge such things as they know will serve for food to their 
hearers ; for zeal, considered in its true nature, is a violent heat- 
ing of the natural man. If the love of truth kindles it, it is then 
like the sacred fire which came down on the apostles, and which 
is thus described in the Acts : u There appeared unto them cloven 
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them : and they 
were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (ii. 3, 4) : but if the love ot 
the false lies concealed in that zeal or heat, it is then like fire 
imprisoned in w T ood, which bursts out, and burns the house. 
Thou, therefore, O man, who deniest the holiness of the Word, 
and the Divinity of the Lord, take off, I beseech thee, the bag 
from thy back, and open it, as thou mayest freely do in private 
at thy own home, and thou wilt see the true nature of thy zeal. 
I know that those whom Isaiah describes under the character ot 
Lucifer, and who are of Babel, when they enter the temple, 
especially when they ascend the pulpit, and particularly those 
who call themselves of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, are hurried 
away by a zeal which, in many cases, is kindled by infernal love, 
under the influence of which they can make more noise, and 
fetch deeper sighs, than those w r ho are influenced by a zeal 
originating in heavenly love. There are two other spiritual 
operations among the clergy, as may be seen below, n. 155. 

147. The church at this day is little aware, that in all human 
will and thought, and in all human action and speech thence 
derived, there is an internal and an external ; and that a man 
from his infancy is taught to speak from the external, however 
the internal may dissent ; whence come all the varieties of dis- 
simulation, flattery, and hypocrisy ; consequently there is a du- 
plicity, or twofold nature, in the human character, and he alone 
is a man of true singleness and simplicity whose external thinks 
and speaks, wills and acts, from the internal. Such also are 
signified in the Word by the persons called simple or of a single 
eye, as in Luke viii. 15, xi. 34, and in other places ; although 
they are much wiser than people of a double character. That 
there is duplicity and triplicity in every created thing, is evident 
from the parts of the human body, in which it is found that 
every nerve consists of fibres, and every fibre of fibrils ; that 
every muscle is composed of fascicles of fibres, and these again 
of moving fibres; and that every artery is formed of coats "in a 
188 


THE HOLT SPIRIT. 


147, 148 

triple series. There is a similar composition in the human mind, 
and its spiritual organization is of a similar nature : this is what 
we remarked above, that the human mind is divided into three 
regions, the highest, which is also the inmost, being called celes- 
tial, the middle spiritual, and the lowest natural. The minds of 
all men who deny the holiness of the Word, and the Divinity of 
the Lord, have the sphere of their thought confined to the lowest 
region ; but as from their infancy they have been instructed in 
the spiritual truths of the church, they also receive them ; but 
then they place them below all natural truths, such as the va- 
rious kinds of scientific, political, civil, and moral knowledge; and 
as the spiritual truths so degraded possess the lowest place in 
the mind, and that which is nearest to the organs of speech, 
therefore at church, and in company, they can speak under the 
influence of those truths, and, what is wonderful, they know not 
at such times but that they are speaking and teaching under the 
influence of a sincere belief; when nevertheless, as soon as they 
are at their own liberty, that is, when they are retired in private 
to their homes, the door is opened which closed the internal of 
their minds, and then sometimes they laugh at their own public 
harangues, saying in their hearts that religion is but a w r ell- 
contrived snare to catch doves. 

148. The internal and external of such persons may be 
likened to poison covered over with a crust of sugar ; and also 
to the wild gourds, which the sons of the prophets gathered, 
and cast into a pot of pottage, of which when they ate they cried 
out, “There is death in the pot” (2 Kings iv. 38 — 43). They 
may also be compared with the beast arising out of the' sea, 
which “ had two horns like a lamb, and spake as a dragon” 
(Rev. xiii. 11), and which is afterwards called the false prophet. 
They are also like highwaymen in a city, who behave there like 
good citizens, doing what is right, and conversing like sober and 
reasonable men ; but when they return again into the highways 
and forests, they become like wild beasts : or they may be further 
compared with pirates, who when they are on land are men, but 
when at sea are crocodiles ; for pirates on land, and highwaymen 
in a city, are like panthers clothed in sheepskins, or like apes 
dressed" in men’s clothes, with masks representing the human 
countenance to conceal their frightful faces. They may also be 
likened to a harlot, who anoints herself with perfumes, and 
paints her face with carmine, and puts on a garment of white 
silk ornamented with flowers ; but when she returns to hei 
house, she undresses herself in the presence of her paramours, 
and infects them with her diseases. Such are those who in 
heart deny the holiness of' the Word and the Divinity of the 
Lord; and that this is a true description of them I can testify 
from many years’ experience in the spiritual world, where I have 
been permitted to see and know them ; for in that world all per- 
189 


148—151 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


eons are suffered for some time to remain in their externals, 
but on the removal of these they are let into their internals, 
and then their comic acting is over, and the tragic scene com- 
mences. 

149. IV. That the Lord operates those virtues in such as 

BELIEVE IN HIM. 

The Lord operates those virtues, which are understood by 
the mission of the Holy Spirit, in those who believe in him, 
that is, he reforms, regenerates, renews, quickens, sanctifies, 
justifies, purifies from evils, and finally saves them, as is evident 
from all those passages in the Word, which may be seen quoted 
above, n. 108, where it is declared that salvation and eternal 
life are given to those who believe in the Lord. It is further 
confirmed by this passage : “ Jesus said, Whoso believeth on me , 
as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water. This said he of the Spirit, which they that believe in 
him should receive” (John vii. 38, 39). And also by this pas- 
sage : “ The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev 
xix. 10). By the spirit of prophecy is understood the truth ®i 
doctrine derived from the Word : prophecy signifies nothing else 
but doctrine, and to prophesy signifies to teach doctrine ; and 
by the testimony of Jesus is understood acknowledgment origi- 
nating in faith towards him. The same is understood by testi- 
mony in this passage : “ The angels of Michael overcame the 
dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of his testi- 
mony : and the dragon went to make war with the remnant ot 
the woman’s. seed, which keep the commandments of God, and 
ha YQ-the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. xii. 11, 17). 

150. The reason why those who believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ receive those spiritual virtues 'is, because he is salvation 
and eternal life ; salvation, because he is the Saviour, which his 
name, Jesus, also implies ; and eternal life, because those have 
eternal life who are in him, and he in them ; therefore also he 
is called eternal life in John (1 Epist. v. 20). How since he is 
salvation and eternal life, it follows of consequence that he is all 
that by which salvation and eternal life are obtained, conse- 
quently that he is the all of reformation, regeneration, renova- 
tion, vivification, sanctification, justification, purification from 
evils, and final salvation. The Lord operates those virtues in 
every man, that is, he strives to introduce them ; and when the 
man accommodates and prepares himself for their reception, he 
then does introduce them. The active power of accommodation 
and preparation is also from the Lord ; but if the man does not 
receive it with a willing spirit, there can be no introduction of 
the above virtues, but only a constant attempt on the Lord’s 
part. 

151. To believe in the Lord, is not only to acknowledge 
him, but also to do his commandments ; for a bare acknowledge 

190 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


151—152 


ment proceeds only from thought grounded in some degree of 
understanding ; but the doing of his commandments proceeds 
from an acknowledgment which has its root in the will. The 
mind of man consists of understanding and will ; and it is the 
part of the understanding to think, and of the will to do and 
practise ; while therefore a man only acknowledges the truth 
from the thought of his understanding, he comes to the Lord 
with only half his mind ; but when he does his commandments, 
he comes with his whole mind, and this is truly to believe. Ac- 
cording to every other sense of believing, a man does but divide 
his heart, and compel its surface to raise itself upward, while its 
fleshy substance is turned downward, so that, like an eagle, he 
flies between heaven and hell. The man, however, not being 
influenced by the perceptions of sight so much as by the pleas- 
ures of the flesh, and these being in hell, he of consequence 
flies down to them ; and there, after having offered sacrifice to 
his lusts, and poured out libations of wine to demons, with mirth 
in his countenance, and fire sparkling in his eyes, he assumes 
the appearance of an angel of light. Those who acknowledge 
the Lord, and yet neglect to do his commandments, become such 
satans after death. 

152. It was shown, in the foregoing article, that the salva- 
tion and eternal life of men are the first and last ends proposed 
by the Lord ; and since the first and last ends contain in them 
the mediate ends, it follows that the above-mentioned spiritual 
virtues are together and at the same time in the Lord, and from 
the Lord in man, but still they come forth in succession. For 
the human mind grows like the body, save only that the body 
grows in stature, and the mind in wisdom; and thus the latter 
is exalted from one region to another, from the natural region 
to the spiritual, and from this to the celestial ; in the last region 
a man is called wise, in the middle, intelligent, and in the first, 
or lowest, scientific : but this exaltation of the mind is not sud- 
den, but is effected by degrees, in proportion as a man stores his 
mind with truths, and conjoins those truths with good. It is in 
this case as in the building of a house : the builder first provides 
materials for the work, as bricks, tiles, beams, and rafters ; he 
then lays the foundation, raises the walls, divides it into separate 
apartments, makes doors to each, with windows to admit the 
light, and stairs to ascend from one story to another ; all which 
are included, and exist at the same time, in the end proposed, 
which is a commodious and handsome habitation. The case is 
the same with a temple : while it is building, all the component 
parts exist together in the end proposed, which is the worship 
of God. It is the same also in all other cases, as in gardens 
and fields, and likewise in offices and employments, in which 
the end proposed supplies itself with all needful means for its 
accomplishment. 

191 


153 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


153. Y. That the lord operates of himself from the fa- 
ther, AND NOT CONTRARIWISE. 

By operating is here meant the same thing as by sending 
the Holy Spirit, since the above-mentioned operations of refor- 
mation, regeneration, renovation, vivification, sanctification, justi- 
fication, purification from evils, and the remission of sins, which 
are at this day ascribed to the Holy Spirit, as a God by himself, 
are the operations of the Lord. That these operations are of the 
Lord from the Father, and not contrariwise, shall be first confirmed 
from the Word, and afterwards illustrated by rational considera- 
tions. First from the Word, from the following passages: 
“ When the Comforter is come, whom 1 will send unto you from 
the Father , even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the 
Father, he shall testify of me” (John xv. 26). “ If I go not 

away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I go away, 
I will send him unto you” (xvi. 7). “ The Comforter, the Spirit 

of truth, shall not speak of himself, but shall receive of mine , and 
shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are 
mine ; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine , and shall 
show it unto you” (xvi. 13, 14, 15). “The Holy Spirit was not 
yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (vii. 39). “ Jesus 

breathed on his disciples, and said unto them, Receive ye the 
Holy Spirit” (xx. 22). “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, 
I will do it , that the Father may be glorified in the Son : if ye 
shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it ” (xiv. 13, 14). 
From these passages it plainly appears, that the Lord sends the 
Holy Spirit ; that is, that it is he who affects those operations 
which are at this day ascribed to the Holy Spirit as a God by 
himself : for it is declared, that he would send the Holy Spirit 
from the Father; that the Holy Spirit was not yet, because 
Jesus was not yet glorified ; that after his glorification he 
breathed on his disciples, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit ;” 
and further, “ Whatsoever,” says he, “ ye shall ask in my name, 
I will do it ; for the Comforter shall take of mine, and shall 
show it unto you.” The Comforter is the same with the Holy 
Spirit, as may be seen in John xiv. 26. God the Father does 
not operate those virtues of himself by the Son, but the Son 
operates them of himself from the Father, as is evident from 
the following passages : “ Ho one hath seen God at any time ; 
the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, 
he hath declared him” (i. 18). And in another place: “Ye 
have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen 
his shape” (v. 37). Hence then it follows, that God the Father 
operates in the Son and upon the Son, but not by or through 
the Son ; and that the Lord operates of himself from the Father ; 
for he says, “ All things that the Father hath are mine” (xvi. 
15); that “ the Father hath given all things into the hand of 
the Son” (iii. 35) ; also, that “ as the Father hath life in him 
192 


TIIE HOLY SPIRIT. 


153, 154 

self, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself 5 (v. 
26) ; and further, “ The words that I speak unto you are 
spirit and are life” (vi. 63). The reason why the Lord says 
that the Spirit of truth proceeds from the Father (John xv. 26), 
is, because it proceeds from God the Father into the Son, and 
out of the Son from the Father ; therefore he also says, “ In 
that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and the Father 
in me, and ye in me, and I in you” (xiv. 11, 20). From these 
plain declarations of the Lord, it is easy to discover the error 
which generally prevails throughout the Christian world, that 
God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to mankind; and also the 
error of the Greek church, that God the Father sends the Holy 
Spirit immediately. This truth concerning the Lord’s sending 
the Holy Spirit out of himself from God the Father, and not 
contrariwise, is of heavenly extraction, and the angels call it 
an Arcanum , because it was never before discovered to the 
world. 

154. What is here asserted may also be illustrated and ex- 
plained by many suggestions of reason ; as for instance : It is 
well known that the apostles, after they had received from the 
Lord the gift of the Holy Spirit, preached the Gospel through 
a great part of the world, and that they published it both by 
their discourses and writings ; and this they did of themselves 
from the Lord ; for Peter taught and wrote in one manner, 
James in another, John in another, and Paul in another, each 
according to his own particular intelligence. The Lord filled 
them all with his spirit ; but each took a portion according to 
the quality of his peculiar perception, and exercised it according 
to the quality of his strength or power. All the angels in the 
heavens are filled with the Lord, for they are in the Lord, and 
the Lord in them ; but nevertheless every one of them speaks 
and acts according to the state of his own mind, some in sim- 
plicity, some in wfisdom, w'ith an infinite variety ; and yet every 
one speaks and acts of himself, from the Lord. The case is the 
same with every minister in the church, whether he be under 
the influence of the truth, or of the false ; each has his own 
peculiar expression and intelligence, and each speaks from his 
own mind, that is, from the spirit which he possesses as his own. 
So in the case of Protestants, whether they be called Evangeli- 
cal or Reformed : after they are instructed in the tenets of their 
particular leaders, as Luther, Melancthon, or Calvin, it cannot 
with propriety be said that those leaders or their tenets speak of 
themselves by their disciples, but that those disciples speak of 
themselves from their leaders and their tenets; for every par- 
ticular tenet may be explained a thousand different ways, being 
like a cornucopia, from which each person draws forth what 
favors and is suited to his own peculiar genius, and then ex- 
plains it according to his peculiar talent. This may be illus- 
193 ‘ o 


154 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


etrated also by the action of the heart in and upon the lungs, 
and by the reaction of the lungs of themselves from the 
heart: these are two distinct actions, which nevertheless are 
reciprocally united ; for the lungs respire of themselves from 
the heart, but the heart does not respire through the lungs : 
if this were the case the action of both would stop. The 
case is similar with respect to the action of the heart in and 
upon the viscera of the whole body : the heart propels the 
blood in every direction, but the viscera imbibe it, each its 
share according to the kind of use which it performs in the 
body, according to which each also acts; consequently the action 
of each is different. The same truth is capable of receiving fur- 
ther illustration from this circumstance relating to the nature 
and state of man ; evil derived from parents, which is therefore 
called hereditary, acts in and upon every man ; so also does good 
from the Lord ; the latter acting from above or from within, 
the former from beneath or from without : if now evil acted by 
or through the man, he would not be capable of reformation, 
nor yet a subject of blame ; and in like manner, if the Lord 
thus acted by or through him, he would not be capable of refor- 
mation ; but since each depends on the man’s free choice, he 
becomes guilty when he acts of himself from evil, and guiltless 
when he acts of himself from good ; and since evil is the devil, 
and good is the Lord, he becomes guilty if he acts from the 
devil, and guiltless if lie acts from the Lord : thus the capacity 
of reformation is owing to this freedom of choice with which 
every man is endowed. The case is the same with the internal 
and external of man ; these are perfectly distinct from each 
other, and yet reciprocally united ; the internal acts in and 
upon the external, but not by or through it ; for in the internal 
innumerable particulars are involved, from which the external 
takes only what is suited to its purposes : for in a man’s internal, 
by which is understood his mind, consisting of the will and per- 
ceptive faculty, there are such volumes of accumulated ideas, 
that were they to flow out through the organs of speech, they 
might be compared with the violent rushing of wind from a pair 
of bellows. The internal, by reason of the universals included 
in it, resembles an ocean, a flower-bed, or a garden, from whose 
stores the external selects as much as is sufficient for its use. 
The Word of the Lord resembles this ocean, flower-bed, or 
garden ; and when it dwells in some degree of fulness in the 
internal of a man, he then speaks and acts of himself from the 
Word, and not the Word by or through him. It is so likewise 
with the Lord, who is himself the Word, that is, the divine 
truth and the divine good therein : the Lord acts from himself, 
or from the Word, in and upon a man, but not by or through 
him, because a man acts and speaks freely of himself from the 
Lord, while he acts and speaks from the Word. But this will 
194 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


154, 155 

admit of still more familiar illustration from the mutual inter- 
course which subsists between the soul and the body, which are 
two substances distinct from each other, but yet reciprocally 
united : the soul acts in and upon the body, but not by or 
through it ; for the body acts of itself from the soul. It is plain 
that the soul does not act by or through the body, since they do 
not consult and deliberate with each other; the soul too does 
not command or request the body to do, or to say, this thing or 
that ; and on the other hand, the body does not require or re- 
quest the soul to give and supply it with its power and assist- 
ance ; for all that the one has belongs to the other, and this 
mutually and reciprocally. Just so is it in respect to the Lord’s 
Divinity and Humanity ; for the Divinity of the Father is the 
soul of his Humanity, and the Humanity is his body ; and the 
Humanity does not inquire of it£ Divinity what it shall speak 
or what it shall do ; therefore the Lord says, “ At that day ye 
shall ask in my name : and I say not unto you that I will pray 
the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you because 
ye have loved me” (John xvi. 26, 27). “ At that day” means 

after his glorification, that is, after his perfect and complete 
union with the Father. This arcanum is revealed from the Lord 
himself, for the use of those w T ho shall become members of his 
Hew Church. 

155. It was shown above, in the third article, that that 
divine virtue, which, among the clergy, is meant by the opera- 
tion of the Holy Spirit, is, in particular, illustration and in- 
struction ; but to these may be added two intermediate virtues, 
which are perception and disposition : there are therefore, among 
the clergy, four successive operations following each other in 
this order, — illustration, perception, disposition, and instruction. 
Illustration is from the Lord alone. Perception has place 
in a man, according to the state of his mind, as formed by doc- 
trines ; and where ‘those doctrines are true, the perception is 
rendered clear by the light of illustration ; but where they are 
false, the perception is rendered obscure, yet so as to have the 
appearance of clearness arising from the reasonings and argu- 
ments which have been used for their confirmation : such ap- 
parent clearness is however only a consequence of that false and 
delusive light, which, in the eye of the merely natural man, 
appears like the light of truth. Disposition arises from the 
affection of the love-principle in the will, and it is the delight 
springing from that love which effects it. If this delight springs 
from the love of evil and its attendant false, it gives birth to a 
zeal, which is outwardly sharp, harsh, furious, fiery, and inwardly 
full of anger, rage, and unmercifulness ; but if it springs from 
the love of good and its attendant truth, it then gives birth to a 
zeal, which is outwardly soft and smooth, yet loud and burn- 
ing, and inwardly full of charity, kindness, and mercy. In- 
195 


155, 156 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


struction follows as an effect produced by the former. Thus 
illustration, which is from the Lord, is changed into various 
lights and colors in every individual, according to the state of 
his mind. 

156. YI. That a man’s spirit is his mind, and whatever 

PROCEEDS FROM IT. 

By a man’s spirit in the concrete nothing else is meant but 
his mind, for it is this wdiich lives after death, and is then called 
a spirit; if good, an angelic spirit, which afterwards becomes an 
angel, but if evil, a satanical spirit, which afterwards becomes a 
satan. The mind of every one is his internal man, which is 
actually a man, and dwells within the external man, that makes 
its body ; therefore, on the rejection of the body by death, it is 
in a complete human form. It is therefore a palpable error to 
suppose, that a man’s mind is only in his head : this is indeed 
the mind’s seat in its first principles, from which primarily 
issues all that a man thinks from the understanding and acts 
from the will ; but as to its jprincipiates , or derivations from 
those first principles, formed for the purposes of sensation and 
action, the mind dwells in the body also, and in consequence of 
this internal adherence to the particles of the body, it imparts 
to them sense and motion, and likewise infuses into the body a 
perception, as if thought and action were its own, and self- 
derived ; but every wise man is well aware that this is a fallacy. 
Now since a man’s spirit is alone possessed of the power of 
thought by virtue of the understanding, and of action by the 
will, and the body of itself possesses no such powers, but only 
by derivation from the spirit, it follows, that by a man’s spirit is 
signified his intelligence and love-affection, and whatever pro- 
ceeds as an operation from them. That a man’s spirit signifies 
such things as have relation to the mind, is evident from many 
passages of the Word, which need only be adduced to evince the 
truth of this observation : the following may suffice, out of many 
which might be mentioned : “ Bezaleel was filled with the spirit 
of wisdom, of understanding, and of knowledge” (Exod. xxxi. 3). 
Nebuchadnezzar says of Daniel, that “an excellent spirit of 
knowledge and of understanding was found in him” (Dan. v. 
12). “Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom” (Deut. xxxiv. 
9). “ Make ye a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezek. xviii. 31). 

“ Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven” (Matt. v. 3). “ I dwell in a contrite and humble spirit, 

to re\ive the spirit of the humble” (Isaiah lvii. 15). “The 
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit” (Psalm li. 17). “ I will 

f ive the cloak of praise instead of a contracted spirit” (Isaiah lxi. 

) ; not to mention other passages to the like purport. That 
spirit also signifies such things as relate to a perverse and wicked 
mind, is evident from the following passages: “ Woe unto the 
foolish prophets, that go away after their own spirits !” (Ezek. 


THE HOLT SPIRIT. 


*56, 157 

xiii. 3.) u Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring fo/th stubble : 
as to your spirit, fire shall devour you” (Isaiah xxxiii. 11). “ A 

man who wandereth in spirit and uttereth a lie” (Micah ii. 11). 
“ A generation whose spirit was not steadfast with God” (Psalm 
lxxviii. 8). “The spirit of whoredoms” (Hosea v. 4). “ Every 

heart shall melt, and every spirit shall be contracted” (Ezek. 
xxi. 7). “ Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile” 

(Psalin xxxii. 2). “The spirit of Pharaoh was troubled” (Gen. 
xli. 8). From these and many other passages it is very evident, 
that the spirit signifies a man’s mind, and whatever belongs 
to it. 

. 157. Since bv a man’s spirit is meant his mind, therefore by 
being in the spirit, which is a phrase that sometimes occurs 
in the Word, is meant a state of the mind separate from the 
body ; and as in that state the prophets had a sight of such ob- 
jects as exist in the spiritual world, therefore that state is called 
the vision of God. They were at such times in the same state as 
spirits and angels in their world, and there a man’s spirit, like 
his mind with respect to its intellectual vision, may be conveyed 
from place to place, w T hile the body remains at rest. This is the 
state in which I have now lived six-and-twenty years, but with 
this difference, that I have been in the spirit and’ in the body at 
one and the same time, and only on some particular occasions 
out of the body. That Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and John 
when he wrote the book of the Revelation, were in that state, is 
evident from the following passages : Ezekiel says, “The spirit 
took me up, and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God 
into Chaldea : so the vision that I had seen went up from me” 
(Ezek. xi. 1, 24). “Then the spirit took me up, and I heard 
behind me a voice of a great rushing” (iii. 12,14). “And the 
spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought 
me in the vision of God to J erusalem” (viii. 3). “ And I saw 

four living creatures, which were cherubs, and various things 
with them” (i. and x.). “ And a new earth, and a new temple, 

and an angel measuring them” (xl. to xlviii.) ; that he was then 
in vision, and in the spirit, appears from xl. 2 ; xliii. 3. The 
same was Zechariah’s state when he saw “ a man riding among 
the myrtle-trees” (i. 8). “ And a man with a measuring line in 

his hand” (ii. 1) ; “ and Joshua the high-priest” (iii. 1) ; “ and 
four chariots and horses coming out from between two moun- 
tains” (vi. 1, 2, &c,). Daniel was in a similar state when he 
saw “ four beasts come up from the sea, and many things re- 
lating to them” (vii. 3) ; and “ the battles of the ram and the 
goat” (viii. 4). That he saw those things in vision, is declared 
vii. 1, 2, 7, 13 ; viii. 2 ; x. 1, 7, 8; for it is said, that the angel 
Gabriel appeared to him in vision, and talked with him. The 
same was John’s state when he wrote the book of the Revela- 
tion, in which he declares, “ that he was in the spirit on the 
197 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


157, 156 

Lord’s day” (i. 10); “ that he was carried in the spirit into the 
wilderness” (xvii. 3) ; “ and to a great and high mountain in 
the spirit” (xxi. 10); “that he saw in vision” (ix. 17) ; and in 
other places that he saw what he described, as the Son of man 
in the midst of the seven candlesticks ; a tabernacle, a temple, 
an ark, and an altar in heaven ; the book sealed with seven seals, 
and horses coming out ; the four animals about the throne ; the 
twelve thousand chosen out of each tribe ; the lamb on Mount 
Sion ; locusts ascending from the bottomless pit ; the dragon, 
and his war with Michael ; a woman bringing forth a male child, 
and flying into the wilderness on account of the dragon ; two 
beasts, one ascending out of the sea, the other out of the earth ; 
a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast ; the dragon cast 
into a lake of fire and brimstone ; a white horse and a great 
supper ; the holy city Jerusalem coming down, with a descrip- 
tion of its gates, its wall and foundation ; the river of the w T ater 
of life, and the trees of life which yielded fruit every month ; 
with many other particulars. Peter, James, and John were in 
a similar state when they saw Jesus transfigured ; and so like- 
wise was Paul, when he was caught up to heaven, and heard 
unspeakable things. 

A COROLLARY. 

158. Having in this chapter treated on the Holy Spirit, it 
deserves to be particularly noticed, that in the Word of the Old 
Testament there is no mention made of the Holy Spirit, but 
only of the spirit of holiness in three places, once in David 
(Psalm li. 11) ; and twice in Isaiah lxiii. 10, 11 ; whereas in the 
Word of the Hew Testament, as well in the Gospels as in the 
Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles, it is mentioned fre- 
quently : the reason of this is, because there was no Holy Spirit 
before the coming of the Lord, £or it proceeds out of the Lord 
from the Father ; for the Lord only is holy (Eev. xv. 4) ; therefore 
also it is said by the angel Gabriel to the mother Mary, the Holy 
Thing which shall be born of thee (Luke i. 35). It is written, 
that the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus w T as not yet 
glorified (John vii. 39) ; and yet it is said before, that the Holy 
Spirit filled Elisabeth (Luke i. 41) ; and Zechariah (Luke i. 67) ; 
and Simeon (Luke ii. 25) : the reason of which seeming contra- 
diction is, because those three persons were filled with the spirit 
of Jehovah the Father, which was called the Holy Spirit, on 
account of the Lord who was already in the world. This is the 
reason too why, in the Word of the Old Testament, it is no- 
where said that the prophets spoke from the Holy Spirit, but 
from Jehovah ; for in expressing themselves on this subject, 
they constantly use some of these terms, Jehovah spake to me ; 
the word' of Jehovah came to me : Jehovah hath spoken : the say 
198 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


158, 159 

mg of Jehovah • to evince which, I will only refer the reader to 
the following passages in Jeremiah, where those expressions are 
used : — Chap. i. 4, 7, 11—14, 19 ; chap. ii. 1—5, 9, 19, 22, 29, 
31 ; chap. iii. 1, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16 ; chap. iv. 1, 3, 9, 17, 27 ; 
chap. v. 11, 14, 18, 22, 29; chap. vi. 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 21, 22; 
chap. vii. 1, 3, 11, 13, 19, 20, 21 ; chap. viii. 1, 3, 12, 13 ; chap, 
ix. 6, 9, 12, 13, 17, 22, 23, 24 ; chap. x. 1, 2, 18 ; chap. xi. 1, 
6, 9, 11, 21, 22; chap. xii. 14, 17; chap. xiii. 1, 6, 9, 11 — 15, 
25; chap. xiv. 1, 10, 14, 15; chap. xv. 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 19, 20; 
chap. xvi. 1, 3, 5, 9, 14, 16 ; chap. xvii. 5, 20, 21, 24 ; chap, xviii. 

6, 11, 13; chap. xix. 1, 3, 6, 12, 15 ; chap. xx. 4 ; chap. xxi. 1, 
4, 7, 8, 11, 12; chap. xxii. 2, 5, 6, 11, 18, 24, 29, 30; chap, 
xxiii. 2, 5, 7, 12, 15, 24, 29, 31, 38 ; chap. xxiv. 3, 5, 8 ; chap 
xxv. 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 15, 27, 28, 29, 32 ; chap. xxvi. 1, 2, 18 ; chap, 
xxvii. 1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 16, 19, 21, 22 ; chap, xxviii. 2, 12, 14, 16 ; 
chap. xxix. 4, 8, 9, 16, 19, 20, 21, 25, 30, 31 ; chap. xxx. 1 — 5, 
8, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18 ; chap. xxxi. 1, 2, 7, 10, 15, 16, 17, 23, 27, 
28, 31—38 ; chap, xxxii. 1, 6, 14, 15, 25, 26, 28, 30, 36, 42 , 
chap, xxxiii. 1, 2, 4, 10, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 23, 25 ; chap, xxxiv. 
1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 13, 17, 22 ; chap. xxxv. 1, 13, 17, 18, 19 j chap, 
xxxvi. 1, 6, 27, 29, 30 ; chap, xxxvii. 6, 7, 9 ; chap, xxxviii. 2, 3, 
17 ; chap, xxxix. 15 — 18 ; chap. xl. 1 ; chap. xlii. 7, 9, 15, 18, 
19 ; chap, xliii. 8, 10 ; chap. xliv. 1, 2„ 7, 11, 24, 25, 26, 30 ; 
chap. xlv. 1, 2, 5 ; chap. xlvi. 1, 23, 25, 28 ; chap, xlvii. 1 ; chap, 
xlviii. 1, 8, 12, 30, 35, 38, 40, 43, 44, 47 ; chap. xlix. 2, 5, 6, 

7, 12, 13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 38, 39 ; chap. 1. 1, 4, 
10, 18, 20, 21, 30, 31, 33, 35, 40 ; chap. li. 25, 33, 36, 39, 52, 
58. These passages occur in Jeremiah alone: similar expres- 
sions are used by all the other prophets, and it is never said by 
any of them that the Holy Spirit spoke by them, or that Jehovah 
spoke to them by the Holy Spirit. 

159. To the above I will add the following memorable re- 
lations : — First. On a time when I was in company with some 
angels in heaven, I saw at a distance below us a great smoke, 
from which there issued every now and then a flame of fire : 
hereupon I observed to the angels in conversation with me, that 
few persons in that world know that the smoke seen in the hells 
arises from falses confirmed by reasonings, and that fire is anger 
kindled against those who maintain contrary opinions ; to which 
observation I added, that as this truth is little known in the 
spiritual world, so the people in the natural world, where I live 
in the body, are equally ignorant that natural flame is nothing 
but smoke set on fire, which truth I have often proved experi- 
mentally, by applying a lighted stick to the volumes of smoke 
that I have observed to arise from a wood-fire, in which case the 
smoke is instantly turned into a blaze of the same form and 
figure with the smoke; for all the particles of the latter become 


159 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


small separate sparks, which burn in conjunction like lighted 
gunpowder. The case is the same with that smoke which we 
6ee beneath us : it consists of a great many falses, and the fire 
that bursts out into a blaze is the heat of zeal kindled in them 
in favor of those falses. The angels then said to me, “ Let us 
pray to the Lord for leave to go down and inquire what are the 
particular falses which occas ; on such a smoke and blaze and 
leave being given, behold ! there appeared round about us a 
pillar of light that extended to the place whence the smoke 
issued, and we then saw four companies of spirits vehemently 
contending that God the Father, being invisible, ought to be 
approached and worshipped, and not his Son, who was born in 
' the world, for he is a Man, and ' consequently visible. Then 
looking around I observed, towards the left hand, a body of 
learned clergy, and behind them such as were unlearned, and 
towards the right a body of lettered laymen, and behind them 
such as had no advantages of instruction ; but between us and 
them there was a great gulf fixed, which it was impossible to 
pass. We however turned our eyes and ears towards the left 
side, where the clergy stood, and overheard them reasoning 
about God in the following manner : — u We are certain, from 
the doctrine of our church, which, so far as it relates to God, is 
generally received in every state in Europe, that God the F ather, 
since he is invisible, ought to be approached and worshipped, 
and that God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, who also are 
invisible, as being co-eternal with the Father, are also to be 
approached and worshipped at the same time ; and since God the 
Father is the creator Of the universe, and consequently dwells 
in the universe, we know that he is present wherever we turn 
our eyes, and graciously hearkens to our prayers, and, after 
accepting his Son’s mediation, sends the Holy Ghost, who pours 
into our hearts the glory of the Son’s righteousness, and thereby 
blesses us ; for we, being appointed teachers in his church, have 
felt in our bosoms, while we have been preaching, the holy 
operation of such mission, and have perceived our devotion in- 
flamed by his presence in our minds. This effect wo ascribe to 
our directing all our senses towards the invisible God, who does 
not operate partially on our intellectual sight only, but univer- 
sally throughout the whole system of our bodies and minds by 
his emissary spirit ; for such effects could not result from the 
worship of a visible God, or one that stands conspicuous before 
our mental view as a Man.” At these words the unlearned part 
of the clergy, who stood behind, expressed their approbation, 
adding, “ Whence can holiness come but from an unseen and 
imperceptible Deity ? The bare mention of such a God affects 
every part of our frame, infusing pleasure into the countenance, 
and joy into the heart, like what arises from the fragrance of 
an odoriferous atmosphere ; whereas the mention of a visible 
200 


THE HOLY SPixCIT. 


159 


And perceptible Deity produces no sucb effects, but while it 
enters the ear, suggests a merely natural idea, that has nothing 
divine in it. For a similar reason the Roman Catholics repeat 
their masses in Latin, and carry forth and exhibit the host, 
■which they give out is possessed of many divine and mysterious 
properties, and thus the people are induced to pay it divine 
reverence, as containing in it some most hidden principle of 
holiness.” After this we turned towards the body of laymen, 
and from the lettered part of them I could collect the following 
sentiment: “We are certain that the wisest of the ancients 
worshipped an invisible God, whom they called Jehovah, but that 
in succeeding ages men made gods of their deceased rulers, of 
which number were Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, 
and also Minerva, Diana, Yenus, Themis, &c., and erected 
temples in honor of them, and paid them divine worship, from 
which worship, in process of time, idolatry arose, and overspread 
the whole world with its wild superstitions. We therefore are 
entirely agreed with our priests and presbyters in this, that there 
always have been, and now are, three divine persons of an eter- 
nal existence, each whereof is God ; and it is sufficient for us 
that they are invisible.” To these sentiments the unlettered 
part assented, adding withal, “ Is not God God, and man man ? 
We are aware, however, that should any one suggest the notion 
of a God-Man, the common herd of mankind, who entertain a 
sensual idea of God, would accede to it.” As they said this, 
their eyes were opened, and they saw us near them, and then, 
out of anger that we had overheard them, they held their peace, 
but instantly the angels, by a power committed to them, closed 
up the exterior or inferior regions of their thoughts, from 
whence their words proceeded, and opened the interior or 
superior regions, and compelled them to speak of God accord- 
ing to the thoughts that flowed thence, and immediately they 
spoke as follows : “ What is God ? We have neither seen his 
appearance at any time, nor heard his voice ; what therefore is 
God, except nature in her first principles, and in her last? 
We have seen her, because she is the light of our eyes, and we 
have heard her, for she is the sound in our ears.” On hearing 
these words, we inquired of them whether they had ever seen 
Socinus, who acknowledged only God the Father, or Arius, who 
denied the Divinity of the Lord the Saviour, or any of their 
followers ? They replied, “ No ; we never saw them.” “They 
are all in the deep below you,” we said ; and presently some of 
them came to us, and we asked them some questions concerning 
God, and they all answered according to the tenor of what we 
had just now heard, pi ofanely exclaiming, “ What is God ? We 
can make as many gods as we please.” We then said, “It is 
in vain to talk with you about the Son of God who was born in 
the world ; but so far we will declare to you, that for the sak<j 
201 


159. 160 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


of preserving a true faith with respect to God, as directed to- 
wards him and proceeding from him, and for fear this faith 
should perish because no one had ever seen God, and should 
thus burst like a bubble floating in the air in the latter ages of 
the world, which in former times had shone with so much 
brightness of color and beauty, it therefore j3leased Jehovah 
God to descend and assume humanity, and thus to present him- 
self to view before his creatures, and convince them that he is 
not a mere imaginary entity, but the real ana very Being 
(. Ijpsum >), which was, and is, and will be, from eternity to eter- 
nity ; and that God is not a word only, consisting of so many 
letters, but he is the all of every thing from Alpha to Omega ; 
consequently that he is the life and salvation of all who believe 
on him as visible, but not of those who pretend to believe on an 
invisible God ; for to believe, to see, and to know, make one ; 
therefore the Lord said to Philip, “ He that seeth and knoweth 
me, seeth and knoweth the Father ;” and declared in other places 
that “ it is the will of the Father that men should believe on the 
Son,” and that “ whoso believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but 
whoso believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the anger of 
God abideth on him.” (See John iii. 15, 16, 36 ; xiv. 6 — 15.) 
When they heard this, many of the four companies grew so en- 
raged, that smoke and fire came out of their nostrils : we there- 
fore departed ; and the angels, after attending me home, returned 
to their own heaven. 

160. The second memorable relation. — I was once walk- 
ing in company with some angels in the world of spirits, which 
is in the middle between heaven and hell, and into which all 
men enter immediately after death, and where they are prepared, 
for heaven if they have been good, and for hell if they have been 
evil. After conversing on a variety of subjects, I remarked to 
them, that in the world where I live in the body, there appear 
in the night innumerable stars of different magnitudes, which 
are so many suns, that transmit their light only into our solar 
system ; and that on observing the same appearance of stars in 
the spiritual world, it had occurred to me that possibly they 
might be as numerous as in the natural world. The angels, 
being much delighted with this remark, replied, that perhaps 
the numbers were equal, since every society in heaven some- 
times shines like a bright star before those who are below in the 
world of spirits ; and that the heavenly societies are innumer- 
able, all regulated and arranged according to the variety of the 
affections of the love of good, which are infinite in God, and 
consequently by derivation from him are innumerable: and as 
these were foreseen before creation began, therefore there is 
reason to imagine that according to their variety an equal num- 
ber of stars was provided, that is, created, in the world where 
men were to live in a material natural body. As we were con 
202 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


160 


versing on these subjects, I observed towards the north a beaten 
way, so crowded with spirits that they almost touched each 
other ; and I told the angels that I had often seen this way 
before, with the same crowd of spirits moving along it, like so 
many armies, and that I had been informed it was the way 
through which all pass on their departure out of the natural 
world, and that the reason of its being so crowded with spirits 
is, because some myriads of men die every week, all of whom 
after death migrate into that world. To this the angels added, 
“ That way is terminated in the middle of this world where we 
now are ; and the reason of its being terminated in the middle 
is, because on the side towards the east dwell the societies that 
are in love towards God and their neighbor; on the left to- 
wards the west dwell the societies of those who are in opposite 
loves ; and directly forward towards the south are the societies 
of such as excel others in intelligence : and hence it is, that all 
on their departure out of the natural world flock to this middle 
part. At their first coming they are in their externals according 
to their last state in the former world, and afterwards they are 
successively let into their internals, and examined as to their 
true natures and qualities ; and after examination the good are 
conveyed to their abodes in heaven, and the bad to their abodes 
in hell.” 

We stopped in the middle, at the termination of the crowded 
way, and said, “ Let us stay a while and converse with some of 
the new-comers.” For this purpose we chose twelve out of the 
multitude, who having but just left the natural world, did not 
yet know but that they were still alive in it. We questioned 
them about their sentiments in relation to heaven and iiell, 
and a life after death. To this one of them replied, “ I 
have been taught by the clergy to believe that we are to live 
after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell : hence I have 
conceived that all who live a moral life, go to heaven, and since 
all do live a moral life, that none go to hell, and that hell there- 
fore is a mere fable invented by the clergy to deter mankind 
from sin and wickedness ; besides, what matters it how I think 
upon these subjects, and whether my sentiments in relation to 
God be right or wrong ? Thought is only like a bubble on the 
water, which bursts, and there is an end of it.” Then a second 
near him said, “ It is my full belief that there is both a heaven 
and a hell, and that God rules in heaven, and the devil in hell : 
and since they are enemies, and consequently at variance with 
each other, one calls evil what the other calls good ; and there- 
fore a moral man, who has the art of dissimulation, and can 
make evil appear good, and good evil, sides with both : and what 
does it signify whether I belong to one master or another, if he 
be but kind towards me ? Good and evil are alike capable oi 
affording delight.” A third beside him next declared his senti* 
203 


160 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


meats, and said, “ What good will it do me to believe that there 
are such places as heaven and hell ; for who ever came hence to 
certify their existence ? If every man lives after death, surely 
out of so great a multitude some would have returned, and re- 
lated to the world the particulars of the future life.” A fourth 
near him said, “ I will tell you the reason why none ever re- 
turned to relate the particulars of a life to come. When a man 
breathes his last, and dies, he then becomes either a spectre, and 
vanishes away, or he is like the breath of the mouth, which is 
mere wind ; and how can such a one return and converse with 
men on earth ?” A fifth took up the debate, and said, “ Wait, 
my friends, till the day of judgment ; for all men will then 
return to their bodies, and you shall see them, and converse with 
them, and each shall acquaint his neighbor with his condition.” 
A sixth, who stood opposite, said with a smile, “ How can a 
spirit, which is mere wind, return into a body devoured by 
worms, or into a skeleton that has been dried in the sun, and 
reduced to powder ? Or how can an Egyptian mummy, that 
has been made into medicines and emulsions by an apothecary, 
and swallowed by his patients, return to declare to the world 
what he has seen and heard in another life? Wait,, then, till 
the last day, if you believe in such matters ; but if you w^ait to 
eternity, depend upon it, it will be to no purpose.” Then a 
seventh said, “ If I believed in such places as heaven and hell, 
and that consequently men were to live after death, I should 
believe also that birds and beasts will have immortal life ; for 
are not the same marks of morality and rationality discoverable 
in some of them as in men ? yet the immortality of brutes is 
universally denied, and for the. same reason I deny also the im 
mortality of man : is not the argument as strong in the one case 
as in the other ? for what is a man but a mere animal ?” An 
eighth, who stood behind the former, then came forward, and 
thus declared his sentiments : u I believe, if you please, in the 
existence of a heaven, but never can I be persuaded that there 
is such a place as hell ; for is not God omnipotent, and cannot 
he therefore save every one ?” Then a ninth, taking him by 
the hand, said, u God is not only omnipotent, but he is also 
merciful ; he cannot therefore cast any one into eternal tire ; and 
if there be any already there, his mercy must compel him to 
take them out, and deliver them.” A tenth then advanced 
hastily from his rank, and said, “ I also do not believe in such a 
place as hell : for did not God send his Son, who atoned for and 
took away the sins of the whole world ? What power then has 
the devil to hurt mankind ? And if he has no such power, what 
then is meant by hell ?” An eleventh, who was a priest, took 
hre at this, and said, u Do you not know that such as have ob* 
tained faith, on which is inscribed the merit of Christ, are saved, 
and that those whom God elects obtain that faith ? Is not elec 
204 


THE HOLT SPIRIT. 


160 


tion according to the good pleasure of the Almighty? and is not 
he to judge who are deserving of it? How is it possible to 
counteract almighty power ?” The twelfth, who was a poli- 
tician, was silent ; but being requested to crown all with his 
opinion, he said, “ I shall not declare my sentiments about 
heaven, hell, or a life after death, since no one knows any thing 
respecting them ; yet it may be expedient to allow the clergy to 
preach about such things, in order by such invisible bonds to 
keep vulgar minds obedient to the laws of civil authority ; for 
on this the public security depends.” 

We were amazed to hear such declarations, and said one to 
another, u These, although they have the name of Christians, 
are yet neither men nor beasts, but are more properly men- 
beasts.” In order, however, to awaken them from sleep, we said, 
“ There is a heaven and a hell, and also a life after death/ and 
you will be convinced of this as soon as we have dispelled your 
ignorance of the state of life in which you are at present ; for 
during a few days immediately after death, it is the common 
supposition of every spirit that he is still alive in the world from 
which he came, the time past seeming like a sleep, from which 
when a person awakes he fancies himself still in the place in 
which he was when he fell asleep, and this is now the case with 
you ; therefore you declared your sentiments according to what 
you had conceived in your former state of existence.” So say- 
ing, the angels dispelled their ignorance ; and then they saw 
themselves in another world, and among persons of whom they 
had no knowledge ; and they exclaimed, “ Oh ! where are we ?” 
And we said, u You are no longer in the natural world, but in 
the spiritual, and we are angels.” Then, when they were well 
awakened, they said, “ If you are angels, show us the w r ay to 
heaven to this we replied, “ Stay here a while, and we will 
return to you.” In about half an hour we returned, and found 
them waiting for us ; and we said, “ Follow us to heaven.” They 
did so ; and we went up with them ; and the keepers of the gate 
seeing us in company with them, admitted us all. We then 
ordered those who are appointed to receive strangers on their 
first admission to examine our companions : they accordingly 
turned them about, and observing that their heads on the hinder 
part w r ere very hollow, they instantly said, “ Retire hence, for 
the delight of your love is to do evil, and you have consequently 
no conjunction with heaven; for in your hearts you have denied 
God, and have despised religion.” Then we said to them, “ Do 
not stand hesitating, for otherwise you will be cast out.” So 
they hastened down again, and departed. 

In our way home we inquired into the cause why, in the 
spiritual world, the hinder part of the head is hollow in such as 
delight to do evil ; and I accounted for it thus : the human brain 
is divided into two spheres, one of which fills the hinder part ol 
205 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


160, 161 

the head, and is called the cerebellum , and the^ other, the fore 
part, and is called the cerebrum ; and the love of the will has its 
residence in the cerebellum , and the thought of the understand- 
ing in the cerebrum ; consequently when the thought of the 
understanding does not lead the love of the man’s will, the in- 
most contents of the cerebellum , which in themselves are celes- 
tial, fall flat together, and thus occasion a hollowness. 

161 . The third memorable relation. — I once heard, in 
the spiritual world, a noise like the grinding of a mill, in the 
quarter towards the north. At first I wondered what it meant, 
till I recollected that by a mill, and by grinding, is signified in 
a spiritual sense, to collect from the Word matter serviceable to 
doctrine : I advanced therefore towards the jflace from wfliich the 
noise came, and as I approached, the noise ceased. Then I ob- 
served something like an arched roof above ground, the entrance 
to which was through a cave : on seeing this I descended and 
entered ; and lo ! there was a large room, and an aged person 
sitting, surrounded by books, and holding before him the Word, 
in which he was searching for what might be serviceable to his 
doctrine. About him lay several scraps of paper, on which he 
wrote such passages as suited his purpose ; and in the next apart- 
ment were a number of scribes, who collected the scraps of paper, 
and copied out their contents on a whole sheet. I inquired first 
concerning the books which lay about him. He said that they 
all treated on Justifying Faith. “These,” says he, “from 
Sweden and Denmark, enter deeply into the subject, but these 
from Germany somewhat deeper, these from England deeper 
still, and these from Holland the deepest of all !” He added, 
moreover, that notwithstanding the difference of their senti- 
ments on other points, yet in the article of justification and 
salvation by faith alone, they were all agreed. He then told me, 
that at that time he was collecting from the Word this cliiet 
article of justifying faith, “That God the Father fell away from 
grace towards mankind on account of their iniquities, and that, 
consequently, in order to effect their salvation, it was become 
indispensably necessary that satisfaction, reconciliation, propitia- 
tion, and mediation, should be made by some person, who would 
take upon himself the sentence of wrath and justice, and that 
none could be found qualified for this purpose but his only Son ; 
and that when this purpose was effected, access was opened to 
God the Father for his sake, for so we pray, 4 Father, have mercy 
upon us for the sake of thy Son.’ ” He said likewise, 44 1 now 
see, and have long seen, that this belief is agreeable to all reason 
and Scripture ; for how can God the Father be approached, but 
by faith in the merit of his Son ?” I listened to his discourse, 
and was amazed to hear him assert that such a belief was agree- 
able to both reason and Scripture, when yet, as I plainly told 
him, it is directly contrary to both. He then, in the heat of his 
206 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


161, 162 

zeal, replied, “How can you pretend to say so?' 5 I therefore 
began to explain myself, saying, “Is it not contrary to reason 
to conceive that God ever fell away from grace towards man- 
kind, and. that he ever reprobated and excommunicated them '? 
Is not divine grace an attribute of the Divine Essence ? To fall 
away from grace, therefore, would be to fall away from his 
Divine Essence, and to fall away from his Divine Essence would 
be to be no longer God ; for how can God be alienated from him- 
self ?. Believe me, that grace on God’s part, as it is infinite, so 
also is it eternal : it may indeed be lost on man’s part, if he does 
not receive it; but if grace were to depart from God, the universe 
of heaven, as well as the whole race of mankind, must imme- 
diately perish ; therefore grace remains on God’s part to all 
eternity, not only towards angels and men, but likewise towards 
devils in hell. Since this then is agreeable to reason, why do 
you assert that the only access to God the Father is by faith in 
his Son’s merits, when yet continual access is open by grace? 
And why do you further assert, that access is open to God the 
Father for the sake of his Son, and not by his Son ? Is not the 
Son the Mediator and Saviour ? Why then do you not approach 
him as your Mediator and Saviour? Is he not God and Man? 
Who on earth approaches immediately any emperor, king, or 
prince, without having some person to introduce him ? And did 
you never learn that the Lord came into the world that he him- 
self might introduce us to the Father? and that there is no pos- 
sible access but by him ? and that this access is perpetual, while 
you approach the Lord himself immediately, for he is in the 
Father, and the Father in him ? Search now the Scriptures, and 
you will there see that what I tell you is agreeable to them ; and 
that the way to the Father which you talk of is as contrary to 
them as it is to reason. I assert, moreover, that it is great 
presumption to climb up to God the Father, and not to approach 
by him who is in the bosom of the Father, and is alone with 
him. Did you never read John xiv. 6 ?” As I said this, the old 
man was inflamed to such a height of passion, that he sprang 
from his chair, and called to his scribes to turn me out of his 
house; and as I walked out of my own accord, he threw after 
me the first book he could lay his hands on, which happened to 
be the Word. 

162. The fourth memorable relation. — There was once a 
dispute among some spirits, whether it be in a man’s power to 
apprehend any doctrinal theological truth contained in the Word, 
without help from the Lord ? In this they all agreed, that such 
a thing is impossible without help from God, since “no man can 
take any thing, except it be given him from above” (John iii. 
27) : the point then in dispute was, whether it be possible with- 
out approaching the Lord immediately. On one side it was 
urged, that the Lord ought directly to be approached, because 
•207 


162 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


he is the Word; on the other side, they said, that doctrinal 
truth may be apprehended when God the Father is immediately 
approached. The debate therefore at first turned on this ques- 
tion, whether it be lawful for any Christian to approach God the 
Father immediately, and so to climb above the Lord ; and whether 
this be not most indecent, and rash insolence and boldness, since 
the Lord says, that “no one cometh to the Father, but by him” 
(John xiv. 6). But presently they left this subject, and asserted 
that it is possible for a man to apprehend doctrinal truth from 
the Word of God by his own natural light. This assertion, 
however, was .afterwards rejected ; they therefore next insisted, 
that such doctrinal truth may be apprehended by those who 
pray to God the Father. Some passages out of the Word were 
then read to them ; and they fell on their knees, and prayed 
that God the Father would enlighten them; and they instantly 
asserted, in relation to the passages which had been read to 
them, that such and such truths might be thence collected : but 
what they called truths were falses ; and this was repeated till 
they were tired, when they at last confessed their inability. 
Those, however, on the other hand, who approached the Lord 
immediately, were enabled to apprehend divine and doctrinal 
truths, and to make them known to the others. When this 
dispute was thus ended, there ascended out of the bottomless pit 
some spirits, who appeared at first sight like locusts, and after- 
wards like dwarfs : they were of the number of those, who, 
during their abode on earth, had directed their worship imme- 
diately to God the Father, and had confirmed the doctrine of 
justification by faith alone ; and they were the same that are 
described in the Revelation ix. 1 — 11. They insisted that they 
had a clear apprehension, and that from the Word, that a man 
is justified by faith alone without the works of the law ; and 
being asked by what faith, they replied, by faith in God the 
Father ; but after they were examined, it was told them from 
heaven, that they had never apprehended a single doctrinal truth 
from the Word. They still however insisted, that they had a 
clear perception of truth in its light ; but they were informed 
that the light which they imagined to be that of truth, was the 
light of infatuation. On their asking what was meant by the 
light of infatuation, they were told, that it is a light arising from 
the confirmation of what is false, and that it corresponds to the 
light of owls and bats, and that to them darkness is light, and 
light darkness. This was confirmed by a circumstance'relating 
to themselves, that when they looked up towards heaven, where 
the true light shines, they saw nothing but darkness, and when 
down towards the bottomless pit, whence they came, they per- 
ceived light. At this appeal to their own case they were very 
indignant, and said, that by this way of reasoning, light and 
darkness are not real existences, but only states of the eye, ac- 
208 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


162 


cording to which .light is called light, and darkness darkness : 
but it was shown them, that the light by which they saw was the 
light of infatuation, arising from the confirmation of what is 
false, and that it was merely an activity of their minds derived 
from the fire of their concupiscences, not unlike the light by 
which cats see, whose eyes appear in the night like balls of fire, 
in consequence of their burning appetite after their prey. On 
hearing this, they exclaimed in great indignation, that they 
were neither cats, nor like cats, for that they could see if they 
would ; but fearing to be asked why they w T ould not, they de- 
parted, and descended again into the bottomless pit. The in- 
habitants of that pit, and all such as resemble them, are called 
by the angels owls and bats, and likewise locusts. 

When they were returned to their companions in the 
bottomless pit, and had told them what the angels had said, that 
they did not apprehend a single doctrinal truth, and that they 
were called owls, bats, and locusts, it caused a great commotion 
among them ; and they said, “ Let us pray to God for permis- 
sion to ascend, and we will prove clearly that we are in posses- 
sion of many doctrinal truths, which archangels themselves will 
acknowledge.” So they prayed to God, and their prayer was 
granted, and they ascended to the number of about three hun- 
dred. As soon as they were risen above ground, they said, 
“We have been held in high fame and reputation among men 
on earth, in consequence of understanding and teaching the 
mysteries of justification by faith alone; and from the argu- 
ments which we have used to confirm those mysteries, we have 
not only attained to the light, but have likewise seen it in its 
meridian brightness, as we also do at this time in our cells ; and 
yet we are informed by our companions, who have been with 
you, that our light is not light but darkness, for, according to 
you, we are in possession of no doctrinal truth derived from the 
Word. Now we know that every truth of the Word is in the 
light, and we have believed that the shining brightness arising 
In our minds from a deep meditation of our mysteries was de- 
rived from that source ; we will therefore demonstrate to you 
that we are possessed of divine truths in great abundance.” 
Then they said, “ Are not we in possession of this truth, that 
there is a trinity consisting of God the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit, and that we must believe in this trinity ? Are not 
w r e in possession of this truth, that Christ is our Redeemer and 
Saviour? And of this, that Christ alone is righteousness, and 
that he alone has merit, and that it is a wicked and unjust thing 
for any person to desire to ascribe to himself any part of his 
righteousness and merit? Are not we in possession also of this 
truth, that no man can do any spiritual good of himself, and 
that all good, which is really so, is from God? Are not we in 
possession too of this truth, that there is a meritorious and hypo- 
209 P 


162 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


critical goodness, and that all such goodness is evil? Are not 
we in possession of this truth, that good works ought to be 
done ? And of this, that men ought to believe in God, and that 
every one obtains life according to his belief ? bTot to mention 
many other truths, which we have learnt from the Word \ and 
which of you can deny one of them ? Yet you say, that in our 
schools we are not in possession of a single truth ; but surely 
such an assertion must be made from mere opposition.” To 
this we returned for answer, “All the truths which you have 
adduced are in themselves true ; but as they are held by you, 
they are truths falsified ; and truths falsified, in consequence of 
the false principle which lurks within, are in reality falses ; that 
this is really so, we will convince you by ocular demonstration. 
There is a place not far from this, into which there is a direct 
influx of light from heaven, and in the midst of it there is a 
table, on which if a piece of paper be placed, with any truth de- 
rived from the Word written on it, by virtue of that truth the 
paper instantly shines like a star. Write now the truths you 
mentioned on a piece of paper, and let it be placed on the table, 
and you shall judge for yourselves.” They did so, and gave the 
paper to the keeper of the table, who placed it there, and then 
desired them to remove to a little distance, and look towards the 
table : they did so, and lo ! the paper shone like a star. Then 
said the keeper, “ From this you plainly see, that these are 
truths which you have written on the paper ; but come now 
nearer, and fix your eyes attentively on the paper.” They did 
so, and lo ! the light suddenly disappeared, and the paper be- 
came black, as if it had been in the smoke of a furnace. Then 
said the keeper, u Touch the paper with your hands ; but take 
care that you do not touch the writing ;” and as they did so, it 
instantly took fire, and was consumed. When these experi- 
ments were concluded, the keeper explained the reason of his 
caution. “ For,” said he, “if you had touched the writing, you 
would have heard a crackling, and have burnt your fingers.” 
This declaration was then made in the hearing of those who 
stood behind : “ You see now, that the truths which you have 
abused to confirm the mysteries of your justifying faith, are in 
themselves truths, but in you they are truths falsified.” They 
then looked upward, and the heavens appeared to them like 
blood, and afterwards like thick darkness ; and in the eyes of 
the angelic spirits, some of them seemed in the shape of bats, 
some in the shape of owls, and some like other birds of night. 
So they fled away to their own regions of darkness, which shone 
in their eyes by the light of infatuation. 

The angelic spirits, who were present, wondered that they 
had never before been acquainted with this place, and the table 
contained in it ; and immediately a voice from the southern 
quarter called to them, saying, “ Come this way, and you shall 
210 


TIIE HOLY SPIRIT. 


162 


see something still more extraordinary.” So they went, and 
were admitted into an apartment, whose walls shone as with 
gold ; and there also they observed a table, on which lay the 
Word, decorated on all sides with precious stones in celestial 
arrangement. Then the angel that kept it, said, “ Every time 
that the Word is opened, there darts from it a light of inexpres- 
sible brightness, and at the same time, from the precious stones, 
there appears as it were a rainbow, encompassing the Word on 
all sides, and forming an arch above it. When an angel from 
the third heaven approaches and looks at it, the rainbow appears 
in a red ground ; when an angel from the second heaven ap- 
proaches and looks, the rainbow appears in a blue ground ; when 
an angel from the last heaven approaches and looks, the rain- 
bow appears in a white ground ; when a good spirit approaches 
and looks, the light appears variegated, like the different veins 
and colors in marble.” The truth of these circumstances was 
then evinced by ocular demonstration. Afterwards the angel 
proceeded, saying, “ If any one approaches who has falsified the 
Word, the brightness, instantly vanishes ; and if he approaches 
nearer, and fixes his eyes on the Word, it seems as if it was 
covered over with blood, and in this case he is admonished, at 
his peril, to stay there no longer.” A certain person, however, 
who, during his abode on earth, had been much distinguished 
for his writings in favor of the doctrine of justification by faith 
alone, approached with great confidence, and said, “ Through the 
whole course of my former life I never falsified the Word ; I laid 
equal stress on charity and on faith, and taught that in a state 
of faith, in which a man exercises charity, and does good works, 
lie is renewed, regenerated, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit: 
I also insisted that, in such a case, it is impossible for faith to 
remain single, that is, unattended by good works, just as a good 
tree cannot be without fruit, or the sun without light, or fire 
without heat ; I likewise blamed those who asserted that good 
works were unnecessary, and that the commandments of the 
decalogue need not be observed ; I also laid great stress on re- 
pentance, and thus in a wonderful manner connected all the 
duties prescribed in the Word with the single article concerning 
faith, which I nevertheless discovered and demonstrated to be 
the only saving virtue.” In the confidence of this assertion, 
that he had never falsified the Word, he approached the table, 
and, disregarding the angel’s caution, touched the Word, when 
lo! there was a sudden efflux of fire and smoke from the Word, 
attended With a loud explosion, by which he was thrown into a 
distant corner of the apartment, and lay there for the space of 
an hour as if he had been dead. The angelic spirits were much 
surprised at this phenomenon, till they were informed that this 
distinguished leader had, more than other teachers, exalted 
works of charity, as proceeding from faith, but that lie meant 
211 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


162, 163 

no other works than what relate to society, and are called moral 
and civil works, which have this world and its prosperity for 
their end, and are not done with a view to salvation and eternal 
life. By works too he had supposed some hidden operations of 
the Holy Spirit, with which the man is utterly unacquainted, 
and which are effected in some particular states of faith. 

The angelic spirits had then some conversation with each 
other about the falsification of the Word, and they agreed in this, 
that to falsify the Word signifies to collect truths therefrom, 
and to apply them to the confirmation of what is false, which is 
to extract truths from the Word, and when they have got them 
out in a disconnected state, to murder them ; as for example, to 
apply all those truths which were adduced above by the spirits 
of the bottomless pit, to the faith now prevalent, and to explain 
them accordingly ; for that this faith is fully impregnated with 
falses, will be proved hereafter. So again, to collect from the 
Word this truth, that charity ought to be practised, and that a 
man should do good to his neighbor, and then to insist that 
such charity and good works should not be done and practised 
with a view to salvation, since all the good which a man does is 
not good, because it is meritorious ; this is to extract truth from 
the Word, and when it is so extracted and disconnected, to murder 
it, while yet the Lord in his Word enjoins every one who would 
be saved, to love his neighbor, and from the influence of that 
love to do him good. The case is the same in other instances. 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 

163. Having treated on God the Creator, and at the same 
time on Creation, and afterwards on the Lord the Redeemer, 
and at the same time on Redemption, and lastly on the Holy 
Spirit, and at the same time on the Divine Operation, and 
having thus treated on the triune God, it is necessary now to 
treat also on the Divine Trinity, a doctrine which in the Chris- 
tian world is known, and yet is unknown. By this doctrine 
alone we can acquire a right idea of God : and a right idea of 
God is to the church what the inmost sanctuary and altar were 
to the temple ; or like a crown on the head and a sceptre in the 
hand of a king sitting on his throne ; for as a chain depends on 
the staple from which it hangs, so does the whole body of the- 
ology depend on a right idea of God as its head ; and if the 
reader is willing to credit it, every one has a place in heaven 
according to his idea of God : for this idea, like a touchstone by 
which gold and silver are tried, is the true test for examining the 
quality of good and truth in a man, since no possible saving 
good can come except from God, and there is not a single saving 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


163, 164 


truth but what derives its quality from the bosom of goodness. 
To unfold this doctrine more fully, so that men mdy see what 
the Divine Trinity is with both their eyes, we will arrange it 
under the following articles : — I. That there is a Divine Trinity , 
consisting of Father , Son, and Holy Spirit. II. That these three , 
Father , Son, and Holy Spirit, are the three essentials of one 
God, which make a one, like soul, body, and operation in a man . 
III. That before the creation of the world this Trinity did not 
exist, but it was provided and made since the creation of the world, 
when God became incarnate, and then centred in the Lord God, 
the Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus Christ . I Y. That a Trinity of 
Divine Persons existing from eternity, or be fore the creation of the 
world, when conceived in idea, is a trinity of Gods, which can 
never be expelled by the oral confession of one God . Y. That a 
Trinity of Persons was unknown in the apostolic church, and the 
doctrine was first broached by the Council of Nice, and thence 
recei/ved into the Rornem Catholic Church, and. thus propagated 
among the reformed churches. YI. That the Nicene and Atha- 
nasian doctrines concerning the Trinity have together given rise 
to a faith which has totally perverted the Christian church. YII. 
That hence has come that abomination of desolation, and that 
affliction, such as was not in all the world, neither shall be, which 
the Lord has foretold in Daniel, and the Evangelists, and the Rev- 
elation. Y1II. That hence too it is come to pass, that except a 
new heaven and a new church be established by the Lord, no flesh 
can be saved. IX. That a Trinity of Persons, each of which 
singly and by himself is God, according to the Athanasian Creed, 
has given rise to many absurd and heterogeneous notions con- 
cerning God, which are merely fanciful and abortive. We will 
now proceed to a particular explanation of each article. 

164. That there is a divine trinity, consisting of father, 

SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT. 

That there is a Divine Trinity, consisting of Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit, is manifestly declared in the Word, and partic- 
ularly in these passages : “ The angel Gabriel said unto Mary, 
The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the 
Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing 
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God ” 
(Luke i. 35). Here mention is made of three, viz., the Highest, 
who is God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son of God. 
Again : “ When Jesus was baptized, lo ! the heavens were 
opened, and John saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, 
and lighting upon him ; and lo ! a voice from heaven, saying, 
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mat. iii. 
16, 17; Mark i 10, 11 ; John i. 32). It is still more evidently 
declared in these words of the Lord to his disciples : “ Go ye 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt, xxviii. 19) ; and 
213 


164, 165 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


in these words of John : “ There are three that bear witness id 
heaven, the Father , the Word , and the Holy Spirit ” (1st Epist 
v. 7). To this may be added the further evidence arising from 
the circumstance of our Lord’s praying to his Father, and 
speaking of him and with him, and declaring that he would 
send the Holy Spirit, which also he did. The apostles too, in 
their epistles, make frequent mention of the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit. Hence then it is evident that there is a 
Divine Trinity, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

165. But in what sense this Trinity is to be understood, 
whether as consisting of three Gods, who in essence, and conse- 
quently in name, are one God, or as three objects of one subject, 
and thus that what are so named are only the qualities or attri- 
butes of one God, or whether it is to be understood in some 
other sense, human reason, if left to itself, can by no means dis- 
cern. Of whom therefore shall we ask counsel ? There is no 
other possible help for a ma6 but to go to the Lord God the 
Saviour, and read the Word under his influence, for he is the 
God of the Word; and his understanding will be enlightened, 
and he will see truths to which his reason also will assent. But 
in case, O man, thou dost not go to the Lord, although thou 
shouldst read the Word a thousand times over, and shouldst 
discern therein a Divine Trinity and also a Unity, yet in vain 
wilt thou hope to see the Trinity in any other light than as con- 
sisting of three divine persons, each of whom singly and by 
himself is God, and who thus together form three Gods. Such 
doctrine, however, is plainly repugnant to the common perception 
of all men throughout the universe ; and therefore its advocates, 
to avoid the imputation of folly, take refuge in this device, that 
although in reality there are three Gods, yet faith requires that 
they should not be called three Gods, but one ; and further, to 
guard against the aspersions of censure, they give out that the 
understanding, in this case particular^, should be put in chains, 
and kept bound under obedience to faith. The production of 
such a paralytic birth was a consequence of not reading the 
Word under the Lord’s auspices ; for he that does not read it 
under his auspices, reads it under the auspices of his own under- 
standing, which is like a bird of night in relation to things that 
are in spiritual light, such as are all the essentials of the church. 
When, therefore, such a man reads those passages in the Word 
which relate to the Trinity, and thence conceives that notwith- 
standing there are three, yet still those three are one, this ap- 
pears to him like one of those dark answers that used to be 
given by the oracles of old, which because he does not under- 
stand, he mumbles it in his mouth, instead of placing it directly 
before his eyes ; for if he should take such a direct view of it, it 
would be like a riddle, which the more he desires to unfold it, the' 
more would it puzzle and confuse him, till at last he would 
214 


TIIE DIVINE TRINITY. 


1(55, 166 


begin to think of it without the aid of the understanding, which 
is the same tiling as to pretend to see without an eye. In short, 
to read the Word under the auspices of our own understanding 
only, which is the case wdth all those who do not acknowledge 
the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth, and, in conse- 
quence of such acknowledgment, approach and worship him 
alone, may be likened unto a common pastime among children 
when they tie a handkerchief before their eyes, and attempt to 
w-alk in a straight line, and even fancy that they do so, although 
they turn aside every step they take, and at length bend into a 
direction opposite to that in which they set out, till they stum- 
ble upon some stone or other in the w r ay, and fall to the ground. 
Such persons may also be compared with mariners sailing with- 
out a compass, the consequence of wdiich is, that they let the 
vessel drive upon rocks and sands, and are shipwrecked. They 
are also like a man walking over a wide plain in a thick fog, 
who sees a scorpion, and supposes it to be a bird, and striving 
to catch it, and take it up in his hand, does not discover his 
mistake till he is pierced with its deadly sting. They may like- 
wise be compared with a cormorant or a kite, spying a small 
part only of the back of some great fish above the surface of the 
w T ater, at which it instantly darts, and fixes its beak so fast, that 
it is pulled underwriter by the fish and drowned. They are also 
like a person w'ho enters into a labyrinth without either a guide 
or a clue for his direction ; the consequence of which is, that 
the further he penetrates the more he is at a loss to find his way 
out again. In fine, the man who reads the Word not under the 
Lord’s auspices, but under those of his own understanding, 
fancies himself to be as quick-sighted as a lynx, and to have 
more eyes than Argus, when yet interiorly he discerns no single 
truth, but only what is false, and persuading himself that this 
is true, it appears to him like the polar star by which he steers, 
and to which he directs all the sails of thought and conception, 
till at length he has no more discernment of truth than a mole, 
and what he does discern he bends in favor of his own fancy, 
and so perverts and falsifies the holy subjects of the Word. 

166. II. That these three, father, son, and holy spirit, 

ARE THE THREE ESSENTIALS OF ONE GOD, WHICH MAKE A ONE, LIKE 
SOUL, BODY, AND OPERATION IN A MAN. 

There are general and also particular essentials of every one 
thing, which all together constitute one essence. The general 
essentials of every one man are his soul, body, and operation ; 
and that these constitute one essence, is evident from this circum- 
stance, that one exists by derivation from the other, and for the 
6ake of the other, in a continued series ; for a man has his be- 
ginning from the soul, which is the very essence of the seed, 
and which is not only the initiating, but also the producing 
cause of all the parts of the body in their respective order and 
215 


166-168 


THE DIVINE TKINITY. 


afterwards of ad the acts proceeding from the soul and body 
united, which are called operations ; therefore from this circum- 
stance of the production of one from another, and their conse- 
quent insertion and conjunction one with another, it is evident 
that these three are of one essence, and are therefore called three 
essentials. 

167. That these three essentials, soul, body, and operation, 
did and do exist in the Lord God the Saviour, is universally 
acknowledged. That his soul was from Jehovah the Father can 
be denied only by Antichrist ; for in the Word of both the^Old 
and the New Testament he is called the Son of Jehovah, the 
Son of the Most High God, the Only-begotten ; therefore the 
divine of the Father, answering to the soul in a man, is his first 
essential. That the Son, wdio was born of the mother Mary, is 
the body of that divine soul, is a consequence of its conception ; 
for nothing is provided in the womb of the mother except a 
body, conceived by and derived from the soul ; this, therefore, 
is the second essential. That operations constitute the third 
essential, is a consequence of their proceeding from soul and 
body together; for such things as proceed are of the same 
essence with those which produce them. That the three essen- 
tials, which are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are one in the 
Lord, like soul, body, and operation in a man, is evident from 
the words of the Lord, declaring that he and the Father are one, 
and that the Father is in him and he in the Father ; and that 
in like manner he and the Holy Spirit are one; for the Holy 
Spirit is the divine that proceeds out of the Lord from the 
Father, as was shown above, n. 153, 154, by so many quotations 
from the Word, that to prove it again would be superfluous, 
and like loading a table with food after men have satisfied their 
appetites. 

168. When it is said that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are 
the three essentials of one God, like soul, body, and operation 
in a man, it may appear to human reason as if those three 
essentials were three distinct persons, which yet cannot possibly 
be true ; but when it is understood that the divine of the Father, 
which constitutes the soul, and the divine of the Son, which 
constitutes the body, and the divine of the Holy Spirit, or the 
divine proceeding, which constitutes operation, are the three 
essentials of one God, this the understanding can apprehend. 
For there is a peculiar divinity of nature in God the Father, also 
in the Son derived from the Father, and in the Holy Spirit pro- 
ceeding from both, which being of the same essence and the 
same mind, constitute together one God. But if those three 
divine natures are called persons, and have each of them their 
particular attributes allotted them, as when imputation is ascribed 
to the Father, mediation to the Son, and operation to the Holy 
Spirit, in this case the divine essence is divided, which \ et is 

216 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


168—170 


• 

one and indivisible, and tlius no one of the three is God in per 
feet fulness, but each in subtriplicate power, which is a concep- 
tion that every man of sound understanding must reject. 

169. How plain therefore is it to discern a trinity in the 
Lord from the trinity discernible in every individual man ! For 
in every individual man there is a soul, a body, and an opera- 
tion ; so is there also in the Lord ; for in him, as Paul says, 
“ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Coloss. ii. 9) ; 
therefore the trinity in the Lord is divine, but in a man it is 
human. How plain also is it to see that in the common mys- 
terious saying, that there are three divine persons, and yet but 
one God, and that this God, although he is but one, is still not 
one person, — reason has nothing to do, but is laid to sleep, still 
compelling the mouth to speak like a parrot without meaning ! 
And when reason is laid asleep, what are the words of the mouth 
but lifeless and inanimate sounds ? Or when the mouth speaks 
what the reason contradicts, what are such words but the off- 
spring of infatuation ? At this day, with respect to the Divine 
Trinity, human reason is bound, like a man handcuffed and 
fettered in prison, and may be compared to a vestal virgin buried 
alive for letting out the sacred fire ; when nevertheless the Divine 
Trinity ought to shine like a lamp in the mind of every member 
of the church, since God in his trinity and in his unity is the 
all in all of the sanctities of heaven and the church. But to 
make one God of the soul, another of the body, and a third of 
the operation, what is this but like forming three distinct parts 
out of the three essentials of one man, which is to behead and 
slay him ? 

170. III. That before the creation of the world this 

TRINITY DID NOT EXIST, BUT IT WAS PROVIDED AND MADE SINCE 
THE CREATION, WHEN GOD BECAME INCARNATE, AND THEN CEN- 
TRED IN THE LORD GOD, THE REDEEMER AND SAVIOUR JESUS 
CHRIST. 

In the Christian church at the present day, a Divine Trinity 
is acknowledged as existing before the creation of the w’orld ; 
according to w T hich Jehovah God begot a Son from eternity, 
and the Holy Spirit then proceeded from both ; and each of 
these three is God singly, or by himself, since each one is a per- 
son subsisting of himself. But this belief, being incomprehen- 
sible to reason, is called a mystery, to which there is no other 
key than this, that those three partake of one divine essence, by 
which is understood eternity, immensity, and omnipotence, and, 
consequently, they enjoy equal divinity, glory, and majesty. This 
trinity, however, is a trinity of three gods, and therefore not by 
any means a Divine Trinity, as will be proved hereafter ; but a 
Trinity, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which was 
provided and made after God became incarnate, consequently 
after the creation of the world, is a Divine Trinity, since it exists 
217 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


170, 171 

in one God, as is evident from all that has been said above. The 
reason that this Divine Trinity is centred in the Lord God, the 
Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is, because the three essen- 
tials of one God, which constitute one essence, are in him. That 
in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead, according to 
Paul, is evident also from the Lord’s own words, where he says, 
that all that the Father hath is his, and that the Lloly Spirit 
does not speak of himself, but from him ; and also from this 
circumstance, that at his resurrection he took with him from 
the sepulchre his whole human body, as to both the flesh and 
the bones (Matt, xxviii. 1 — 8 ; Mark xvi. 5, 6 : Luke xxiv. 1, 2, 
3 ; John xx. 11 — 15), contrary to the manner of all other men ; 
which also he testified openly to his disciples, saying, “ Behold 
my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for 
a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have” (Luke 
xxiv. 39). From this circumstance every man, if he is willing, 
may be convinced that the Humanity of the Lord is Divine, and 
consequently that in him God is Man, and Man is God. 

171. The doctrine of the trinity, which the present Christian 
church embraces, and admits into its articles of faith, is, that 
God the Father begot a Son from eternity, and that then the 
Holy Spirit proceeded from both, and that each by himself is 
God. Of this trinity no other possible conception can be formed 
in the minds of men than as of a triarchy, or as of the govern- 
ment of three kings in one kingdom, or of three generals over 
one army, or of three masters in one house, each of whom has 
equal power, the certain consequence of which must be ruin and 
destruction. And should any one be desirous to sketch out the 
form or figure of such a triarchy in his imagination, and yet to 
connect it, by some means, with the idea of unity, he must be 
obliged to represent it to his fancy like a man with three heads 
upon one body, or with three bodies under one head ; which 
monstrous image is nevertheless formed in the imagination of 
those who believe in three divine persons, each of whom by him- 
self is God, and join these together as one God, and yet deny 
that God, notwithstanding his unity, is one Person. This notion 
concerning the birth of the Son of God from eternity, and that 
this Son descended and assumed the Humanity, may be com- 
pared with the fabulous stories of the ancients concerning the 
creation of human souls at the beginning of the world, and their 
entering into bodies and becoming men ; and likewise with 
those ridiculous conceits, that the soul of one person passes into 
another, as many in the Jewish church believed, fancying that 
the soul of Elias had passed into the body of John the Baptist, 
and that David would return into his own body, or that of some 
other person, and reign over Israel and Judah, because it is said 
in Ezekiel, “ I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall 
feed them, even my servant David ; and he shall be their shep- 
218 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


171, 1*2 

herd, and I Jehovah will he their God, and my servant 
David a prince in the midst of them” (xxxiv. 23, 24), and in 
other places, not discerning that by David there is meant the 
Lord. 

172 . IY. That A TRINITY OF DIVINE PERSONS EXISTING FROM 
ETERNITY, OR BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD, WHEN CON- 
CEIVED IN IDEA, IS A TRINITY OF GODS, WHICH CANNOT BE EX- 
PELLED BY THE ORAL CONFESSION OF ONE GOD. 

That a trinity of Divine persons existing from eternity is a 
trinity of gods, appears evidently from these passages in the 
Athanasian Creed : There is one person of the Father , another 
of the Son , and another of the Holy Ghost / the Father is God 
(md Lord , the Son is God and Lord , and the Holy Ghost is God 
and Lord ; nevertheless there are not three gods or three lords , 
but one God and one Lord / for as we a/re compelled by the 
Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be 
God and Lord , so are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to 
say there be three gods or three lords. This creed is received as 
oecumenical, or universal, by the whole Christian church, and 
from it is derived all that at this day is known and acknow- 
ledged concerning God. Every one who reads this creed with 
his eyes open may perceive that a trinity of gods was the only 
trinity thought of by those who composed the Council of Nice, 
whence this creed, as a posthumous birth, was first introduced 
into the church. That a trinity of gods was not only had in 
view by the members of the Nicene Council, but that no other 
trinity is understood throughout all Christendom, is a necessary 
consequence of making that creed the standard of knowledge 
respecting God, to which every one pays an implicit obedience. 
I appeal to every one, both layman and clergyman, both learned 
masters and doctors, and consecrated bishops and archbishops, 
yea even to purple cardinals, and the Roman pontiff himself 
whether any other trinity than a trinity of gods be at this day 
conceived in idea throughout Christendom. Let each examine 
himself, and then declare his sentiments openly according to the 
ideas of his own mind ; for from the words of this generally re- 
ceived doctrine concerning God, it is as clear and transparent to 
the sight, as water in a cup of crystal, that there are three persons, 
each whereof is God and Lord ; and also, that according to 
Christian verity men ought to confess or acknowledge each per- 
son singly to be God and Lord, but that the Catholic or Christian 
religion or faith forbids them to say and make mention of three 
gods and three lords ; and thus that verity and religion, or truth 
and faith, are not one and the same thing, but two different 
things in a state of contrariety to each other. It is added, 
indeed, that there are not three gods and three lords, but one 
God and one Lord ; but this was plainly done to prevent their 
being exposed to the derision of the whole world ; for who can 
219 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


172, 173 

forbear derision on hearing of three gods? And who does not 
see a manifest contradiction between this palliating assertion 
and the preceding declarations ? Whereas had they said that 
divine essence belongs to the Father, and to the Son, and to 
the Holy Spirit, and yet there are not three divine essences, 
but only one indivisible essence, the mystery in this case would 
have been easily explained, while by the Father men had under- 
stood the all-originating Divinity ( Dimnum a Quo ), by the Son 
the Divine Humanity thence, and by the Holy Spirit the Divine 
Proceeding, which are the three essentials of one God ; or if the 
Divinity of the Father had been considered as the soul of a man, 
the Divine Humanity as the body of that soul, and the Holy 
Spirit as the operation proceeding from both ; in this case three 
essences are understood as belonging to one and the same per- 
son, and therefore as constituting together one single indivisible 
essence. 

173. The reason why the idea of three gods cannot be ex- 
tirpated by the oral confession of one God, is, because that idea 
is implanted in memory from childhood, and every man thinks 
from the things which are contained in his memory. For the 
memory in men is like the ruminatory stomach in birds and 
beasts ; in this stbmach they store up food by which they are 
from time to time nourished, and which they bring forth and 
transmit into the true stomach, where it is digested, and 
prepared for all the purposes of bodily nourishment ; the 
human understanding answers to the latter stomach, as the 
memory does to the former. Every one may see that the 
idea of three divine persons existing from eternity, wdiich is the 
same as the idea of three gods, cannot be extirpated by an oral 
confession of one god if he only considers this circumstance, 
that it has never as yet been extirpated, and that there are 
many persons of note and distinction in the church, who are 
unwilling that it should be extirpated, contending that three 
divine persons are one God, and obstinately denying God to be 
one person, although they allow him to be one God. What 
man of sense, however, does not think with himself, that by the 
word person a real person cannot be understood, but that the 
term is used to denote some particular quality ; but what this 
quality is, remains unknown ; on which account the notion im 
planted in the memory in the early part of life, remains there, 
like the root of a tree in the ground, from which, though the 
tree itself be cut down, a fresh shoot is sure to spring up. But 
do you, my friend, not only cut dowui that tree, but also extir 
pate its root, and then plant in your garden such trees as yield 
good fruits ; for this purpose take heed lest the idea of three 
gods abide in your mind, while your mouth, without any idea 
to influence it, confesses one God. For in such case, what is 
the understanding which is above the memory, and conceives 
220 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 173, 174 

three gods, and the understanding which is below the memory, 
and from which the mouth confesses one God, but like a per- 
former on the stage, who can act two characters, by crossing 
from one side of the stage to the other, and can assert one thing 
on one side, and contradict it on the other, and by such alterca- 
tion call himself a wise man on this side, and a fool on that ? 
And what is the consequence of such ambiguity of character, 
but that while he stands in the middle, and looks towards each 
side, he begins to imagine that there is nothing real in either, 
and thus, perhaps, that there is neither one God, nor three, and 
consequently no God ? This is the true source and origin of the 
naturalism that so much prevails at present throughout the 
■world. No one in heav.en can pronounce such a phrase as a 
trinity of persons, each whereof singly is God ; for the heavenly 
atmosphere, which is the medium for the conveyance and prop- 
agation of angelic thoughts, as our air is' of natural sounds, 
would refuse to give utterance to such an expression. A hypo- 
crite, indeed, can do this ; but then the tone of his voice, in the 
heavenly atmosphere, grates like the gnashing of teeth, or croaks 
like a raven that attempts to imitate the note of a nightingale. 

I have been informed also from heaven, that it is as impossible 
to extirpate a belief confirmed and rooted in the mind in favor 
of a trinity of gods, by an oral confession of one God, as it would 
be to draw a full-grown tree through its seed, or a man’s whole 
chin through a single hair of his beard. 

174. V. That a trinity of persons was unknown in the 

APOSTOLIC CHURCH, AND THE DOCTRINE WAS FIRST BROACHED BY 
THE COUNCIL OF NICE, AND THENCE RECEIVED INTO THE ROMAN 
CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND THUS PROPAGATED AMONG THE REFORMED 
CHURCHES. 

The apostolic church signifies the church which existed in 
various places not only while the apostles lived, but for two or 
three centuries after their decease. It was after this that men 
began to pluck the door of the temple off its hinges, and to rush 
like thieves and robbers into the holy of holies. The temple 
signifies the church, the door the Lord God the Redeemer, and 
the holy of holies his Divinity; for Jesus says, u Verily I say 
unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, 
but climbeth ujp some other way , the same is a thief and a robber. 

I am the door : by me if any man enter in he shall be Saved.” 
This horrid deed was done by Arius and his adherents ; on 
which acc unt a council was assembled by Co istantine the 
Great, at Nice, a city of Bithynia : and, with a view to stop the 
progress of Arius’s damnable heresy, the members of this 
council devised, concluded, and determined that three divine 
persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have existed from eternity, • 
each of whom has a distinct and independent personality, exist- 
ence, and subsistence : and further, that the second person, or 
221 


174 — 176 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


the Son, descended, and assumed the Humanity, and accom- 
plished the work of redemption; in consequence of which his 
Humanity was made partaker of Divinity by a hypostatic union, 
and by virtue of this union he had an intimate relationship with 
God the Father. From that time an incredible number of 
dreadful heresies, respecting God and the person of Christ, began 
to spring out of the earth, whereby the head of Antichrist was 
exalted, and God divided into three persons, and the Lord the 
Saviour into two ; and thus the temple which the Lord had built 
by means of his apostles was so effectually destroyed, that there 
was not one stone left on another which was not thrown down, 
according to his own words (Matt. xxiv. 2) ; where by the temple 
is meant not only the temple at Jerusalem, but also the church, 
of whose consummation, or end, that chapter treats throughout. 
But what else could be expected from that council, and from the 
others that succeeded it, which divided the Divinity in like 
manner into three persons, and placed the incarnate God below 
them on their footstool ? For they removed the head of the 
church from its body, in consequence of climbing ujp another way , 
that is, they passed by Jesus Christ, and climbed up to God the 
Father, as to another person, with only the mention of Christ’s 
merits in their mouths, as an inducement for the Father to 
have mercy on them, believing that they should thus receive 
instantaneous justification, with all its attendant graces, such as 
the remission of sins, renovation, sanctification, regeneration, 
and salvation ; and all this without the use of any means on 
man’s part. 

175. The apostolic church had no idea of a trinity of per- 
sons, or of three persons existing from eternity, as is evident 
from the Creed of that church, which is called the Apostles’ 
Creed, where it is said, I believe in God the Father Almighty, 
Maker of heaven and earth ; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our 
Lord , who was conceived by the Holy Ghost , bo^'n of the Virgin 
Mary , <&?., and I believe in the Holy Ghost. Here no mention 
is made of any Son born from eternity, but of a Son conceived oy 
the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary; the composers 
of that creed having learnt from the apostles, that “ Jesus Christ 
is the true God” (1 John v. 20) ; that “ In him dwelleth all the 
fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Coloss. ii. 9) ; that the apostles 
preached faith in him (Acts xx. 21) ; and that “ He hath all 
power in heaven and in earth” (Matt, xxviii. 18). 

176. What dependence is to be placed on councils, while they 
do not immediately approach the God of the church ? Is not the 
church the Lord’s body, and he itr head? And what is a body 
without a head, or a body on which are set three heads, which 
take counsel together, and make decrees ? Does not illustration, 
which is of a spiritual nature, as it descends from the Lord 
alone, who is the God of heaven and the church, and also the 

222 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


176, 177 

God of the Word, become in such case more and more natural, 
and at last sensual? And when this happens, not a single 
genuine theological truth is discerned in its internal form, but 
is instantly cast out from the thought of the rational under- 
standing, and dispersed into the air like chatf by the winnower’s 
fan ; in which case fallacies enter and take the place of truths, 
and darkness reigns instead of light ; and then men stand as in 
a dark cave, with spectacles before their eyes, and a candle in 
their hands, and close their eyelids against all spiritual truths 
which are in the light of heaven, but open them for the reception 
of sensual truths, which are in the false light of the bodily 
senses ; and afterwards, when they hear the Word read to them, 
their minds in like manner are asleep to the apperception of 
truths, and awake to the apperception of falses, and become like 
the beast that rose out of the sea, which had a mouth like a lion, 
a body like a leopard, and feet like a bear (Rev. xiii. 2). It is 
said in heaven, that at the conclusion of the council at Nice, 
there was a fulfilling of these prophecies, which the Lord de- 
clared to his disciples : “ The sun shall be darkened, and the 
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from 
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matt, 
xxiv. 29) ; and in truth the apostolic church was like a new star 
appearing among the heavenly constellations ; but after the 
second council of Nice it became like the same star when it is 
darkened and disappears, as has sometimes also been the case in 
the natural world, according to the observations of astronomers. 
It is written in the Word, that Jehovah God dwells in light in- 
accessible ; who then could approach him unless he had come to 
dwell in accessible light, that is, unless he had descended and 
assumed the humanity, and in this made himself the light of the 
world? (John i. 9; xii. 46.) Who cannot see, that to approach 
Jehovah the Father in his light, is as impossible as to take the 
wings of the morning, and fly by their aid to the sun ? or to feed 
on the sun’s rays instead of elementary food ? or as it is for a 
bird to fly in ether, and a stag to run in air ? 

177. VI. That the nicene and athanasian doctrines con- 
cerning a trinity have together given rise to a faith 

WHICH HAS ENTIRELY PERVERTED THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Both the Nicene and the Athanasian doctrines concerning 
the trinity assert a trinity of gods, as was shown above, n. 172. 
Hence sprung the faith of the present church, which is directed 
towards God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; 
towards God the Father, as him that imputes the righteousness 
of the Saviour, his Son, and ascribes it to man ; towards God 
the Son, as him that intercedes, and is the Mediator of a cove- 
nant ; and towards God the Holy Ghost, as him who actually in* 
scribes on the heart the imputed righteousness of the Son, and 
secures it with the seal of justification, sanctification, and regen* 
223 


177 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


eration. This is the faith of the present church, which alone is 
sufficient to prove, that a trinity of gods is acknowledged and 
worshipped. From the faith of every church is derived not only 
the whole of its worship, but also of its doctrine ; therefore it 
may truly be said, that such as its faith is, such is its doctrine : 
hence it follows, that this faith, since it is directed towards three 
gods, has perverted all things belonging to the church ; for faitli 
may be considered as the first principle, and doctrinals as its 
derivatives, and derivatives take their essence from their prin- 
ciple. And if any one be disposed to examine the particulars of 
doctrine, in relation to God, the person of Christ, charity, re- 
pentance, free-will, election, the use of the sacraments of baptism 
and the Lord’s Supper, he will clearly see, that a trinity of gods 
enters into every particular, and although it may not actually 
appear therein, yet that is the fountain from which it flows ; but 
since it is not convenient in this place to enter upon such an 
examination, and yet for the sake of opening men’s eyes it 
might be expedient to do so, therefore we will give it in an ap- 
pendix to this work. The faith of the church in relation to God, 
is like the soul which animates the body, and points of doctrine 
are like the members of that body. Faith towards God also is 
like a queen, and doctrinal tenets are like the officers of her 
court ; and as such officers are dependent on the queen’s author- 
ity, so are doctrinal tenets on the injunctions of faith. From 
the nature of this faith too may be seen, in what manner the 
Word is understood in the church ; for faith bends and draws 
owards itself, with all its might, whatever it can; so that if it 
s a false faith, it plays the harlot with every truth that the 
Word contains, and puts a false interpretation upon it, and 
thereby falsifies it, so as to make the man of the church insane 
in regard to spiritual subjects ; but if it is a true faith, then the 
whole Word is on its side, and the God of the Word, who is the 
Lord God the Saviour, infuses light, and gives the testimony of 
his divine assent, so as to beget wisdom in the believer. That 
the present faith of the church, which in its internal form is a 
faith in three gods, but in its external form in one God, has ex- 
tinguished the light of the Word, and removed the Lord from 
his church, and thus plunged its morning into midnight dark 
ness, will also be seen in the appendix. This was effected by 
the heretics who lived before the council of Nice, and afterwards 
by those subsequent to that council, who derived their heretical 
opinions from it. But what dependence is to be placed on 
councils which do not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but 
climb up some other way, according to the words of the Lord 
in John x. 1, 9? Their deliberations may be compared with 
the steps of a blind man walking in the day, or of a man who 
has good eyes walking in the night, neither of whom can see the 
pit before he falls headlong into it. Have there not been coun 
224- 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


m, its 

cils, for instance, which have established the Pope’s vicarship, 
the canonization of the dead, the invocation of saints as so many 
deities, the worship of their images, the authority of indul- 
gences, and the division of the eucharist, with many other things 
of a similar nature ? What dependence then is to be placed on 
such councils ? Has there not also been a council which has 
established the horrid doctrine of predestination, and hung it 
up before the doors of the temple as the palladium of religion ? 
What dependence then is to be placed on such a council? But 
do you, my friend, go to the God of the Word, and thus to the 
Word itself, and enter by the door into the sheepfold, that is, 
into the church, and you will be enlightened ; and then you will 
see, as from a high mountain, not only the errors of many others, 
but also your own former bewildered wanderings in the dark 
forest at the foot of the mountain. 

1T8 The faith gf every church is as the seed from which all 
its doctrines spring, and may be compared to the seed of a tree, 
from which all its parts, even to the fruit, successively derive 
their birth ; and also to the human seed, from which are pro- 
duced children and families to many generations ; therefore 
when w r e are acquainted with the primary faith of any church, 
which, from its predominancy is called saving faith, we may 
know from thence the quality of that church. This may be 
illustrated from the following example: suppose the primary 
article of faith to be, that nature is the creator of the universe ; 
the consequence of such a .faith is a belief, that the universe is 
what is generally called God ; that nature is his essence ; that 
the ether is the supreme god, whom the ancients called Jupiter; 
that the air is a goddess, whom the ancients called Juno, and 
made the wife of Jupiter ; that the ocean is a deity below them, 
who, according to the ancients, is named Neptune ; and since, 
the divinity of nature extends even to the centre of the earth, 
that there also is a god, who, in conformity to the ancients, may 
be called Pluto ; that the sun is the palace of all the gods, in 
which they assemble when Jupiter calls a council; and more- 
over that fire is life issuing from God; and thus that birds fly 
in God, beasts walk in God, and fishes swim in God ; and fur- 
ther, that thoughts are only modifications of ether, as expres- 
sions of thought are only modulations of air; and that the 
affections of love are mere occasional changes of state, owing to 
the influx of the sun’s rays into the before-named atmospheres : 
it will further follow, that a life after death, and heaven and 
hell, are mere fictions invented by the clergy, with a view to 
their own honor and wealth, but that, notwithstanding their 
being fictions, they are still useful, and ought not to be publicly 
despised, because they may be serviceable to keep the minds of 
the vulgar under the yoke of obedience to the civil magistrate ; 
that those, however, who are seriously devoted to religion, are 
225 Q 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


178, 179 

recluse men, whose thoughts are mere phantasms, whose actions 
are ridiculous, and who, living in servile subjection to priests, 
believe what they do not see, and see what is above the sphere 
of their comprehension. These, and many other such conse- 
quent notions, are contained in the faith, that nature is the 
creator of the universe, and they issue from it, as soon as it is 
opened to give them vent. This example then may serve to 
show, that in the faith of the present church, which in its in 
ternal form is directed towards three gods, but in its external 
towards one, there are contained legions of falsities, ready to 
burst into birth, like the swarms of young spiders hatched from 
the ball of eggs produced by a single mother. How plain must 
this appear to those whose minds have acquired true rationality 
by light from the Lord ! but how should those be able to see it, 
who have barred up the door of that faith and its offspring, by 
the persuasion, that it is not allowable for reason to look into its 
mysteries ? 

179. VII. That hence is come that abomination of desola- 
tion, AND THAT AFFLICTION, SUCH AS WAS NOT IN ALL THE WDRLD, 
NEITHER SHALL BE, WHICH THE LORD HAS FORETOLD IN DANIEL, THE 
EVANGELISTS, AND THE REVELATION. 

It is written in Daniel, “ Upon the bird of abominations there 
shall be desolation, and even to the consummation and decision, 
it shall drop upon the devastation” (Dan. ix. 27). In Matthew 
the Evangelist, the Lord says, “Many false prophets shall arise, 
and shall deceive many; w T hen therefore ye shall see the abomi- 
nation of desolation, foretold by Daniel the prophet, stand in 
the holy place, let him that readeth understand” (Matt. xxiv. 
11, 15); and afterwards- in the same chapter, “Then shall be 
great affliction, such as w r as not from the beginning of the world 
until now, nor ever shall be” (ver. 21). This affliction and abom- 
ination are spoken of in seven chapters in the Revelation, and 
are signified by the black horse, and the pale horse, coming out 
of the book whose seals the Lamb opened (vi. 5 — 8) ; also, by 
the beast rising out of the bottomless pit, which made war with 
the. two witnesses, and slew them (xi. 7) ; and likewise by the 
dragon which stood before the woman that was about to be de- 
livered, to devour her child, and pursued her into the wilderness, 
and there cast out from his mouth water as a flood after her, that 
he might cause her to be carried away of the flood (xii.) ; and 
likewise by the beasts of the dragon, one rising out of the sea, 
and another out of the earth (xiii.). Also by the three spirits 
like frogs, which came forth from the mouth of the dragon, from 
the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet 
(xvi. 13); and further by this, that after the seven .angels had 
poured out the vials of the anger of God, in which were the 
seven last plagues, upon the earth, upon the sea, upon the fount- 
ains and rivers, upon the sun, upon the throne of the beast. 

226 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


179 181 


upon tlie river Euphrates, and lastly upon the air, there was a 
great earthquake, such as had not been since men were upon 
the earth (xvi.). An earthquake signifies the overthrow of the 
church, which is effected by falses and the falsifications of truth, 
and which is signified also by the great tribulation, such as had 
not been from the beginning of the world (Matt. xxiv. 21). The 
same is understood also by these words : “ And the angel thrust 
his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and 
cast it into the great wine-press of the anger of God ; and the 
wine- press was trodden, and blood came out, even to the horses’ 
bridles, for a thousand six hundred furlongs” (Rev. xiv. 19, 20) ; 
where blood signifies truth falsified ; not to mention other pas- 
sages in those seven chapters. 

180. In the Evangelists (Matt, xxiv., Mark xiii., and Luke 
xxi.), are described the successive declensions and corruptions 
of the Christian church ; and in those chapters, by great affliction 
or tribulation, such as had not been since the beginning of the 
world, neither shall be, is signified, as in all other passages 
throughout the Word, the infestation of truth by falses, to such 
a degree, that there does not remain a single truth which is not 
falsified and brought to its consummation. This is also under- 
stood by the abomination of desolation in the same passages, 
also by the desolation upon the bird of abominations, and by the 
consummation and decision in Daniel ; and in the Revelation by 
the circumstances described above. All this was a consequence 
of men’s not acknowledging the unity of God in trinity, and his 
trinity in unity in one person, but in three, and thence founding 
the church on the idea of three gods in the mind, and the 
confession of one God with the lips ; for thus they have separated 
themselves from the Lord, and at length to such a degree that 
they have no idea left of the Divinity in his human nature, 
when nevertheless he is God the Father himself in the Human- 
ity; on which account he is called the Father of Eternity 
(Isaiah ix. 6) ; and he says to Philip, “ He that seeth me, seeth 
the Father” (John xiv. 7, 9). 

181. But it will be asked, what is the source or fountain 
from which such abomination of desolation, as is described in 
Daniel (ix. 27), and such affliction as never had been, nor shall 
be (Matt. xxiv. 1, 2,), has sprung? I answer, the faith which 
•universally prevails throughout the Christian world, with its 
influx, operation, and imputation, according to the received tra- 
ditions. It is wonderful that the doctrine of justification by this 
faith alone, although it be no faith, but a mere chimera, is 
accounted as every thing in all Christian churches, that is, it 
bears sway among the clergy almost as if the whole of theology 
consisted in it alone. It is this faith which all young students 
in divinity eagerly learn, imbibe, and suck in at the univer- 
sities, and which, as if they were inspired by it with heavenly 

227 


THE DIYINE TRINITY. 


181, 182 

wisdom, they afterwards teach in their churches, publish in their 
writings, and make the ground of all the literary fame and 
reputation they hope to acquire, as ft is the way to all rewards, 
preferments, and university honors : and all this is done, notwith- 
standing that in consequence of such faith alone the sun at this 
day is darkened, the moon does not give her light, the stars are 
fallen from heaven, and the powers of the heavens are shaken, 
according to the words of the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew xxiv. 
29. That the doctrine of this faith has now blinded men’s 
minds to such a degree that they are unwilling, and therefore 
seemingly unable, to see any divine truth interiorly, either in 
the light of the sun or in the light of the moon, but only ex- 
teriorly, rudely, and superficially, as by the light of a fire at 
night, has been proved to me by the. clearest evidence ; so that 
I can venture to affirm, that should the divine truths which re- 
late to the genuine conjunction of charity and faith, to heaven 
and hell, to the Lord, to a life after death, and to eternal happi- 
ness, be sent down from heaven written in letters of silver, they 
would be rejected, as not worth reading, by .those who maintain 
the doctrine of justification and sanctification by faith alone ; 
whereas, on the other hand, should a paper containing the 
doctrines of justification by faith alone be sent from hell, this 
they would receive, embrace, and carry home with them in their 
bosoms. 

182. Y1II. That hence too it is come to pass, that unless 

A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW CHURCH BE ESTABLISHED BY THE LORD, 
NO FLESH CAN BE SAVED. 

It is written in Matthew, “Then shall be great affliction, such 
as has not been from the beginning of the world unto this time, 
neither shall be ; and except those days should be shortened, no 
flesh should be saved” (xxiv. 21, 22). The Lord, in this chapter, 
is speaking of the consummation of the age, by which is signified 
the end of the present church ; therefore by shortening those 
clays is signified to put a period to this church, and to lay the 
foundation of a new one. Who does not know that except the 
Lord had come into the world and accomplished the work of 
redemption, no flesh could have been saved ? and to accomplish 
the work of redemption is to establish a new heaven and a new 
church. That the Lord will come again into the world, he himself 
has prophetically declared in the Evangelists (Matt. xxiv. 30, 31 ; 
Mark xiii. 26 ; Luke xii. 40; xxi. 27)^ and in the Revelation, 
particularly in the last chapter. That he is also at this day 
accomplishing a redemption, by establishing a new heaven, and 
laying the foundation of a new church, with a view to make 
salvation possible to mankind, w r as shown above in the lemma 
concerning redemption. The great arcanum respecting the im- 
possibility of any flesh being saved, except a new church be 
founded by the Lord, is this : that as long as the dragon with his 
228 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


182, 183 


crew, continues in the world of spirits, into which he was cast, 
so long it is impossible for any divine truth, united with divine 
good, to pass through unto men on earth ; but it is either per- 
verted, or falsified, or destroyed. This is what is signified in the 
Revelation by these words : “ The dragon was cast out upon the 
earth, and his angels were cast out with him : woe to the inhabi- 
tants of the earth and of the sea ; for the devil is come down 
unto you, having great anger” (Rev. xii. 9, 12, 13). But when 
the dragon was cast into hell (xx. 10), then John saw the new 
heaven and the new earth, and the New Jerusalem descending 
from God out of heaven (xxi. 1, 2). By the dragon are signified 
all those who are principled in the faith of the present church. 

I have at times conversed in the spiritual world with those 
who maintain the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and 
have told them that their doctrine is erroneous and absurd, and 
that it occasions a false security, blindness, sleep, and darkness 
with respect to spiritual things, and thereby brings death to the 
soul, exhorting them at the same time to desist from it ; but the 
answer I have commonly received was, “ How ! desist ? Does 
not the superior excellence of clerical erudition over that of the 
laity depend solely on this doctrine ?” Then I represented to 
them, that according to this way of reasoning, they do not so 
much regard the salvation of souls as the aggrandizement of 
their own reputation, and that, in consequence of applying the 
truths of the Word to their own false principles, and thereby 
• adulterating them, they are angels of the bottomless pit, called 
Abaddons and Apollyons (Rev. ix. 11), by which. are signified 
the destroyers of the church by the total falsification of the 
Word ; but they replied, “ What is that to the purpose? By 
our knowledge of the mysteries of this faith we are oracles, and 
from this faith, as from an oracular temple, we give responses ; 
therefore we are not Apollyons, but Apollos.” To this I re- 
plied, with some degree of indignation, “ If you are Apollos, you 
are also Leviathans, the chief among you crooked Leviathans, 
- and the inferior among you oblong Leviathans, whom God will 
visit with his strong and great sword” (Isaiah xxvii. 1) ; but this 
they laughed at. 

183 . IX. That a trinity of persons, each whereof singly 

AND BY HIMSELF IS GOD, ACCORDING TO THE ATHANASIAN CREED, HAS 
GIVEN RISE TO MANY ABSURD AND HETEROGENEOUS NOTIONS ABOUT 
GOD, WHICH ARE MERELY FANCIFUL AND ABORTIVE. 

From the doctrine of three divine persons existing from 
eternity, which is in itself the head of all the doctrinals in the 
Christian churches, have arisen many unbecoming notions con- 
cerning God, unworthy of the Christian world, which ought to 
be, and which might be, a bright luminary to all people and 
nations in the four quarters of the globe respecting God and his 
unitv. All who are without the pale of the Christian church 
"229 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


183, 184 

whether they are Mahometans, Jews, or Gentiles, whatever 
religion they profess, have conceived an aversion to Christianity 
solely because Christians believe in three gods. Of this the 
missionaries sent abroad to propagate Christianity are aware, 
and therefore they are particularly cautious how they mention a 
trinity of persons, according to theNicene and Athanasian doc- 
trine; because they know that in such a case their converts 
would leave them, and laugh them to scorn. The absurd, ludi- 
crous, and frivolous ideas which have arisen from the doctrine of 
three divine persons existing from eternity, and which still con- 
tinue to arise in every one that continues in a belief of the words 
of that doctrine, and the images wRich, in conformity with the 
notions imbibed by their ears and eyes, present themselves to 
the view of their imagination, are these, that God the Father 
sits above on a high throne, with the Son at his right hand, and 
the Holy Ghost before them, attending to what they say, who, 
instantly as he is ordered, runs through the whole world, and, 
according to their determination, dispenses the gifts of justifica- 
tion, and inscribes them on the hearts of men, and thus makes 
those the children of grace, and objects of election, who were 
before children of wrath and objects of reprobation. I appeal 
to the learned, both clergy and laity, whether they entertain in 
their minds any other view of the Trinity than this, since the 
doctrine they embrace occasions a spontaneous influx of this 
conception, as may be seen in the Memorable Relation above, 
n. 16. It is attended also with the curiosity of conjecturing 
what w*as the subject of the conversation of these divine persons 
with each other before the world was created ; whether it was 
about the purposed creation, or about those who were to be pre- 
destinated and justified, according to the opinion of the Supra- 
lapsarians, or about redemption ; and also what is the subject of 
their conversation since the world was made ; as what the Father 
says, by virtue of his authority and power of imputation, and 
what the Son, by virtue of his power of mediation ; supposing 
thus, that imputation, which is election; is a consequence of the 
Son’s interceding in mercy for all mankind in general, and for 
certain individuals in particular, to whom the Father is moved 
to show favor, out of love towards his Son, and by reason of 
the misery which he saw him endure when nailed upon the 
cross. But who cannot see that all such notions are the 
delusions of a mind in a state of delirium concerning God ? 
And yet these are the notions which are held to be most 
holy in every Christian church, which, however, are only to 
be kissed with the lips, but not to be examined with the eye 
of the mind, because they are supposed to be matters above the 
sphere and comprehension of reason, which, if they should be 
raised from the memory into the higher regions of the under- 
standing, would occasion madness. Nevertheless, the idea oi 
230 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


183 — 185 


three gods’ is not hereby removed, but a heavy and stupid faith 
is begotten, under the influence of which men think of God, 
like people dreaming in their sleep, who walk about in midnight 
darkness, or like persons born blind, who cannot see even at 
noonday. 

184. That a trinity of gods abides in the minds of Christians, 

although through shame they deny it, is very evident from the 
ingenuity of many in contriving methods to demonstrate that 
three are one, and one three, by geometrical and stereomet- 
rical figures, and various applications of arithmetic and natural 
phenomena to the same purpose, and also by the foldings of a 
piece of cloth or paper ; thus they trifle with the Divine Trinity, 
playing tricks with it, ijke those of jugglers. This sort of leger- 
demain may be compared with the sight of the eye when people 
are in a fever, who looking at any single object, as a man, a 
table, or a candle, fancy it to be three, and, on the other hand, 
fancy three to be one. It may be compared also with the ludi- 
crous representation sometimes exhibited with a piece of soft 
wax, which a man takes in his fingers and moulds into various 
forms, at one time into a triangular form to represent the 
Trinity, at another time into a spherical form to represent the 
Unity, asserting it still to be one and the same substance. But 
the Divine Trinity, nevertheless, is like a pearl of the highest 
price ; and the dividing it into persons is like a pearl divided 
into three parts, by which it most clearly and altogether loses 
its value., 

185. To the above I shall add the following memorable 
relations. — First. In the spiritual world there are climates 
and zones as well as in the natural world, there being nothing 
in the latter world but what exists also in the former, although 
the origin of their existence is different. In the natural world 
the varieties of climates depend on the sun’s distances from the 
equator, but in the spiritual world they depend on the distances 
of the affections of the will, and of the thoughts of the under- 
standing thence arising, from a true love and a true faith, of the 
states as to which all things in the spiritual world are corre- 
spondences. In the frigid zones, in the spiritual world, there 
tare the same appearances as in the frigid zones in the natural 
world ; the ground seems frozen hard, the water covered with 
ice, and the whole face of the country appears white with snow. 
These cold regions are the resort and habitation of those who, 
during their abode in the natural world, have brought a lethargy 
on their understandings, in consequence of an indolent indispo- 
sition to think on spiritual subjects, attended with a laziness in 
the execution of any useful purposes : they go by the name of 
Boreal spirits. On a certain time I was seized with a strong 
desire to see some country in the frigid zone where those Boreal 

231 


1S5 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


spirits dwell, and accordingly I was carried in the spirit towards 
the north, to a region where all the land appeared covered with 
snow 7 , and all the water frozen to ice. It was the sabbath-day, 
and I saw a number of men, that is, spirits, of the same size 
and stature with men inf he natural world, but on account of 
the cold they had their heads covered with lions’ skins, so put 
on that the mouths answered to those of the wearers, while their 
bodies, both before and behind, down to the loins, were covered 
with leopards’ skins, and their legs and feet with bears’ skins. 
I also observed several riding in chariots, and some in chariots 
carved into the shape of a dragon, w r ith horns stretching out 
before : they were drawn by small horses, whose tails had been 
cut off, which ran with the impetuosity of terrible fierce beasts, 
w r hile the driver, with the reins in his hand, was continually 
whipping them to hasten their speed. I found afterwards that 
they were all flocking to a church or temple, which was invisible, 
being covered with snow; some, however, who had the care of the 
church, were laboring at the snow, and made a way, by digging, 
for the people to enter, who accordingly descended and took 
their places. I was then permitted to take a view of the inside 
of the church, which was abundantly lighted with lamps and 
candles. The altar was of hewn stone, behind which hung a 
tablet, with this inscription : u The Divine Trinity consists 
of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who are in essence one 
God, but in Person three.” Presently, the priest standing 
at the altar, after he had three times kneeled before the sacred 
tablet, with a book in his hand, ascended the pulpit, and began 
his sermon with a description of the Divine Trinity, crying out 
in a loud voice, “ Oh,, what a grand mystery! that the most 
High God should beget a Son from eternity, and by him pro- 
duce the Holy Ghost, and that they three should be joined in 
essence, but yet be separate in their properties, which are im- 
putation, redemption, and operation ! If, however, we set reason 
to look into this mystery, her eye is blinded, and overspread 
with darkness, as when one attempts to look at the naked sun 
with the bodily eye; therefore, my brethren, it is my advice, 
that on this subject we keep our understandings in obedience 
to faith.” After this he again lifted up his voice, and said, 
“ Oh, what a grand mystery is our holy faith ! which is, thatr 
God the Father imputes the righteousness of his Son, and sends 
the Holy Ghost, who, in consequence of that imputation, gives 
the pledges of justification, which are remission of sins, renova- 
tion, regeneration, and salvation ; of the influx of which, or the 
act of justification, a man is as ignorant as the statue of salt 
into which Lot’s wife was turned, and of the indwelling of which, 
or the state of justification, he knows no more than a fish in the 
sea. But, my friends, there is a treasure hid in this faith, so 
deep however, and so covered up, that not a morsel of it can 
232 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


185 


appear ; therefore it is my advice, that in this case also we keep 
our understandings in obedience to faith.” He then heaved 
some sighs, after which he again raised his voice, and said, “Oh, 
how grand a mystery is election ! He is one of the elect to 
whom God imputes his faith, which of his free pleasure and pure 
grace he infuses into whomsoever he pleases, and at whatever 
time it seems good to him ; and during the act of such infusion 
from God the man is like a dead stock, but when this faith is 
infused he becomes like a living and fruitful tree ; the fruits, 
however, which are good works, hang indeed from that tree, 
which, in a representative sense, is our faith, but still they do 
not cohere with it ; therefore, the preciousness of that tree is 
not owing to its fruit ; but as this may appear like heterodoxy, 
and yet is a great mystical truth, therefore, my brethren, it is 
my advice that on this subject also we keep our understandings 
in obedience to faith.” Then, after a short pause, seeming as if 
he wanted to recollect something which he had stored up in his 
memory, he continued his discourse, saying, “From my store of 
mysteries I will yet produce one other, which is this, that a man 
has not a single grain of free-will with respect to spiritual 
things ; for the chiefs and leaders of our church assert, in their 
theological canons, that in regard to what concerns faith and 
salvation, or matters particularly called spiritual, a man has no 
power to will, to think, to understand, no, nor even to accom- 
modate and apply himself to the reception of them ; therefore I 
do positively insist, that a man of himself has no more power to 
think rationally or talk sensibly on such subjects than a parrot, 
a jackdaw, or a raven ; and that of consequence, with respect to 
spiritual things, he is a mere ass, and only a man with respect 
to natural things ; but, my beloved friends, lest this subject 
should be troublesome to our reason, let me advise that in this 
also we keep our understandings in obedience to faith ; for our 
theology is like a bottomless abyss, into which if we suffer our 
understandings to look down, we shall be drowned, and perish 
as in a shipwreck. Yet hear what I have to say : we are never- 
theless in the true light of the gospel, which shines aloft over 
our heads ; but the misfortune is, that the hair of our heads and 
the bones of our skulls prevent it from penetrating into the 
inner chambers of our understandings.” When he had thus 
spoken, he descended from the pulpit ; and after he had offered 
up a prayer at the altar, and the service was ended, I joined 
some of the congregation, who w T ere conversing together, and 
had formed themselves into a circle round the priest, to whom 
they paid their compliments, saying, “ We are ever bound to 
thank you for your most excellent discourse, so replete with the 
grandest wisdom.” I then addressed myself to them, and said, 
“ Did you at all understand what the priest was preaching 
about ?” And they replied, “We took it all in with open ears ; 
233 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


185, 186 

but why do you ask whether we understood it ? Is not the 
understanding quite stupid with respect to such subjects V' 
Here the priest interposed, and said, “ Because you have heard, 
and have not understood, blessed are ye; for thence shall ye 
have salvation.” I had some conversation afterwards with the 
priest, and asked him whether he had taken his degrees regu- 
larly ? He answered in the affirmative, that he was a master of 
arts. Then, addressing him by his title, I said, “ You have been 
preaching about great mysteries, but if you only know their 
names, without knowing what they contain, you know nothing ; 
for they are like caskets locked with a triple lock, which unless 
you open and look in (and this is only to be done by the under- 
standing), you cannot tell whether they contain things of value 
or things of no value, or even things hurtful, as cockatrice eggs, 
and spiders’ webs, according to the description in Isaiah (lix. 5).” 
On my saying this, the priest looked at me with a scowling 
aspect ; and the congregation departed and entered their chariots, 
intoxicated with paradoxes, infatuated with empty words, and 
enveloped in darkness in all things relating to faith and the 
means of salvation. 

186. The second memorable relation. — I was once en- 
gaged in contemplation as to what region of the human mind 
it is in which things of a theological nature have their residence. 
At first I conceived, that as such things are of a spiritual and 
celestial nature, they must of course reside in the highest region. 
For the human mind is divided into three distinct regions, as a 
house is into three stories, and as the abodes of the angels are 
into three heavens. Then an angel presented himself before 
me, and said, “ Things relating to theology, in those who love 
truth for truth’s sake, emerge even to the highest region, be- 
cause in that region is their heaven, and they enjoy there the 
same light as do the angels ; and things relating to morality, 
theoretically examined and contemplated, have their abode 
beneath the former, in the second region, because they have com- 
munication with what is spiritual ; and under these, in the first 
region, are things of a political or civil nature ; but scientifics, 
or matters of science, which are of sundry kinds, and may be 
classed into their respective genera and species, form the door 
that leads to those higher regions. Those in whom spiritual, 
moral, political, and scientific things are in this subordination, 
have all their thoughts and actions influenced, by justice and 
judgment, because the light of truth, which is also the light of 
heaven, from the highest region, illumines what is below, just as 
the light of the sun, passing through the atmospheres and air, 
progressively, illuminates the eyes of men, beasts, and fishes. 
But the case is altered with those who do not love truth for 
truth’s sake, but only for the sake of their own glory and rep- 
utation : things of a theological nature, in them, reside in the 
234 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


186, 1ST 


last region where scientifics have their abode, and in some 
instances mix with the scientifics, but 'in other instances they 
cannot mix ; under these, in the same region, is the residence of 
political things, and under them of moral : for in such persons, 
the two higher regions are not opened on the right side ; they 
have therefore no interior discernment of true judgment, and 
, no affection for justice, but only a certain ingenuity, whereby 
they can^ converse on every subject with seeming intelligence, 
and confirm whatever they please with an appearance of reason ; 
but the objects of reason, which they are most enamored of, 
are falses, because these cohere with the fallacies of the senses. 
Hence it is that there are so many people in the world, who no 
more see the truths of doctrine derived from the Word, than 
men born blind can see the objects of nature ; and when they 
hear such truths, they close their nostrils, lest their odor should 
offend them, and excite nausea ; whereas to the reception of 
falses they open their senses, and suck them in as a whale does 
water. 

187. Tiie third memorable relation. — I was once medi- 
tating about the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, men- 
tioned in the Revelation, when an angelic spirit appeared before 
me, and inquired what was the subject of my meditation. I 
answered, “ Concerning the false prophet.” Then he said, 
“ Come with me, and I will lead you to the place of abode of 
those who are signified by the false prophet, and who are the 
same that are understood, in the 13th chapter of the Revelation, 
b} r the beast rising out of the earth, which had two horns like a 
lamb, and which spoke like a dragon.” I followed him ; and 
lo! I saw a great multitude of people, and in the midst of them 
several persons of note and distinction in the church, who had 
taught that a man is saved only by faith in the merits of Christ, 
and that works are good, but not conducive to salvation ; and 
that, nevertheless, they are to be insisted on as agreeable to the 
Word of God, as a means of keeping the laity, particularly the 
more simple among them, in stricter obedience to the civil 
magistrate, while they are instigated to the exercise of moral 
charity from a principle of religion, thus by interior obligations. 
Then one of them observing me, said, “ Have you any desire to 
see our place of worship, wherein is an image representative of 
our faith ?” I answered in the affirmative ; so he conducted 
me to the building, which was very magnificent, and lo ! in the 
midst of it there was the image of a woman, clothed in a scarlet 
vest, and holding in her right hand a piece of gold coin, and in 
her left a chain of pearls ; but both the image and the place of 
worship were the effect of phantasy; for thereby infernal spirits 
have the power of representing very magnificent objects, by 
closing the interiors of the mind, and opening only its exteriors. 
When I perceived, however, that all this was a mere jugg 1; ug 
235 


TIIE DIVINE TRINITY. 


trick, I prayed to the Lord ; and suddenly the interiors of my 
mind were opened, and 1 then beheld, instead of the magnificent 
dome, a poor house, full of clefts and chinks from top to bottom, 
so that none of its parts cohered together ; and I saw within the 
house, instead of a woman, a pendent image, with a head like a 
dragon, a body like a leopard, feet like a bear, and a mouth like 
a lion, in every respect as the beast is described rising out of 
the sea (Rev. xiii. 2) : moreover, instead of firm ground, there 
was a bog, containing a great multitude of frogs ; and I was in- 
formed that beneath the bog there was a large hewn stone under 
which the Word lay entirely hidden. On seeing these things, 
I said to the juggler, “ Is this your place of worship?” He 
replied, “ It is but suddenly, at that very instant, his interior 
sight was opened, whence he saw the same appearances that I did ; 
whereupon he uttered a great cry, and said, “ What and whence 
is all this?” And I said, “This is in consequence of light from 
heaven, which discovers the quality of every form, and thus has 
discovered the quality of your faith separate from spiritual 
charity.” Then immediately an east wind blew, and carried 
away the place of worship, together with the image, and likewise 
dried up the bog, and thereby exposed the stone, under which 
lay the Word. After this a warmth like that of spring breathed 
from heaven ; and lo ! then in the very same place there 
appeared a tabernacle, as to its outward form plain and simple ; 
and the angels who were with me said, “ Behold the tabernacle 
of Abraham, such as it was when the three angels came to him, 
and announced the future birth of Isaac. It appears indeed 
plain and simple to the eye, but nevertheless, according to the 
influx of light from • heaven, it becomes more and more mag- 
nificent.” And immediately they w T ere permitted to open the 
heaven, which is the abode of the spiritual angels, who excel in 
wisdom ; and suddenly, by virtue of the influx of light from 
thence, the tabernacle appeared as a temple resembling that at 
Jerusalem ; and on looking into it, I saw that the stone in the 
floor, under which the Word was deposited, was set round with 
precious stones, from which there issued forth bright rays, as ot 
lightning, that shone upon the walls, and caused beautiful varie- 
gations of colors on certain cherubic forms that were sculptured 
on them. As I was wondering at these things, the angels said, 
“ You shall see something still more surprising.” Then they 
were permitted to open the third heaven, which is the abode of 
the celestial angels, who excel in love ; and suddenly, by virtue 
of the influx of flaming light from thence, the whole temple dis- 
appeared, and in its stead was seen the Lord alone, standing 
on the foundation stone, which was the Word, in the same 
form that he appeared in before John (Rev. i.). But as a 
sanctity instantly filled the interiors of the angels’ minds, occa- 
sioning in them a strong propensity to fall prostrate on their 
236 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


187, 18S 

faces, suddenly tl;e passage of light from the third heaven was 
closed by the Lord, and that from the second heaven opened 
again, in consequence of which the former appearance of the 
temple returned, and also of the tabernacle, but this was in the 
midst of the temple. Hereby was illustrated the meaning of 
these words in the Revelation (xxi. 3) : “ Behold, the tabernacle 
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them and also of 
these : “I saw no temple in the Hew Jerusalem ; for the Lord 
God Almighty and the Lamb is the temple of it” (ver. 22). 

188. The fourth memorable relation. — Since the Lord 
has favored me with a sight of the wonderful things that are in 
the heavens, and under them, it is therefore my duty, in the 
discharge of my commission, to relate what I have seen. There 
was shown me a magnificent palace, with a temple in its inmost 
part, and in the midst of the temple was a table of gold, on 
which lay the Word, and two angels stood beside it. About the 
table were three rows of seats : the seats of the first row were 
covered with silk drapery, of a purple color ; the seats of the 
second row with silk drapery, of a blue color ; and the seats of 
the third row with white drapery. Below the roof, high above 
the table, there was a spreading curtain, which shone with 
precious stones, from whose lustre there issued forth a bright 
appearance as of a rainbow when the sky clears up after a shower. 
Suddenly there appeared a number of clergy sitting on the seats, 
all clothed in the garments of their priestly office. On one side 
was a wardrobe, where an angel, who had the care of it, attended, 
and within lay rich vestments in most beautiful order. It was 
a council convened by the Lord. I heard a voice from 
heaven, saying, “ deliberate but they said, c ‘ On what sub- 
ject ?” It was said, “ Concerning the Lord the Saviour and 
the Holy Spirit.” But w T hen they began to think on these 
subjects, they were not in a state of illustration ; therefore they 
made supplication, and immediately light issued down out of 
heaven, which first illuminated the hinder part of their heads, 
and afterwards their temples, and lastly their faces ; and then 
they began their deliberation, a« they were commanded, first, 
concerning the Lord the Saviour. The first proposition 
and matter of inquiry was, Who assumed the Humanity in 
the Yirgin Mary ? Then an angel standing at the table, on 
which the Word lay, read before them these words in Luke : 
“The angel said unto Mary, Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy 
womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus : he 
shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And 
Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a 
man ? And the angel answering said, The Holy Spirit shall come 
upon thee , and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : 
wherefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall 
be called the Son of God *’ (i. 31, 32, 34, 35). He also read 
237 


188 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


these words in Matthew : “ The angel said to Joseph in a dream* 
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy 
wife ; for that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit : and 
Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born 
Son ; and he' called his name Jesus ” (i. 20, 25). And beside 
these passages he read many more out of the Evangelists, as 
Matt. iii. IT ; xvii. 5 ; John i. 18 ; iii. 16 ; xx. 31, and several 
other places, where the Lord, as to his Humanity, is called the 
Son of God, and where he, from his Humanity, calls Jehovah 
his Father ; and also out of the Prophets, where it is foretold 
that Jehovah should come into the world ; particularly theSe 
two passages in Isaiah : “ It shall be said in that day, Lo ! this 
is our God / we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is 
Jehovah /* we have waited for him / we will be glad and rejoice 
in his salvation” (xxv. 9). “ The voice of him that crieth in the 

wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah , make straight in the 
desert a highway for our God ; for the glory of Jehovah shall be 
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together : behold, the Lord 
Jehovah will come in strength ; he shall feed his flock like a 
shepherd ” (xl. 3, 5, 10, 11). And the angel said, “ Since Jehovah 
himself came into the world, and assumed the humanity, there- 
fore he is called by the prophets the Saviour and the Redeemer /” 
and«then he read before them the following passages : “ Surely 
God is in thee, and there is none else ; verily, thou art a God 
that hidest thyself, 0 God of Israel the Saviour” (Isaiah xlv. 14, 
15). “ Am not I Jehovah f and there is no God else beside me ; 
a just God and a Saviou/r ; there is none beside me” (xlv. 21). 
“ I am Jehovah ; and beside me there is no Saviour” (xliii. 11). 
“I Jehovah am thy God, and thou shalt know no God beside 
me ; for there is no Saviour beside me” (Hosea xiii. 4). “ And all 

flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Re- 
deemer” (Isaiah xlix. 26 ; lx. 16). “As for our Redeemer, Jehovah 
Zebaotli is his name” (xlvii. 4). “ Their Redeemer is strong , 

Jehovah Zebaoth is his name” (Jerem. 1. 34). u Jehovah is my 
rock, a md my Redeemer” (Psalm xix. 14). “Thus saith Jehovah 
thy Redeemer , the Holy One of Israel, I Jehovah am thy God” 
(Isaiah xlviii. 17 ; xlix. 7 ; liv. 8). “Thou, Jehovah , art our 
Father, our Redeemer ’ thy name is from the age” (Ixiii. 16). 
“ Thus saith Jehovah , thy Redeemer , I am Jehovah that make 
all things, and alone by myself” (xliv. 24). “ Thus saith 

Jehovah, the king of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah Zebaoth , 
I am the First, and I am the Last ; and beside me there is no 
God” (xliv. 6). “ Jehovah Zebaoth is his name, and thy Re- 

deemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall 
he be called” (liv. 5). “ Behold, the days come that I will raise 

unto David a righteous branch, who shall reign as king ; and 
this is his name, Jehovah our Righteousness” (Jeremiah xxiii. 5, 
6 : xxxiii. 15, 16). “ And Jehovah shall be king over all the 

238 


THE DIVINE JRINITY. 


188 


earth : in that day there shall be one Jehovah , and his na?> le one ” 
(Zech. xiv. 9). From all these passages, together with the 
former, those .who sat on the seats were confirmed in this 
opinion, which they unanimously declared, viz., that Jehovah 
himself assumed the Humanity for the purpose of redeeming 
and saving mankind. But instantly a voice was heard from 
some Roman Catholics, who had hid themselves behind the altar, 
saying, “ How was it possible for Jehovah God to become a 
man ? is not he the Creator of the universe ?” And one of 
those on the second row of seats turned himself towards the 
voice, and said, “ Who was it then ?” And he that had been 
concealed behind the altar, standing then near the altar, replied, 
“ The Son begotten from eternity but answer was returned, 
u Is not the Son begotten from eternity, according to your 
confession, the Creator also of the universe ? And what is a 
Son, and a God, born from eternity ? And how is it possible 
for the Divine Essence, which is one and indivisible, to be sepa- 
rated, so that one -part can descend without the whole ?” The 
second matter of inquiry concerning the Lord was, Whether 

OR NO, ACCORDING TO THIS REASONING, THE FATHER AND HE ARE 
ONE, AS THE SOUL AND THE BODY ARE ONE ? This, they Said, 

must follow of consequence, for the soul is from the Father. 
Then one of those on the third row of seats read out of the 
Confession of Faith, called the Athanasian Creed, the following 
passage : “ Although our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is 
God and Man, yet he’is not two, but one Christ, one altogether 
by unity of yperson / for as the soul and body make one man , so 
God and Man is one Christ .” He added, that the creed con- 
taining these words is received throughout the whole Christian 
world, even by the Roman Catholics. They then said, “ What 
need have we of further proof? The Father and he are one, as 
the soul and body are one ; and since this is the case, we per- 
ceive that the humanity of the Lord is divine, because it is the 
humanity of Jehovah ; and also, that the Lord ought to be 
approached as to his Divine Humanity, because this is the only 
possible way to come at the Divinity which is called the Father.” 
This conclusion the angel confirmed by several passages out of 
the Word ; among which were these : u Unto us a Child is born, 
unto us a Son is given ; and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
Counsellor, God, Hero , the Father of eternity , the Prince . of 
Peace” (Isaiah ix. 6). “ Doubtless thou art our Father , though 

Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not ; 
thou, Jehovah , art our Father , our Redeemer ; thy name is from 
everlasting ” (lxiii. 16). “ Jesus said, He that belie veth on me, 

believeth on him that sent me ; and he that seeth me, seeth him 
that sent me” (John xii. 44, 45). “ Philip saith unto Jesus, 

Show us the Father: Jesus saith tunto him, He that seeth me ,. 
seeth the Father ; how then sayest thou, Show us the Father \ 
239 


138 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


Believest thou not that I am in the Father , and the Father in 
me?” (John xiv. 8 — 11). “ Jesus said, land the Father are one” 
(x. 30) : and again : “ All things that the Father hath are mine, 
and all mine are the Father’s” (xvi. 15 ; xvii. 10). Lastly, “Jesus 
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to 
the Father but by me” (xiv. 6). To this the angel added, that 
the same things which are here spoken by the Lord of himseh 
and his Father, may also be spoken by a man with respect to 
himself and his soul. When the angel had ended, they all de- 
clared with one voice and one heart, that the humanity of the 
Lord is divine, and that it ought to be approached in order to 
come to the Father ; since Jehovah God, by it, sent himself into 
the world, and made himself visible to mankind, and thereby 
gave them access unto him. He in like manner made himself 
visible in a human form, and thus accessible to the ancients ; 
but that was by means of an angel ; and as this form was rep- 
resentative of the Lord, who was about to come into the 
world, therefore all things in the church at that time were 
representatives. 

After this they proceeded to deliberate concerning the Holy 
Spirit ; but previous to this, they laid open the idea generally 
received concerning God the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost, which is, that God the Father is seated on high, with 
the Son at his right hand, and that by them the Holy Ghost is 
sent forth to enlighten, instruct, justify, and sanctify mankind. 
But instantly a voice was heard from heaven, saying, “ Wo 
cannot endure an idea formed on such a conception. Who does 
not know that Jehovah God is omnipresent ? And whoever 
knows and acknowledges this, may also acknowledge, that it is 
he who enlightens, instructs, sanctifies, and justifies, and not a 
mediating God distinct from him ; much less is it a third God 
as distinct from two others, as one person from another ; where- 
fore let the former idea, which is vain and unjust, be removed, 
and let this, which is just and right, be received, and then you 
will see this subject clearly.” But then a voice was heard from 
the Homan Catholics, who stood near the altar, saying, “ What 
then is the Holy Ghost, mentioned in the writings of the 
evangelists and Paul, by whom so many learned men among 
the clergy, and particularly of our church, profess themselves to 
be guided ? What person in Christendom at this day denies 
the Holy Ghost, and his operations ?” Upon this, one of those 
on the second row of seats turned towards the altar, and said, 
“ You insist that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person of himself, 
and a distinct God of himself ; but what is a person coming 
forth and proceeding from a person ? Can any thing but opera- 
tion be said so to come forth and proceed \ One person cannot 
come forth and proceed froi*i another, but operation can. Or 
what is a God coming forth and proceeding from a God ? Can 
240 


THE DIVINE TRINITY. 


m 


any thing but a divine efflux come forth and proceed ? One God 
cannot come forth and proceed from and by another; but a 
divine efflux may come forth and proceed from one God.” On 
hearing this, those upon the seats unanimously agreed in this 
conclusion: “The Holy Spirit is not a distinct person by him- 
self, consequently not a distinct God by himself; but the Holy 
Spirit signifies the Holy Divine, coming forth and proceed- 
ing from the one only omnipresent God, who is the Lord.” 
To this, the angels who stood at the golden table whereon the 
Word was placed said, “Well determined. It is not w T ritten 
in any part of the Old Testament that the prophets spoke the 
Word from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah; and wherever 
the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Hew Testament, it signifies 
the Divine Proceeding, which is the Divine that enlightens, 
instructs, vivifies, reforms, and regenerates.” After this came 
on another subject of inquiry respecting the Holy Spirit, viz., 
From whom proceeds the Divine which is signified by the 
Holy Spirit, — from the Father, or from the Lord? While 
they were engaged in this inquiry, there shone upon them a 
light from heaven, whereby they saw that the Holy Divine, 
which is signified by the Holy Spirit, does not proceed out of 
the Father through the Lord, . but. out of the Lord from the 
Father, comparatively as in the case of every in’dividual man, 
whose activity does not proceed from the soul through the body, 
but out of the body from the soul. This the angel who stood at 
the table confirmed by these passages from the Word: “He 
whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God ; for God giveth 
not the spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, 
and hath given all things into his hand” (John iii. 34, 35). 
“ There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse : the 
spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and 
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might” (Isaiah xi. 1, 2). 
“ That the spirit of Jehovah was put upon him, and was in him” 
(xlii. 1; lix. 19, 21; lxi. 1; Luke iv. 18). “When the Holy 
Spirit shall come, whom I will send unto you from the Father” 
(John xv. 26). “ He shall glorify me ; for he shall take of mine, 
and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are 
mine • wherefoir I said, that he shall take of mine, and sho'w it 
unto you ” (xvi. 14, 15). “ If I go away, I will send the Com- 

forter unto you ” (xvi. 7). That “the Comforter is the Iloly 
Spirit ” (xiv. 26). “ The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus 

was not yet glorified ” (vii. 39) ; but after his glorification “ Jesus 
breathed on his disciples and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit” 
(xx. 22). And in the Revelation : “ Who shall not glorify thy 
name, O Lord, because thou only art holy ” (xv. 4). Since the 
divine operation of the Lord, by virtue of his divine omnipres- 
ence, is signified by the Holy Spirit, therefore when the Lord 
spoke to his disciples concerning the Holy Spirit, whom he 
241 . k 


188, 189 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE, 


would send from the Father, he also said, “I will not leave ) ou 
comfortless; I go away and come again unto you y and in that 
day ye shall know that I am in my Father , and ye in me , and 1 
in you ” (John xiv. 18, 20, 28) ; and just before his departure 
out* of the world he said, “Lo! I am with you always, even to 
the consummation of the age” (Matt, xxviii. 20). Having read 
these passages in their presence, the angel said, “ From these, 
and many other passages in the Word, it is evident that the 
Divine, which is called the Holy Spirit, proceeds out of the Lord 
from the Father.” Whereupon those upon the seats all declared, 
“ This is divine truth.” 

Lastly, this decree was passed : “ From what has been delib- 
erated in this council, we clearly see, and consequently acknow- 
ledge as holy truth, that in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus 
Christ there is a Divine Trinity, consisting of the all-originating 
Divinity ( Divinum a quo ), which is called the Father, the Divine 
Humanity, which is called the Son, and the Divine Proceeding, 
which is called the Holy Spirit.” Then they lifted up their 
voices together, exclaiming, u In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the 
fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Coloss. ii. 9). Thus there is 
one God in the church. 

When these conclusions were determined in that magnificent 
council, they r6se to depart ; and the angel, the keeper of the 
wardrobe, presented to each of those on the seats shining gar- 
ments, interwoven here and there with threads of gold, and said, 
“ Accept these wedding garments.” They were then con- 
ducted in a glorious manner to the new Christian heaven, with 
which the church of the Lord on earth, wdiich is the Hew Jeru- 
salem, is to be in conjunction. 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE, OR THE WORD OF THE LORD. 

I. That the sacred scripture, or the word, is the divine 

TRUTH ITSELF. 

189. It is universally confessed that the Word is from God, 
is divinely inspired, and of consequence holy ; but still it has 
to this day remained a secret in what part of the Word its 
divinity resides; for in the letter it appears like common writ- 
ing, composed in a strange style, neither so sublime nor so 
elegant as that which distinguishes the best secular composi- 
tions. Hence it is, that the man who worships nature instead 
of God, or in preference to God, and in consequence of such 
242 


OK WORD OF THE LORD. 


189, 191 


worship makes himself and his own proprium* the centre and 
fountain of his thoughts, instead of deriving them from the 
Lord out of heaven, may easily fall into error concerning the 
Word, and into contempt for it, and say within himself, while 
he reads it, “ What is the meaning of this passage ? What is 
the meaning of that ? Is it possible this should be divine ? Is it 
possible that God, whose wisdom is infinite, should speak in thi 3 
manner? Where is its sanctity, or whence can it be derived, but 
from superstition and credulity ?” 

190. But he who reasons thus, does not reflect that Jehovan 
the Lord, who is God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word by 
Moses and the prophets, and that, consequently, it must be 
divine truth ; for what Jehovah the Lord himself speaks can be 
nothing else ; nor does such a one consider that the Lord the 
Saviour, who is the same with Jehovah, spoke the Word written 
by the evangelists, many parts from his own mouth, and the 
rest from the spirit of his mouth, which is the Holy Spirit, by 
his twelve apostles. Hence it is, as lie himself declares, that in 
his words there are spirit and life, and that he is the light which 
enlightens, and that he is the truth ; as is evident from the 
following passages : l ' Jesus said, The words which I speak unto 
you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John vi. 63). u Jesus 
said to the woman at Jacob’s well, If thou knewest the gift of 
God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou 
wouldest ask of him, and he would give thee living water. 
Whosoever drinketh of the water which I shall give him, shall 
never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him 
a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life” (iv. 6, 10, 
1J). By Jacob’s well is here signified the Word, as also in 
Dent, xxxiii. 28; for which reason the Lord, who is the Word, 
sat there ; and conversed with the woman ; and by living water 
is signified the truth of the Word. “ Jesus said, If any man 
thirst, let him come to me and drink. Whosoever believeth on 
me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of 
Jiving water” (John vii. 37, 38). “ Peter said unto Jesus, Thou 

hast the words of eternal life” (vi. 68). u Jesus said, Heaven 
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” 
(Mark xiii. 31). The reason why the words of the Lord are 
truth and life is, because he is the truth and the life, as he 
teaches in John: “ I am the way, the truth, and the life” (xiv. 
6); and in another place: “In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him 
was life, and the life was the light of men” (i. 1 — 4). By the 
Word is meant the Lord with respect to divine truth, in which 
alone there is life and light. Hence it is, that the Word, which 

* By proprium, as here applied to man, is meant all that he has of himsell 
when separated from divine influence ; and we retain the Latin word, as best 
adapted to convey the meaning designed by the author. 

243 


190—192 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE, 


is from the Lord, and which is the Lord, is called “ a fountain 
of living waters” (Jerem. ii. 13 ; xvii. 13 ; xxxi. 9) ; “ a fountain 
of salvation” (Isaiah xii. 3); u a fountain” (Zech. xiii. 1); and 
u a river of living waters” (Lev. xxii. 1) ; and it is said that 
u the Lamb, which.is in the midst of the throne, feeds them at 
the living fountains of waters” (vii. 17) ; not to mention other 
passages, where the Word is also called the sanctuary and 
the tabernacle, wherein the Lord dw T ells with man. 

191. Hie natural man, however, cannot still be persuaded to 
believe that the Word is divine truth itself, in which are divine 
wisdom and divine life ; for he judges of it by its style, in which 
no such things appear. Nevertheless the style, wherein the 
Word is written, is a truly divine style, with which no other 
style, however sublime and excellent it may seem, can be corn 
pared. The style of the Word is of such a nature as to contain 
what is holy in every verse, in every word, and in some cases in 
every letter ; and hence the Word conjoins man with -the Lord, 
and opens heaven. There are two things which proceed from 
the Lord, viz., divine love and divine wisdom, or what is the 
same, divine good and divine truth ; and the Word, in its 
essence, is both ; and since it conjoins man with the Lord, and 
opens heaven, as was observed, therefore the Word tills man 
with the goods of love and the truths of wisdom, his will with 
the goods of love,' and his understanding with the truths of 
wisdom : hence man receives life by the A\^ord. But it is well 
to be observed, that those only receive life from the Word who 
read it with this end and design, viz., to draw divine truths 
from it, as from their proper fountain, and to apply such divine 
truths to the regulation of their lives; and that the very reverse 
happens to those who read the Word with no further end and 
design than to procure worldly riches and reputation. 

192. Where men do not know that there is a certain spiritual 
sense contained in the Word, as the soul in the body, they must 
of necessity judge of the Word only from its literal sense, when 
nevertheless the literal sense is like a casket containing precious 
jewels, which jewels themselves belong to its spiritual sense. If 
therefore this internal sense be unknown, mankind cannot pos- 
sibly judge of the divine sanctity of the Word but as they would 
judge of a precious stone by the matrix which covers and con- 
tains it, and which in many cases appears like an ordinary stone ; 
or as they would judge of diamonds, rubies, sardonixes, oriental 
topazes, &c., by the outward cabinet of jasper, lapis lazuli, ami- 
anthus, or agate, in which they are contained, and arranged in 
order. While the contents of the cabinet are unknown, it is 
not to be wondered at, if the cabinet itself be estimated only 
according to the va.ue of the visible materials of which it is 
made; and this is exactly the case with the Word as to its lifcera. 
sense. Lest, however, mankind should remain any longer iu 

244 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


192, 193 

doubt concerning the divinity and most adorable sanctity of tin. 
Word, it has pleased the Lord to reveal to me its internal sense, 
which in its essence is spiritual, and which is, to the external 
sense, which is natural, what the soul is to the body. This in- 
ternal sense is the spirit which gives life to the letter ; therefore 
this sense will evince the divinity and sanctity of the Word, and 
may convince even the natural man, if he is in a disposition to 
be convinced. 

II. That in the word there is a spiritual sense, hereto- 
fore UNKNOWN. 

193. Who does not acknowledge and assent to the proposi- 
tion, that the Word, as being divine, is in its inmost contents 
spiritual ? But heretofore who has known what the term “spirit- 
ual” means, and where that spirituality in the Word lies con- 
cealed? The meaning however of this term spiritual will be 
shown in one of the memorable relations at the conclusion of 
this chapter ; and where the spirituality in the Word lies con- 
cealed, we will now proceed to inquire. That the Word in its 
bosom is spiritual, is a consequence of its descending from 
Jehovah the Lord, and passing through the angelic heavens ; in 
which descent the Divine itself, which in itself is ineffable and 
imperceptible, was made adequate to the perception of angels, 
and lastly to the perception of men. Hence the Word has a 
spiritual sense, which is within the natural sense, just as the 
soul is within the body, or as the thought of the understanding 
is within the words of speech, or as the affection of the will is 
within the actions to which it gives birth ; and, if we may be 
allowed to draw comparisons from the visible things of the 
natural world, we may say that the spiritual sense of the Word 
is within the natural sense, just as the universal brain is within 
its meninges or matres ; or as the young shoots of a tree are 
within their inner and outer barks ; or as all the parts belong- 
ing to the generation of a young chicken are within the shell of 
the egg ; not to mention other similar instances. But that such 
a spiritual sense is contained within the natural sense of the 
Word, has never heretofore entered into the conception of any 
person on earth ; it is necessary therefore that this arcanum, 
which in itself is superior to all that were ever before discovered, 
should be fully opened to the understanding, as will be best 
effected by considering it according to the following arrange- 
ment : — I. What the spiritual sense is. II. That this sense is in 
all and every part of the Word. III. That it is owing to this 
sense that the Word is divinely inspired , and holy in every syl- 
lable. IV". That this sense has heretofore been unknown. Y. That 
hereafter it will be made known only to those who are in genuine 
truths from the Lord. YI. A relation of some wonderful phe- 
nomena resulting from the spiritual sense of the Word. We will 
now proceed to a particular explanation of each article. 

245 


194, 195 


TIIE SACRED SCRIPTURE. 


194. I. What the spiritual sense is. 

The spiritual sense of the Word is not that which breaks 
forth as light out of the literal sense while a person is studying 
and explaining the Word, with a view to establish some partic- 
ular tenet of the church ; for this sense may be called the 
literal and ecclesiastical sense of the Word ; but the spiritual 
sense does not appear in the literal sense, being within it, as the 
soul is in the body, or as the thought of the understanding is in 
the eye, or as the affection of love is in the countenance. It is 
this sense, principally, which renders the Word spiritual, and 
thus it is adapted to the use not only of men, but also of angels ; 
whence also, by means of that sense, the Word communicates 
with the heavens. Since the Word is inwardly spiritual, there- 
fore it is written by mere correspondences ; and what is written 
by correspondences exhibits, in its last or ultimate sense, such a 
style as we meet with in the prophets, the evangelists, and the 
Revelation, which, although it appears ordinary, is nevertheless 
the repository of all divine and angelic wisdom. What is meant 
by correspondence, may be seen in the treatise concerning 
Heaven and Hell, published at London in the year 1758, 
which treats on the correspondence of all things in hea/ven with 
all things in man , n. 87 — 102 ; and on the correspondence of all 
things in heaven with all thmas on earth , n. 103 — 115 ; and it 
will be further shown bv examples from the Word, which will 
be adduced presently. 

195. From the Lord proceed the divine-celestial, the 
divine-spiritual, and the divine-natural, one after another. 
Whatever proceeds from his divine love is called the divine- 
celestial, all which is good ; whatever proceeds from his divine 
wisdom is called the divine spiritual, all which is truth. 
The divine-natural partakes of both, and is their complex in 
ultimates. The angels of the celestial kingdom, who compose 
the third or highest heaven, are in that divine which proceeds 
from the Lord that is called celestial, for they are in the good 
of love from the Lord ; the angels of the Lord’s spiritual king- 
dom, who compose the second or middle heaven, are in that 
divine which proceeds from the Lord that is called spiritual, for 
they are in divine wisdom from the Lord ; the angels of the 
Lord’s natural kingdom, who compose the first or lowest heaven, 
are in that divine which proceeds from the Lord that is called 
divine-natural, and are in the faith of charity from the Lord ; 
but the members of the church on earth are in one or other ot 
these kingdoms, according to their love, wisdom, and faith; and 
in whichever they are, to the same they are admitted after death. 
As heaven is, such also is the Word of the Lord ; in its last sense 
it is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in its inmost 
sense it is celestial, and in all its senses it is divine ; therefore it is 
accommodated to the angels of the three heavens, and alse to men. 

246 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


196 


196. II. That the spiritual sense is in all and, every pari of 
the Word. 

This cannot be better seen than by examples ; as for in- 
stance, John says in the Revelation, “ I saw heaven opened, ana 
behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called 
Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and 
make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head 
were many crowms, and he had a name written that no man 
knew but he himself; and he was clothed with a vesture dipped 
in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the 
armies in heaven followed him upon w T hite horses, clothed in line 
linen, white and clean. And he hath on his vesture and on his 
thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I 
saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice 
to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather 
yourselves unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the 
flesh of kings, and the 'flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty 
men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and 
the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great” 
(xix. 11 — 18). What these words signify, cannot possibly be 
known but from the spiritual sense of the Word ; and the spirit- 
ual sense of the Word cannot possibly be known but from the 
science of correspondences ; for all the above words are corre- 
spondences, and there is not one without a meaning. The 
science of correspondences teaches what is signified by a white 
horse, what by him that sits upon him, what by his eyes which 
were as a flame of fire, what by the crowns which he wore on 
his head, what by his vesture dipped in blood, what by white 
linen w T ith which the armies that followed him in heaven were 
clothed, what by the angel standing in the sun, what by the 
great supper to which they should come and gather themselves, 
what by the flesh of kings, captains, and others, which they 
should eat. The particular signification of all these expressions 
in their spiritual sense may be seen explained in the w T ork en- 
titled the Apocalypse Revealed, from n. 820 — 838 ; and like- 
wise in the small treatise on the White Horse; therefore it is 
needless to repeat the explanation. In those books it is shown, 
that in the passage here quoted the Lord is described as to the 
Word ; that by his eyes, which were like a flame of fire, is meant 
the divine wisdom of his divine love ; by the crowns wdiich he 
wore on his head, and by the name which no one knew but him- 
self, are meant the divine truths of the Word derived from him, 
and that no one knows wdiat the Word is, in its spiritual sense, 
except the Lord, and those to whom he reveals it ; also, that bv 
his vesture dipped in blood is meant the natural sense of the 
Word, which is its literal sense, to which violence has been 
offered. That it is the Word which is thus described, is very 
evident from its being said, his name is called the Word of God y 
247 


T1IE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


106, 197 

and that it is the Lord who is meant is likewise evident, for it 
is said that the name of him who sat on the white horse was 
King of Kings and Lord of lords, in like manner as in Revelation 
xvii. 14, where we find these words : u and the Lamb shall over- 
come them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings.” That 
the spiritual sense of the Word is to be opened at the end of the 
church, is signified not only by what is said of the white horse, 
and of him that sat upon him, but also by the great supper to 
which all were invited to come, by the angel standing in the 
sun, and to eat the flesh of kings and captains, &c., by which is 
signified the appropriation of good of all kinds from the Lord. 
All these expressions would be idle unmeaning words, and with- 
out life and spirit, unless there was a spiritual sense within them, 
as the soul is within the body. 

197. In the Revelation, chap, xxi., the Hew Jerusalem is 
thus described : “Her light was like unto a stone most precious, 
even as a jasper-stone, clear as crystal ; and she had a wall great 
and high, having twelve gates, and over the gates twelve angels, 
and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve 
tribes of the children of Israel. And the wall was a hundred 
and forty-four cubits, w T hich is the measure of a man, that is, of 
an angel ; and the building of the wall was of jasper ; and its 
foundations of all manner of precious stones, of jasper, sapphire, 
chalcedony, emerald, sardonix, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, 
chrysoprasus, jacinth, and amethyst. And the gates w T ere twelve 
pearls. And the street of the city was pure gold, like pure glass ; 
and it was four-square ; the length, and the breadth, and the 
height of it equal, twelve thousand furlongs with many other 
circumstances. That all this description is to be understood 
spiritually appears from hence, that by the Hew Jerusalem is 
meant a new church which is to be established by the Lord, as 
is shown in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 880; and since by 
Jerusalem is there signified the church, it follows of consequence 
that all things spoken of it, as of a city, respecting its wall, the 
foundations of the wall, and their measures, contain a spiritual 
sense ; for all things relating to the church are spiritual. What 
the expressions in the above description particularly signify, is 
shown in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 896 — 025, therefore it 
is needless here to repeat the explanation. It is enough to un- 
derstand from thence, that there is a spiritual sense in every part 
of the description, like a soul in its body, and that wfithout such 
a sense the expressions could have no reference to the church ; 
as where it is said that the city was of pure gold, its gates of 
pearls, the wall of jasper, the foundations of the wall of precious 
stones, that the wall was a hundred and forty-four cubits, which 
is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel, and that the city 
was in length, breadth, and height, twelve thousand furlongs, 
with manv other particulars ; but whoever, by the science of 
248 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


197, 198 

correspondences, is acquainted with the spiritual sense of the 
Word, will understand all those expressions, and will see, for 
instance, that the wall and its foundations signify the doctrinals 
of the New Church derived from the literal sense of the Word ; 
and that the numbers twelve, one. hundred and forty-four, and 
twelve thousand, signify all things belonging to it, or all its 
truths and goods in one complex. 

198. Where the Lord speaks to his disciples about the con- 
summation of the age, which is the last time of the church, at 
the end of his predictions concerning its successive changes of 
state, he says, “ Immediately after the affliction of those days the 
sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light 
(lumen), and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of 
the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of 
the Son of man in heaven ; and then shall all the tribes of the 
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the 
clouds of heaven with power and much glory. And he shall send 
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather 
his elect from ,the four winds, from one end of heaven to the 
other” (Matt. xxiv. 29 — 31). By these words, in their spiritual 
sense, is not meant that the sun and moon should be darkened, 
that the stars should fall from heaven, and that the sign of the 
Lord should appear in the heavens, and that he should be seen 
in the clouds, attended by his angels with trumpets ; but by all 
these expressions are meant spiritual things relating to the 
church, of whose final state or period they are spoken ; for in 
the spiritual sense, by the sun, which shall be darkened, is meant 
love towards the Lord ; by the moon, which shall not give her 
light (lumen), is meant faith towards him ; by the stars, which 
shall fall from heaven, are meant the knowledges of truth and 
good; by the sign of the Son of man in heaven, is meant the 
appearance of divine truth in the Word from him ; by the tribes 
of the earth, which shall mourn, is meant the failure of all truth 
which is of faith, and of all good which is of love ; by the coming 
of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, with power and 
glory, is meant the presence of the Lord in the Word, and rev- 
elation ; by the clouds of heaven is signified the literal sense of 
the Word, and by glory its spiritual sense ; by the angels with a 
great sound of a trumpet is meant heaven, whence divine truth 
comes ; by gathering together the elect from the four winds, 
from one end of heaven to the other, is meant a new heaven and 
a new church, to be formed of those who have faith in the Lord 
and live according to his precepts. That in this passage we are 
not to understand the darkening of the sun and moon, and the 
falling of the stars upon the earth, is evident from the writings 
of the prophets, where mention is made of the same circum- 
stances relating to the state of the church at the time when the 
Lord should come into the world as in Isaiah : “ Behold, the 
249 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


198, 199 

day of Jehovah cometh, cruel with wrath and anger ; for the 
stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give 
their light; the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the 
moon shall not cause her light to shine ; and I will visit the 
world for their evil” (xiii. 9 — 11); and in Joel: “The day of 
Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness and of thick darkness ; the 
sun and the moon shall he blackened, and the stars shall with- 
draw their shining” (ii. 2; iii. 15); and in Ezekiel: “I will 
cover the heavens and blacken the stars ; I will cover the sun 
with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause her light ( lumen ) to 
shine.; all the luminaries of light will I cover, and set darkness 
upon thy land” (xxxii. 7, 8). By the day of Jehovah is meant 
the Lord’s advent, which was at a time ^’hen there was no longer 
any good of love and truth of faith remaining in the church, dr 
any knowledge of the Lord ;* therefore it is called a day of dark- 
ness and thick darkness. 

199. That the Lord, during his abode in the world, spoke by 
correspondences, and thus both spiritually and naturally at the 
same time, may appear from his parables, in every word of which 
there is a spiritual sense contained. Let us take an instance 
from the parable of the ten virgins, which runs thus : “ The king- 
dom of heaven is like unto ten virgins, that took their lamps, 
and went forth to meet the bridegroom : and five of them were 
wise, and five were foolish : those that were foolish took their 
lamps, but took no oil in them ; but the wise took oil in their 
vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they 
all slumbered and s^ept ; and at midnight there was a cry made, 
Behold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet him. Then 
all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps : and the foolish 
said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone 
out : but the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not 
enough for us and you ; but go ye rather to those that sell, and 
buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom 
came ; and those that were ready went in with him to the wed- 
ding ; and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other 
virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us ; but he answered and 
said, Verily, 1 say unto you, I know you not” (Matt. xxv. 1 — 
13). That in every part of this parable there is a spiritual sense, 
and consequently a divine holiness, can only be seen by those 
who are apprised of the existence of a spiritual sense, and are 
acquainted with the nature of it. In the spiritual sense, by the 
kingdom of heaven is meant heaven and the church ; by the 
bridegroom, the Lord ; by a wedding, the marriage of the Lord 
with heaven and the church by the good of love and the truth 
of faith ; By the virgins, those who are of the church ; by ten, 
all; by five, a certain part; by lamps, the things which are of 
faith ; by oil, the things which are of love and its good ; by 
sleeping and waking, the life of man in the world, which is 
250 


OR WORD OF TI1E LORD. 


199, 200 

natural, and his life after death, which is spiritual; by buying, 
to procure for themselves; by going to those that sell, and buy 
ing oil, to procure for themselves the good of love from others 
after death ; and because this is then impracticable, therefore, 
although they came with their lamps and the oil they had 
bought, to the marriage door, yet the bridegroom said unto 
them, I know you not. The reason of this is, because every 
man,, after the conclusion of his life in this world, retains the 
nature and quality which he had acquired by that life. From 
hence it is evident, that the Lord spoke by mere correspond- 
ences, and this in consequence of speaking from the Divinity 
which was in him and was his. Because virgins signify those 
who are of the church, therefore, in the prophetical parts of the 
Word, we find so frequent mention made of the virgin and 
daughter of Zion, Jerusalem, Judah, and Israel : and because oil 
signifies the good of love, therefore all the holy things of the 
church were anointed with oil. The case is similar in respect to 
the other parables, and all the words spoken by the Lord ; and 
it was from this ground that the Lord declares, that his words 
are spirit and life (John vi. 63). 

200. III. That it is owing to the spiritual sense that the Word 
is divinely insjnred , and holy in every syllable. 

It is asserted in the church, that, the Word is holy, because 
Jehovah the Lord spoke it ; but since its holiness does not 
appear in its literal sense, therefore those who once begin to 
doubt its holiness on that account, in the future course of their 
reading confirm their doubts by many passages they meet with, 
suggesting these questions, “ Can this be holy ? Can this be 
divine ?” Howto prevent the influence of such doubts on men’s 
minds, lest they should become general, and the Word of God, 
in consequence, should be rejected as a common trivial writing, 
and thereby the Lord’s conjunction with man should be cut off, 
it has pleased the Lord, at this time, to reveal its spiritual sense, 
for the purpose of discovering to mankind in what part of it its 
divine sanctity lies concealed. But to illustrate this, let us 
apply to examples. In the Word we find frequent mention 
made of Egypt, Ashur, Edom, Moab, the children of Ammon, 
the Philistines, Tyre and Sidon, and of Gog. Those now who 
do not know that by those names are signified the things of 
heaven and of the church, may easily be led into an erroneous 
notion that the Word treats much of people and nations, and 
but little of heaven and the church, thus much about earthly 
things, and but little about heavenly things ; whereas if such 
persons knew what is signified by those people and nations, or 
by their names, this might be a means to lead them out of error 
into truth. In like manner, when it is observed that in the 
Word frequent mention is made of gardens, groves, woods, and 
also of the trees that grow T therein, as the olivo tbe vine, the 
251 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE, 


200, 201 

cedar, the poplar, and the oak ; and also of lambs, sheep, goats, 
calves, oxen ; and likewise of mountains, hills, valleys, fountains, 
rivers, waters, and the like. He that knows nothing of the 
spiritual sense of the Word must of necessity be lea to suppose 
that nothing further is meant by these things than what is ex- 
pressed in "the letter: for he little thinks that by a garden, a 
grove, and a wood, are meant wisdom, intelligence, and science; 
by the olive, the vine, the cedar, the poplar, and the oak, are 
meant the good and truth of the church, under the different 
qualities of celestial, spiritual, rational, natural, and sensual ; 
by a lamb, a sheep, a goat, a calf, and an ox, are meant in- 
nocence, charity, and natural affection ; and by mountains, 
hills, and valleys, are meant the higher, the lower, and the 
lowest things relating to the church. The case is in like manner 
altered, w T hen the reader is aware, that by Egypt is signified 
what is scientific, by Ashur what is rational, by Edom what is 
natural, by Moab the adulteration of good, by the children of 
Ammon the adulteration of truth, by the Philistines faith with- 
out charity, by Tyre and Sidon the knowledge of goodness and 
truth, by Gog external worship without internal; and that, in 
general, by Jacob, in the Word, is understood the church- 
natural, by Israel the church-spiritual, and by Judah the 
church-celestial. When the mind is opened to this knowledge, 
it may then T>e able to conceive that the Word treats solely of 
heavenly things, and that the earthly things mentioned in it are 
only the subjects wherein those heavenly ones are contained. 
But let us take another instance from the Word for the illustra- 
tion of this truth. We read in Isaiah, u In that day there shall 
be a highway out of Egypt into Assyria ; and the Assyrian shall 
come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyp- 
tians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel 
be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the 
midst of the land ; which Jehovah Zebaoth shall bless, saying, 
Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, 
and Israel my Lessing” (xix. 23 — 25). By these words, in 
their spiritual sense is signified, that at the time of the Lord’s 
coming, the scientific, the rational, and the spiritual, should 
make a one, and that then the scientific should serve the 
rational, and both the spiritual ; for, as was said above, by 
Egypt is signified the scientific, by Ashur or Assyria the 
rational, and by Israel, the spiritual ; by the repetition of the 
words, in that day , is meant the first and second coming of the 
Lord. 

201. IV. That the spiritual sense of the Word has heretofore 
remained unknown . 

That all things in nature, both in general and in particular, 
correspond to things spiritual, and in like manner all and every 
thing in the human body, is shown in the treatise concerning 
252 


OR WORD or THE LORD. 


201, 202 

Heaven and Hell, n. 87 — 105. Eut, what is meant by corre- 
spondence has to this day remained unknown, notwithstanding it 
was a subject most familiar to the men of the most ancient times, 
who esteemed it the science of sciences, and cultivated it so uni- 
versally, that all their books and treatises were written by corre- 
spondences. The book of Job, which was a book of the ancient 
church, is full of correspondences. The hieroglyphics of the 
Egyptians, and the fabulous stories of antiquity, were founded 
on the same science. All the ancient churches were churches 
representative of spiritual things, and their ceremonies, and also 
their statutes, which were rules for the institution of their 
worship, consisted of mere correspondences. In like manner, 
every thing in the Israelitish church, the burnt-offerings, sacri- 
fices, meat-offerings, and drink-offerings, with all the particulars 
belonging to each, were correspondences ; so also was the taber- 
nacle, with all things contained in it ; and likewise the festivals,' 
as the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles, the 
feast of the first-fruits ; also, the priesthood of Aaron and the 
Levites, and their garments of holiness : but what were the 
particular spiritual things with which each corresponded, is 
shown in the Arcana Ccelestia, published at London : and 
besides the things above-mentioned, all the statutes and judg- 
ments relating to worship and life were correspondences. Now, 
as divine things fix their existence in outward nature in corre- 
spondences, therefore the Word was written by mere corre- 
spondences ; and for the same reason the Lord, in consequence 
of speaking from the Divine, spoke by correspondences ; for 
whatever proceeds from the Divine, when it comes into outward 
nature, manifests itself in such outward things as correspond 
with what is divine, which outward things become then the 
repositories of divine things, otherwise called celestial and spir- 
itual, which lie concealed within them. 

202. I have been informed, that the men of the most ancient 
church, which was before the flood, were of so heavenly a genius, 
that they conversed with angels, and that they had the power of 
holding such converse by means of correspondences ; hence the 
state of their wisdom became such, that, on viewing any of the 
objects of this world, they thought of them not only naturally, 
but also spiritually, thus in conjunction with the angels of 
heaven. I have been further informed, that Enoch, who is 
spoken of in Genesis, v. 21 — 24, together with his associates, 
collected correspondences from the lips of these celestial men, 
and transmitted the knowledge thereof to posterity ; in con- 
sequence of which, the science of correspondences was not 
only known in many kingdoms of Asia, but was also much cul- 
tivated, particularly in the land of Canaan, Egypt, Assyria, 
Chaldea, Syria, Arabia, in Tyre, Sidon, and Nineveh, and 
from thence it was conveyed into Greece, where it was changed 
253 


202 — 204 THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 

into fable, as may appear from the works of the oldest writers of 
that country. 

203. To show that the science of correspondences was long 
preserved in the Asiatic nations, among those who were called 
diviners and wise men, and by some magi, I will adduce a re- 
markable instance from 1 Sam. v. and vi. We are there in- 
formed, that the ark, containing the two tables whereon were 
written the ten commandments, was taken by the Philistines, 
and placed in the house of Dagon in Ashdod, and that Dagon 
fell to the ground before it ; and afterwards, that his head and 
both the palms of his hands were separated from his body, and 
lay on the threshold ; and that the people of Ashdod and Ekron, 
to the number of several thousands, were smitten with hemor- 
rhoids, and that the land was devoured with mice ; and that the 
Philistines, on this occasion, called together their priests and 
diviners, and that to put a stop to the destruction which threat- 
ened them, they determined to make five golden hemorrhoids, 
and five golden mice, and a new cart, and to set the ark on this 
cart, with the golden hemorrhoids and mice, and have it drawn 
by two milch kine, which lowed in the way before the cart, and 
thus to send back the ark to the children of Israel, by whom the 
kine and the cart were offered up in sacrifice, and the God of 
Israel was appeased. That all these devices of the Philistine 
diviners were correspondences, is evident from their significa- 
tion, which is this : the Philistines themselves signified those 
who are in faith separate from charity ; Dagon represented that 
religious principle ; the hemorrhoids, wherewith they were 
smitten, signified the natural loves, which, if separated from 
spiritual love, are unclean ; and mice signified the devastation of 
the church by falsifications of truth ; a new cart signified natural 
doctrine of the church, for a chariot, in the Word, signifies 
doctrines derived from spiritual truths ; the milch kine signi- 
fied good natural affections ; the golden hemorrhoids signified 
the natural loves purified and made good ; the golden mice 
signified the devastation of the church removed by means of 
good, for gold in the Word signifies good ; the lowing of the 
kine in the way signified the difficult conversion of the concu- 
piscences of evil in the natural man into good affections ; the 
offering up of the kine and the cart as a burnt-offering signified 
that thus the God of Israel was rendered propitious. All these 
things which the Philistines did by the advice of their diviners 
were correspondences ; from which it appears that that science 
was long preserved among the Gentiles. 

204. As the representative rites of the church, which were 
correspondences, began, in process of time, to be corrupted 
by idolatrous and likewise magical applications of them, there- 
fore, by the divine providence of the Lord, the science of cor- 
respondences was gradually lost, and among the Israelitish and 

254 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


204, 205 

Jewish people entirely obliterated. The divine worship of that 
people consisted indeed of mere correspondences, and conse- 
quently was representative of heavenly things ; but still they 
had no knowledge of a single thing represented ; for they were 
altogether natural men, and therefore had neither inclination 
nor ability to gain any knowledge of spiritual and celestial sub- 
jects ; for the same reason they were necessarily ignorant of 
correspondences, these being representations of things spiritual 
and celestial in things natural. 

205. The reason why the idolatries of the gentiles of old 
took their rise from the science of correspondences, was because 
all things that appear on the face of the earth have correspond- 
ence, consequently, not only trees and vegetables, but also 
beasts and birds of every kind, with fishes and all other things. 
The ancients who were versed in the science of correspondences 
made themselves images, which correspond with heavenly 
things ; and were greatly delighted with them by reason of 
their signification, and because they could discern in them what 
related to heaven and the church : they therefore placed those 
images not only in their temples, but also in their houses, not 
with any intention to worship them, but that they might serve 
as means of recollecting the heavenly things which they signified. 
Hence in Egypt and other places they made images of calves, 
oxen, serpents, and also of children, old men, and virgins ; 
because calves and oxen signified the affections and powers of 
the natural man ; serpents, the prudence and likewise the cun- 
ning of the sensual man ; children, innocence and charity ; old 
men, wisdom ; and virgins, the affections of truth ; and so in 
other instances. Succeeding ages, when the science of corre- 
spondences was obliterated, begah to adore as holy, and at length 
to worship as deities, the images and resemblances set up by their 
forefathers, because they found them in and about their temples. 
For the same reason the ancients performed their worship in 
gardens and groves, according to the different kinds of trees 
growing in them, and also on mountains and hills ; for gardens 
and groves signified wisdom and intelligence, and every particu- 
lar tree something that had relation thereto ; as the olive, the 
good of love; the vine, truth derived from that good ; the cedar, 
good and truth rational ; a mountain, the highest heaven ; a 
hill, the heaven beneath. That the science of correspondences 
remained among many eastern nations, even till the coming of 
the Lord, may appear also from the wise men of the east, who 
visited the Lord at his nativity ; wherefore a star went before 
them, and they brought with them gifts, gold, frankincense, 
and myrrh (Matt. ii. 1, 2, 9, 10, 11) ; for the star which went 
before them signified knowledge from heaven ; gold signified 
celestial good; frankincense, spiritual good; and myrrh, natural 
good; which are the three constituents oi all worship- But 
255 


205—207 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


still there was ho knowledge whatever of the science of corre- 
spondences among the Israelitish and Jewish people, although 
all the parts of their worship, and all the statutes and judg- 
ments given them by Moses, and all things contained in the 
Word, were mere correspondences. The reason of this was, 
because they were idolaters at heart, and consequently were of 
such a nature and genius that they were not even willing to 
know that any part of their worship had a celestial and spiritual 
signification, for they believed that all the parts of it were holy 
of themselves ; therefore had the celestial and spiritual significa- 
tions been revealed to them, they would not only have rejected, 
but also have profaned them : for this reason heaven was so shut 
to them, that they scarcely knew whether there was such a 
thing as eternal life. That such was the case with them, ap- 
pears evident from the circumstance, that they did not acknowl- 
edge the Lord, although the whole Scripture throughout prophe- 
sied concerning him, and foretold his coming; and they rejected 
him solely on this account, because he instructed them about 
a heavenly kingdom, and not about an earthly one ; for they 
wanted a Messiah who should exalt them above all the nations 
in the world, and not one who should provide only for their 
eternal salvation. 

206. The reason why the science of correspondences, which 
is the key to the spiritual sense of the Word, was not discovered 
to later ages, was because the Christians of the primitive church 
were men of such great simplicity that if was impossible to 
discover it to them ; for had it been discovered, they would 
have found no use in it, and would not have understood it. 
After those first ages of Christianity there arose thick clouds of 
darkness, which overspread the whole Christian world, first in 
consequence of many heretical opinions propagated in the church, 
and soon after in consequence of the decrees and determinations 
of the Council of Nice, concerning the existence of three 
divine persons from eternity, and concerning the person of 
Christ as the Son of Mary, and not as the Son of Jehovah God. 
Hence sprang the present faith of justification, in which three 
gods are approached and worshipped according to their respective 
orders, and on which depend all and every thing belonging to 
the present church, as the members of the body depend on the 
head : and because men applied every part of the Word to con- 
firm this erroneous faith, therefore the spiritual sense could not 
be discovered ; for had it been discovered, they would have 
applied it also to a confirmation of the same faith, and thereby 
would have profaned the very holiness of the Word, and thus 
would have shut heaven entirely against themselves, and have 
removed the Lord entirely from the church. 

207. The reason why the science of correspondences, which 
is the key to the spiritual sense of the Word, is now revealed, 

256 


OK WORD OF THE LORD. 


207, 208 

is, because the divine truths of the church are now coining to 
light, and of these the spiritual sense of the Word consists ; and 
while these are in man, the literal sense of the Word cannot be 
perverted ; for the literal sense is capable of being turned any 
way, but if it be turned to favor the false, then its internal 
sanctity is destroyed, and its external along with it; whereas if 
it be turned to favor the truth, then its sanctity is preserved : 
more, however, will be said on this subject hereafter. That the 
spiritual sense of the Word should be opened now, at this time, 
is signified by John’s seeing heaven open, and the white horse, 
and also by his seeing and hearing the angel, who stood in the 
sun, calling all people together to a great supper (Rev. xix. 11 
— 18); but that it would not be acknowledged for some time, is 
signified by the beasts and the kings of the earth, who were 
about to make war with him that sat on the white horse (Rev. 
xix. 19) ; and also by the dragon, which persecuted the woman 
that brought forth the man-child, into the wilderness, and cast 
out of his mouth water as a flood after her, that he might cause 
her to be carried away with the flood (Rev. xii. 13—17). 

208. V. That hereafter the spiritual sense of the Word will 
be made known only to those who are in genuine truths from the 
Lord. 

The reason of this is, because no one can see the spiritual 
sense except it be granted him by the Lord alone, and except 
he be principled in divine truths from the Lord ; for the spiritual 
sense of the Word treats solely of the Lord and his kingdom, 
and that is the sense which his angels in heaven are in the per- 
ception of, for it is his divine truth there. This sense it is 
possible for a man to violate, if he is versed in the science of 
correspondences, and desirous thereby to explore the spiritual 
sense of the Word, under the influence of his own self-derived 
intelligence alone; for by some correspondences with which he 
is acquainted, he may pervert the spiritual sense, and force it 
even to confirm what is false ; and this would be to offer violence 
to divine truth, and consequently to heaven also, which is its 
place of abode ; therefore, if any one wishes to open that sense 
by virtue of his own power, and hot of the Lord’s, heaven is 
closed against him ; in which case he either loses sight of all 
truth or falls into spiritual insanity. Another reason also is, be- 
cause the Lord teaches every one by means of the Word, and 
grounds his teaching on the knowledges which a man is in 
possession of, and does not infuse new ones immediately ; 
therefore, unless a man be principled in divine truths, or if 
he be only in a few truths, and at the same time in falses, 
he may falsify truths by falses, as is done by every heretic 
with regard to the literal sense of the Word. To prevent, 
therefore, any person from entering into the spiritual sense, 
and perverting genuine truth, which belongs to that sense, 
257 a 


20 S ; 209 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE, 


there are guards set by the Lord, which are signified in the 
Word by cherubs. 

209. VI. A relation of some wonderful phenomena resulting 
from the spiritual sense of the Word. 

In the natural world no such wonderful phenomena result 
from the Word, because the spiritual sense does not there appear, 
and is not received inwardly by man according to its own proper 
nature and quality ; but in the spiritual world there are wonder- 
ful phenomena resulting from the Word, because all in that 
world are spiritual, and spiritual things affect the spiritual man 
as natural things do the natural man. There are many wonder- 
ful phenomena resulting from the Word in the spiritual world, 
of which I will here mention a few. The Word itself, kept in 
the most ^sacred recesses of the temples in that world, shines in 
the sight of the angels like a great star, and sometimes like a 
sun, and from the bright radiance with which it is encompassed 
there is also an appearance as of beautiful rainbows formed 
round about it : this phenomenon is exhibited as soon as ever 
the sacred repository of the Word is opened. That all and every 
particular truth of the Word shines with a bright light, was 
made manifest to me from this circumstance, that when any 
single verse out of the Word is transcribed on paper, and the 
paper is thrown up into the air, the paper itself shines with a 
bright light, of the same form with that in which it was cut out ; 
so that spirits have the power of producing by the Word a variety 
of bright lucid figures, and also of birds and fishes. But what is 
still more wonderful, if any person [imbued with genuine truth] 
rubs his face, hands, or clothes against the Word, when it is open, 
so as to touch the writing with them, his face, hands, and clothes 
shine as if he were standing in a star, encompassed with its light. 
This I have often seen and wondered at ; and hence it was evi- 
dent to me what occasioned the face of Moses to shine, when he 
brought the tables of the covenant down from mount Sinai. 

Besides these, there are many other wonderful phenomena 
resulting from the Word in the spiritual world ; as, for instance* 
if any person who is in falses looks at the Word, as it lies in its 
holy repository, there arises a thick darkness before his eyes, in 
consequence of which the Word appears to him of a black color, 
and sometimes as if it were covered with soot ; but if the same 
person touches the Word, it occasions an explosion, attended 
with a loud noise, and he is thrown to a corner of the room, 
where he lies for about the space of an hour, as if he were dead. 
If any passage is transcribed out of the Word on a piece of 
paper by a person who is in falses, and the paper is thrown up 
towards heaven, instantly the same explosion is occasioned in 
the air between his eye and heaven, and the paper is torn to 
pieces and vanishes from the sight ; and the like happens, as I 
Lave often seen, if the paper is thrown into a corner of the room 
258 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


209, 210 


Hence it appeared to me that those persons whc are in falses of 
doctrine have no communication with heaven by means of the 
Word, but that their reading is dispersed in the way, and van- 
ishes like gunpowder made up in paper, when it is set on fire 
and goes off in the air. The very reverse happens with those 
who are in truths of doctrine, by means of the Word, from the 
Lord; their reading of the Word penetrates even into heaven, 
and is effective of conjunction with the angels therein. The 
angels themselves, when they descend from heaven to execute 
any business below, appear bese|t with small stars, particularly 
about the head, which is a sign that they are inwardly replen- 
ished with divine truths from the Lord. 

Moreover, in the spiritual world there are existences similar 
to those on earth, but every thing therein is derived from a 
spiritual origin ; so, among other things, there are gold and 
silver, and precious stones of all kinds, whose spiritual origin is 
the literal sense of the Word. • Hence it is that in the Revela- 
tion the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem are 
described by twelve precious stones, because by the foundations 
of its w r all are signified the doctrinals of the New Church derived 
from the literal sense of the Word; hence, likewise, it is that in 
Aaron’s ephod there were also twelve precious stones, called Urim 
and Thummim, and that by means of these, responses were given 
out of heaven. Besides these, there are still many more won- 
derful phenomena resulting from the Word with respect to the 
power of truth therein, and which is so immense that the de- 
scription would surpass all belief; for the power of truth in the 
Word is such, that in the spiritual world it overturns mountains 
and hills, and removes them to a great distance, and casts them 
into the sea, with many other circumstances ; in short, the power 
of the Lord, by virtue of the Word, is infinite. 

III. That the literal sense of the word is the basis, the con- 
tinent, AND THE FIRMAMENT OF ITS SPIRITUAL AND CELESTIAL SENSES. 

210. In every thing divine there is a first, a middle, and a last, 
and the first passes through the middle to the last, and thereby 
exists and subsists ; hence the last is the basis. The first also 
is in the middle, and by means of the middle in the last, and 
thus the last is the continent ; and because the last is the con- 
tinent and the basis, it is also the firmament. The learned 
reader will be able to comprehend the propriety of calling those 
three, end, cause, and effect, and also esse, fieri, and existere, and 
that the end answers to esse, the cause to fieri, and the effect to 
existere ; consequently, that in every complete thing there is a 
trinity, which is called first, middle, and last ; likewise end, cause, 
and effect. He that comprehends this reasoning will also be 
able to comprehend that every divine work is complete and 
perfect in the last; and likewise that in the last is contained the 
whole, because the prior things are contained together in it. 

259 


211—213 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE. 


211. From this ground it is that, in the Word, according to 
its spiritual sense, the number three signifies what is complete 
and perfect, and also the all or whole together ; and because this 
is the signification of that number, therefore it is so frequently 
applied in the Word, when that signification is intended to be 
expressed ; as in the following places : Isaiah was to go naked 
and barefoot three years (Isaiah xx. 3). Jehovah called Samuel 
three times , and Samuel ran three times to Eli, and Eli under- 
stood him the third time (1 Sam. iii. 1— S). David said to 
Jonathan that he would hide himself in the field three days ; and 
Jonathan afterwards shot three arrows at the stone; and David, 
lastly, bowed himself three times before Jonathan (1 Sam. xx. 5, 
12 — 42). Elijah stretched himself three times on the widow’s 
eon (1 Kings xvii. 21) ; Elijah commanded to pour water on the 
burnt-offering three times (xviii. 34). Jesus said, The kingdom 
of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in 
three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened (Matt. xiii. 

33) . Jesus said to Peter that he should deny him thrice (xxvi. 

34) . Jesus said three times unto Peter, Lovest thou me? (John 
xxi. 15 — 17.) Jonah was in the whale’s belly three days and 
three nights (Jonah i. 17). Jesus said, Destroy this temple, and 
in three days I will raise it up (John ii. 19). Jesus prayed three 
times in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. xxvi. 39 — 44). Jesus 
rose again on the third day (xxviii. 1) ; besides many other pas- 
sages, where the number three is mentioned : in all these it 

denotes a work finished and perfect, because such a work is 
signified by that number. 

212. There are three heavens, the highest, the middle, and 
the low T est ; the highest heaven constitutes the Lord’s celestial 
kingdom, the middle heaven his spiritual kingdom, and the 
lowest heaven his natural kingdom. In like manner as there 
are three heavens, so there are also three senses of the Word, 
the celestial serlse, the spiritual, aud the natural ; to which also 
may be applied what was said above, n. 210, that the first is in 
the middle, and by means of the middle in the last; just as the 
end is in the cause, and by means of the cause in the effect. 
Hence appears the true nature and quality of the Word, viz. 
that in its literal sense, which is natural, there is contained an 
interior sense, which is spiritual, and in this an inmost sense, 
which is celestial ; and thus that the last sense, which is natural, 
and is called the literal sense, is the continent, and consequently 
the basis and firmament of the two interior senses. 

213. Hence it is evident that the Word, without its literal 
sense, would be like a palace without a foundation, that is, like 
a palace in the air and not on the ground, which could only be 
the shadow of a palace, and must vanish away ; also that the 
Word without the literal sense would be like a temple in which 
are many holy things, with the most holy place in the midst 

260 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


213,214 

without roof or walls, which are its boundaries ; if these were 
wanting or were taken away, its holy things would be carried 
away by thieves, and violated by the beasts of the earth and the 
birds ot the air, and would thus be destroyed. It would be the 
same as it the tabernacle of the sons of Israel in the wilderness, 
in the inmost of which was the ark of the covenant, and in 
the middle part the golden candlestick with the golden altar 
upon which was the incense, and the table upon which was 
the shew-bread, had been without its ultimates, which were 
courts, veils, and pillars. In short, the Word without its 
literal sense would be like the human body without its cov- 
erings, which are called skins, and without its supporters, 
which are called bones, of which supposing it to be deprived, 
its inner parts must of necessity be dispersed and perish. It 
would also be like the heart and the lungs in the thorax, de- 
prived of their covering, which is called the pleura, and their 
supporters, which are called the ribs ; and like the brain without 
its coverings, which are called the dura and pia mater , and with- 
out its common covering, continent, and firmament, which is 
called the skull. So would it be with the Word without its lit* 
era! sense ; therefore it is said in Isaiah, “ the Lord will create 
upon all the glory a covering” (iv. 5). 

IV. That the divine truth, in the literal sense of the 

WORD, IS IN ITS FULNESS, ITS SANCTITY, AND ITS POWER. 

214. The reason why the Word in its literal sense is in its 
fulness, its sanctity, and its power, is because the two prior or 
interior senses, which are called spiritual and celestial, are simul- 
taneously contained in the natural sense, which is the sense of 
the letter, as was said above, n. 210, 212 ; but in what manner 
they are so simultaneously contained shall now be shown. Both 
in heaven and in the world there are two kinds of order, suc- 
cessive order, and simultaneous order: in successive order one 
thing succeeds and follows another, from what is highest to 
what is lowest ; but in simultaneous order one thing is next to 
another, from what is innermost to what is outermost. Succes- 
sive order is like a column with degrees from highest to lowest; 
but simultaneous order is like a work whose centre and circum- 
ferences have a regular coherence, even to the outermost surface. 
We will now show in what manner successive order becomes, in 
its ultimates, simultaneous order, which is thus: the highest 
parts of successive order become the inmost of simultaneous 
order, and the lowest parts of successive order become the outer- 
most of simultaneous order, just as would be the case with a 
column of degrees, were it to sink down and become a coherent 
body in a plane. Thus what is simultaneous is formed from what 
is successive, and this is the case in all and every thing in the 
natural world, and in all and every thing in the spiritual world; 
for there is everywhere a first, a middle, and a last, and the first, 
261 


214, 215 THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 

by means of the middle, tends and proceeds to its last : but it 
should be well observed, that there are also degrees ot purity, 
according to which both these kinds of order are established. 
Now, to apply this reasoning to the Word: the celestial, spirit- 
ual, and natural [principles] proceed from the Lord in successive 
order, and in their last, or ultimate, they are in simultaneous 
order; thus then the celestial and spiritual senses of the Word 
are simultaneously contained in its natural sense. When this 
truth is comprehended, it will be easy to see how the natural 
sense of the Word is the continent, basis, and firmament of its 
spiritual and celestial senses: and also in what manner divine 
good and divine truth, in the literal sense of the Word, are in 
their fulness, their sanctity, and their power. From hence it 
must appear evident that the Word is pre-eminently the W ord 
in its literal sense, for it is in this sense that spirit and life are 
inwardly contained ; and this is what the Lord meant when he 
said, “The words which I speak unto you are spirit and life” 
(John vi. 63) ; for the Lord spoke his words in the natural sense. 
The celestial and spiritual senses are not the Word without the 
natural sense ; for in such a case they are like spirit and life 
without a body; or, as was said above, n. 213, like a palace 
which has no foundation. 

215. The truths of the literal sense of the Word, in some 
cases, are not naked truths, but only appearances of truth, and 
are like similitudes and comparisons taken from such things as 
are in nature, and thus accommodated and adequate to the ap- 
prehension of simple minds and children ; but they are* at the 
same time correspondences, therefore they are the receptacles 
and abodes of genuine truth : they are also its containing vessels, 
in like manner as a crystalline cup contains excellent wine, or 
as a silver dish contains rich meats, or as garments clothing the 
body, like swaddling clothes to an infant, or an elegant dress on 
a beautiful virgin : they are also like the scientifics of the natural 
man, which comprehend in them the perceptions and affections 
of spiritual truth. The naked truths themselves, which are in- 
cluded, contained, attired, and comprehended, are in the spiritual 
sense of the Word, and the naked goods are in its celestial sense. 
But let us illustrate this by instances from the Word: “Jesus 
said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees; for ye make clean 
the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are 
full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first 
that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of 
them may be clean also” (Matt, xxiii. 25, 26). In this passage 
the Lord spoke by similitudes and comparisons, which at the 
same time are correspondences. He uses the words “ cup and 
platter,” and by cup is not only meant, but also signified, the 
truth of the Word ; for by the cup is meant wine, and by wine 
is signified truth ; but by the platter is meant meat, and by 
262 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


215, 216 

meat is signified good ; therefore by making clean the inside of 
the cup and platter, is signified to purify the interiors of the 
mind, which relate to the will and the thoughts, by means of 
the Word; and by the consequent cleansing of the outside is 
signified that thus the exteriors are purified, which are the words 
and works, for these derive their essence from the former. 
Again: “Jesus said, There was a certain rich man, who was 
clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every 
day ; and there was a certain poor man, named Lazarus, who 
was laid at his gate full of sores” (Luke xvi. 19, 20). In this 
passage also the Lord spoke by similitudes and comparisons, 
which are correspondences, and contain in them spiritual things. 
By the rich man is meant the Jewish nation, who are called rich, 
because they were in possession of the Word, in which there are 
spiritual riches ; by the purple and fine linen with which the 
rich man was clothed, are signified the good and truth of the 
Word, by purple its good, and by fine linen its truth ; by faring ' 
sumptuously every day is signified the delight which the Jewish 
people took in possessing the Word, and hearing it often read 
in their temples and synagogues ; by the poor Lazarus are 
meant the Gentiles, because they were not in possession of the 
Word; by Lazarus lying at the rich man’s gate is meant that 
the Gentiles were despised and rejected by the Jews ; by being 
full of sores is signified, that the Gentiles from their ignorance 
of truth were in many falses. The reason why the Gentiles 
were meant by Lazarus, was, because the Gentiles were beloved 
by the Lord, as was Lazarus whom he raised from the dead 
(John xi. 3, 5, 36); who is called his friend (xi. 11); and who 
sat with him at table (xii. 2). From these two passages it is 
evident that the truths and goods of the literal sense of the Word 
are like vessels and garments, to contain and cover the naked 
good and truth which lie concealed in the spiritual and celestial 
senses of the Word. Since the Word in its literal sense is of 
such a nature, it follows of consequence that those who are in 
divine truths, and in a belief that the Word in its internal parts 
is divine and holy, see divine truths in natural light, while they 
read the Word in a state of illustration from the Lord, and more 
especially if they believe that the Word is of such a nature by 
virtue of its spiritual and celestial sense ; for the light of heaven 
in which the spiritual sense of the Word is, descends by influx 
into the natural light in which the literal sense of the Word is, 
and illuminates a man’s intellectual principle, which is called 
his rational principle, and makes him see and acknowledge 
divine truths, both where they are manifest and where they lie 
concealed. This effect of the influx of light from heaven takes 
place in some cases even when men are ignorant of it. 

216. Since the Word in its inmost contents, from its celes* 
tial sense, is like a gentle burning flame, and in its middle con 
' 263 


l a, 2iT 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE. 


tents,* from its spiritual sense, is like an illustrating light, il 
follows, that in its ultimate or last contents, from jts natural 
sense, it is like a transparent object recipient both ol flame and 
light, which from the flame is red like crimson, and from the 
light is white like snow ; thus it is respectively like a ruby and 
a diamond, from the celestial flame like a ruby, and from the 
spiritual dight like a diamond. And since this is the nature and 
quality of the Word in its literal sense, therefore the Word is 
meant in that sense, 1. By the precious stones of which the 
foundations of the New Jerusalem were built j 2. Also by the 
TJrim, and Thummim on the Ephod of Aa/ron / 3. Likewise by 
the precious stones in the garden of Eden , wherein the king of 
Tyre is said to have been / 4. And further by the curtains , 
vails , and pillars of the tabernacle / 5. In like manner by the 
external parts of the temple of Jerusalem. 6. The Word in its 
glory was represented in the person of the Lord when he was 
transfigured / 7. The power of the Word in its last or ultimate 
sense , was represented by the Naza/rites. 8. Of the inexpressible 
power of the Word. But these articles shall be severally illustrated. 

217. 1. That the truths of the literal sense of the Word are 
understood by the precious stones of which the foundations of the 
New Jerusalem were built , as mentioned in the Revelation (xxi. 
17—21.) ‘ 

It was observed above, n. 209, that in the spiritual world there 
are precious stones, just as in the natural world, and that they 
derive their spiritual origin from the truths which are in the literal 
sense of the Word. This may appear incredible, but still it is 
true. Hence it is, that in whatever part of the'Word precious 
stones are mentioned, in the spiritual sense truths are understood 
by them. That by the precious stones of which the foundations 
of the wall encompassing the city, Hew Jerusalem, are said to be 
constructed, are signified the truths of the doctrine of the Hew 
Church, follows from hence, because by the Hew Jerusalem is 
signified the Hew Church in respect to doctrine derived from 
the Word ; therefore by its wall, and the foundations thereof, 
nothing can be meant but the external of the Word, which is its 
literal sense ; for it is this sense from which doctrine is derived, 
and by doctrine the church ; and this sense is like a wall with 
foundations, that encompasses and secures the city. 

The Hew Jerusalem and its foundations are thus described in 
the Revelation : “The angel measured the wall thereof, a hundred 
and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that 
is, of an angel. And the wall had twelve foundations, garnished 
with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was a 
jasper; the second, a sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the 
fourth, an emerald ; the fifth, a sardonyx ; the sixth, a sardius ; 
the seventh, a chrysolite ; the eighth, a beryl ; the ninth, a topaz ; 
-he tenth, a chrysoprasus ; the eleventh, a jacinth ; the twelfth, an 
264 


OR WORD 0# THE LORD. 


217, 218 


amethyst” (xxi. 17 — 20). The reason why the twelve foundations 
of the wall were built of the same number of precious stones is, 
because the number twelve signifies the all of truth derived from 
good, and consequently in this place the all of doctrine. But 
this, with the preceding and following passages of that chapter, 
may be seen particularly explained and confirmed by parallel 
passages from the prophetic writings in the Apocalypse Revealed. 

218. 2. That the goods and truths of the Word in its literal 
sense are understood by the JJrim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod. 

The Urim and Thummim were on Aaron’s ephod, whose 
priesthood was representative of the Lord with respect to divine 
good and the work of salvation ; the garments of the priesthood, 
or of his holiness, were representative of divine truths from the 
Lord ; the ephod was representative of divine truth in its ulti- 
mate, consequently of the Word in its literal sense, for this is 
divine truth in its ultimate : hence, by the twelve precious stones, 
with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, which were the 
Urim and Thummim, were represented divine truths as derived 
from divine good in their whole complex. Concerning the ephod 
with the Urim and Thummim, Moses has these words : u They 
shall make the ephod of blue ( hyacinthinum ) and purple, of 
scarlet double dyed and fine twined linen ; and they shall make 
the breast-plate of judgment according to the work of the 
ephod, and shall set it with settings of stones, even four rows of 
stones : the first row shall be a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald ; 
and the second row shall be a chrysoprase, a sapphire, and a 
diamond ; and the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst ; 
and the fourth row a beryl, a sardius, and a jasper : and the 
stones shall be on the names of the children of Israel ; the en- 
gravings of a signet shall be on the name of every one for the 
twelve tribes. And Aaron shall carry on the breast-plate of 
judgment the Urim and Thummim, and they shall be upon 
Aaron’s heart when he goetli in before Jehovah” (Exod. xxviii. 
6, 15 — 21, 29, 30). What is represented by Aaron’s garments, 
his ephod, robe, coat, mitre, and belt, is explained in the work 
entitled Arcana Ccelestia, published at London, where, in 
treating on that chapter, it is shown, that by the ephod is repre- 
sented divine truth in its ultimate ; by the precious stones 
therein are signified truths, transparent from good ; by twelve 
in a fourfold order, all those truths from the first to the last ; 
by the twelve tribes of Israel, all things relating to the church ; 
by the breast-plate, divine truth derived from divine good in a 
universal sense ; by the Urim and Thummim, the brilliancy of 
divine truth derived from divine good in its ultimates, for Urim 
signifies a shining fire, and Thummim, brilliancy, in the angelic 
tongue, and in the Hebrew tongue, integrity. In the same work 
it is also shown, that responses were given by the variegations 
of light, accompanied by a tacit perception, or by an tudible 
265 


218—220 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


voice, with many other circumstances. Hence it may appear 
evident, that by those stones were likewise signified truths 
derived from good in the ultimate sense of the Word : responses 
from heaven are not given by any other means, because in that 
sense the divine proceeding is in its fulness. 

219. 3. That the same is understood by the precious stones in 
the garden of Eden, wherein the king of Tyre is said to have been. 

It is written in Ezekiel, “King of Tyre, thou who sealest up 
thy sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty ; thou hast been 
in Eden, the garden of God : every precious stone w T as thy 
covering: the ruby, the topaz, and the diamond ; the beryl, the 
sardonyx, and the jasper; the sapphire, the chrysoprase, and the 
emerald ; and gold” (xxviii. 12, 13). By Tyre, in the Word, is 
signified the church with respect to the knowdedges of good and 
truth ; by king is signified the truth of the church ; by the gar- 
den of Eden is signified wisdom and intelligence derived from 
the Word ; by precious stones are signified truths, such as are, in 
the literal sense of the Word, bright and transparent from good ; 
and as these are signified by those stones, therefore they are 
called his covering. That the literal sense of the Word serves 
as a covering for the interior senses, may be seen above, n. 213. 

220. 4. That truths and goods in their ultimates , such a° 
are in the literal sense of the Word , were represented by the cur 
tains , v ceils, and pillars of the tabernacle. 

The tabernacle which Moses built in the wilderness repre- 
sented heaven and the church ; therefore the pattern of it was 
shown to Moses by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. Hence all the 
things contained in that tabernacle, as the candlestick, the 
golden altar for incense, and the table wliereon was the shew- 
bread, represented and signified the holy things of heaven and 
the church ; and the holy of holies, where w T as the ark of the 
covenant, represented and thence signified the inmost of heaven 
and the church ; and the law written on two tables, signified the 
Word ; and the cherubs above it signified guards, to prevent the 
violation of the holy things of the Word. How as externals 
derive their essence from internals, and both the one and the 
other from what is inmost, which in the tabernacle was the law, 
therefore the holy things of the Word were represented and 
signified by all things belonging to the tabernacle ; hence it 
follows, that the ultimates of the tabernacle, as the curtains, the 
vails, and the pillars, which were its coverings, continents, and' 
firmaments, signified the ultimates of the Word, which are the 
truths and goods of its literal sense ; and because those things 
were signified, therefore all the curtains and vails were made ot 
fine twined linen, and blue ( hyacinthinum ,), and scarlet double 
dyed, with cherubs (Exod. xxvi. 1, 31, 36). The general and 
particular representations and significations of the tabernacle 
and all that was in it, are explained in the Arcana Ccelestia 
266 


OK WORD OF* THE LORD 


220—222 


and in treating on that chapter of Exodus, it is there shown 
that the curtains and vails represented the externals of heaven 
and the church, consequently also the externals of the Word ; 
and further, that fine linen signified truth from a spiritual ori- 
gin ; blue ( hyacinthinum ), truth from a celestial origin ; purple, 
celestial good ; double dyed scarlet, spiritual good ; and cherubs, 
the guards of the interiors of the Word. 

221. 5. That the sam,e was represented by the externals of 
the temple at Jerusalem. 

The reason of this is, because the temple, as well as the tab- 
ernacle was representative of heaven and the church, with this 
difference only, that the temple was representative of the heaven 
in which the spiritual angels dwell, whereas the tabernacle was 
representative of the heaven in which the celestial angels dwell. 
The spiritual angels are those who are in wisdom from the Word, 
and the celestial angels are those who are in love from the Word. 
Tiiat the temple at Jerusalem, in its highest sense, signified the 
Divine Humanity of the Lord, he himself teaches in these words : 
“ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up ; but 
he spoke of the temple of his body ” (John ii. 19, 21); and when- 
ever the Lord is understood, there also the Word is understood, 
because he. is the Word. How, since the interiors of the temple 
were representative of the interiors of heaven and the church, 
and also of the Word, therefore its exteriors were representative 
and significative of the exteriors of heaven and the church, and 
consequently of the exteriors of the W ord, which are its literal 
sense. Concerning the exteriors of the temple it is written, “ they 
were built of whole stones not hewn, and of cedar within ; and 
all its walls within were carved with figures of cherubs, palm- 
trees, and openings of flowers ; and the floor was overlaid with 
gold” (1 Kings vi. 7, 29, 30) ; all which likewise signified the ex- 
ternals of the Word, which are the holy things of its literal sense. 

222. 6. That the Word in its glory was represented in the 
person of the Lord at his transfiguration. 

Concerning the Lord’s transfiguration in the presence o^ 
Peter, James, and John, it is written, “ His face did shine as 
the sun, and his raiment was as the light ; and there appeared 
Moses and Elias talking with him ; and a bright cloud over- 
shadowed them : and a voice was heard out of the cloud, saying, 
This is my beloved Son ; hear ye him” (Matt. xvii. 1 — 5). I 
have been informed that the Lord on this occasion represented 
the Word ; his face, which shone as the sun, represented the 
divine good of his divine love ; his raiment, which was as the 
light, the divine truth of his divine wisdom ; Moses and Elias, 
the historical and prophetical Word ; Moses, the Word which 
was written by him, and in general the historical Word; and 
Elias, the whole prophetical Word; the bright cloud which over- 
shadowed the disciples, the Word in its literal sense ; therefore 
207 


222—224 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE. 


out of this a voice was heard, saying, u This is ray beloved Son ; 
hear him;” for all declarations and responses from heaven are 
delivered by means of ultiniates, such as are in the literal sense 
of the Word; for they are delivered in fulness from the Lord. 

223. 7. That the power of the Word in its uitimates was 
represented by the Nazarites. 

It is written in the book of Judges concerning Sampson, that 
he was a Nazarite from his mother’s womb, and that his strength 
consisted in his hair. By the words Nazarite and Nazariteship 
also is signified hair. That Sampson’s strength consisted in his 
hair is plain from these his own words : “ There hath not come 
a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite unto Gud from 
my mother’s womb ; if I be shaven, then my strength will go 
from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man” 
(Judges xvi. 17). It is impossible for any one to know why the 
Nazariteship, which signified hair, was instituted, and on what 
ground it was that Sampson derived strength from his hair, 
unless he is first acquainted with the signification of the liea* 1 
in the Word. The head signifies intelligence, which angels and 
men have from the Lord by means of divine truth ; hence hair 
signifies intelligence in its uitimates or extremes derived from 
divine truth. Since this is the signification of hair, it was there- 
fore ordained as a law for the Nazarites, u That they should not 
shave the hair of their heads, because that is the Nazariteship 
of God upon their heads” (Numb. vi. 1 — 21). And for the same 
reason it was likewise ordained, u That the high priest and his 
sons should not shave their heads, lest they should die, and 
wrath should come upon the whole house of Israel” (Levit. x. 6). 
Since the hair by reason of this signification, grounded in cor- 
respondence, was so holy, therefore the Son of man, who is the 
Lord in respect to the Word, is described even as to his hairs, 
“ that they were white like wool, as white as snow” (Rev. i. 14). 
In like manner the Ancient of days is described (Dan. vii. 9). 
Since hair signifies truth in its uitimates, consequently the 
literal sense of the Word, therefore those who despise the Word 
in the spiritual world become bald, and on the contrary, those 
who have held the Word in much esteem, and accounted it holy, 
appear adorned with graceful and becoming locks. It was on 
account of this correspondence that the forty-two children who 
called Elisha bald-head, were torn in pieces by two she-bears 
(2 Kings ii. 23, 24) ; for Elisha represented the church in respect 
to doctrine derived from the Word, and she-bears signify the power 
of truth in its uitimates. The reason why the power of divine 
truth, or the Word, is in its literal sense is, because the Word 
in that sense is in its fulness, and the angels of both the Lord’s 
kingdoms, together with men on earth, are united in that sense. 

224. 8. Of the inexpressible power of the Word. 

Scarcely a single person at this day knows thai there is auv 

268 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 224 

power in truths ; for it is generally supposed that truth is 
nothing more than a word spoken by some person of authority, 
which on that account ought to be attended to and obeyed, con- 
sequently that it is only like breath issuing from the mouth, and 
like a sound in the air; whereas truth and good are the con- 
stituent principles of all things existing in both the spiritual and 
natural worlds, and are the essences by which the universe was 
created, and by which it is preserved, and also by which man 
was made; therefore these two principles are the all in all 
throughout the system of created things. That the universe 
was created by divine truth, is expressly declared in John : “ In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. All 
things were made by him, and without him was not any thing 
made that was made. And the world w T as made by him” (i. 1, 
3,10); and in David: “By the Word of the Lord were the 
heavens made” (Psalm xxxiii. 6). By the Word, in both pas- 
sages, is meant divine truth. And as the universe was created 
by it,. so also it is preserved by it; for subsistence is perpetual 
existence, and preservation is perpetual creation. That man 
was made by divine truth is the real cause that all things in 
him have relation to the understanding and the will ; the under- 
standing is the recipient of divine truth, and the will of divine 
good ; consequently the human mind, which consists of those 
two principles, is nothing else but a form of divine truth and 
divine good, spiritually and naturally organized, which form is 
the human brain ; and whereas the whole man is dependent on 
his mind, therefore all things in and belonging to the body are 
appendages, which receive life and action from those two prin- 
ciples. Hence the reason may now appear why God came into 
the world as the Word, and was made a man, in order to effect 
redemption ; for God at that time by means of the humanity, 
which was divine truth, put on all power, and cast down, sub- 
dued, and reduced to obedience, the hells, which had grown up 
even to the heavens where the angels dwell. And this he 
effected, not by any oral word, but the Divine Word, which 
is divine truth ; and afterwards lie fixed a great gulf between 
the hells and the heavens, which none from hell can pass over ; 
for if any one attempts to pass, at his first entrance into it, he 
is instantly tortured like a serpent on plates of red-hot iron, oi 
on a bed of ants ; for devils and satans no sooner smell the odor 
of divine truth, than they instantly throw themselves headlong 
into the deep, and cast themselves into caverns, which they stop 
up so closely that not a single cleft is left open to admit the 
light. The reason of this is, because their wills are in evils, and 
their understandings in falses, consequently in the opposites to 
divine good and truth ; and as the whole man consists of those 
two principles of life, therefore on the perception of the opposites 
they are so grievously tortured from head to foot- Hence it 
269 


224 — 226 THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, ’ 

may appear that the power of divine truth is inexpressible; and 
since the Word which is in the Christian church, is the conti- 
nent of divine truth in its three degrees, it is evident that it is 
this which is meant in John i. 3, 10. That this power is inex- 
pressible, I could prove by much experimental evidence exhibited 
before me in the spiritual world ; but as such evidence might 
exceed all belief, and appear incredible, 1 think it best to be 
silent, only referring the reader to what is said above on this 
subject, n. 209. Hence will result this memorable truth, that 
the church which is principled in divine truths from the Lord, 
has power over the hells, and is that church of which the Lord 
said to Peter, “ On this rock will I build my church, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. xvi. 18). The 
Lord said this after Peter’s confession, “That he was Christ the 
Son of the living God” (verse 16). This truth is understood in 
that passage by the rock ; for by a rock, wherever mentioned in 
the Word, is meant the Lord as to divine truth. 

V. That the doctrine of the church ought to be drawn 

FROM THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE WORD, AND TO BE CONFIRMED 
THEREBY. 

225. It was shown in the foregoing article that the Word, 
in its literal sense, is in its fulness, its holiness, and its powder; 
and since the Lord is the Word, and the First and the Last, 
according to his own declaration in the Revelation, i. 17, it 
follows that the Lord in that sense is most eminently present, 
and that from that sense he teaches and enlightens mankind ; 
but the truth of this will fall under the following propositions : — 
1. That the Word, without doctrine , is unintelligible. 2. That 
doctrine ought to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word. 
3. That Divine truth , which constitutes doctrine , appears only 
to those icho are in illustration from the Lord. 

' 226. 1. That the Word, without doctrine , is unintelligible. 

The reason of this is because the Word, in its literal sense, 
consists of mere correspondences, to the end that spiritual and 
celestial things may be simultaneously in it, and that every 
single expression may afford them a continent and support ; 
therefore divine truths in the literal sense are rarely found naked, 
but clothed, in which state they are called the appearances of 
truth, consisting of various relations accommodated to the appre- 
hension of the simple, who are not used to any elevation ot 
their thoughts above visible objects. There are also some things 
which appear like contradictions, when nevertheless there is not 
a single contradiction in the Word, if it be viewed in its own 
spiritual light : in some parts, likewise, of the prophetic writings 
there is a collection of names of places and persons, from which 
in the letter no sense can be gathered. Such then being the 
nature of the Word in its literal sense, it must be very evident 
that without doctrine it cannot possiblv be understood: but 
270 


OK WORD OF THE LORD. 


226 


tins will be best illustrated by examples. It is said, for instance, 
“that Jehovah repenteth” (Exod. xxxii. 12, 14; Jonah iii. 9; 
iv. 2); and it is also said “that Jehovah doth not repent” 
(Numb, xxiii. 19; 1 Sam. xv. 29); which apparently contradic- 
tory passages, without doctrine, are not reconcilable. It is also 
said “ that Jehovah visiteth the iniquities of the fathers upon 
the children, to the third and fourth generation” (Numb, xiv 
18); and it is likewise said “that neither shall the fathers be 
put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers • 
but every man shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deut. xxv r . 
16). These passages, without doctrine, seem contradictory ; 
but when illustrated by doctrine they are in perfect agreement. 
Jesus says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall 
find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Without doc- 
trine it might be supposed from these words that every one 
would certainly receive what he requests ; but doctrine teaches 
that whatever a man asks of the Lord, and under his influence, 
is granted him ; for thus the Lord explains himself: “ If ye 
abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye 
will, and it shall be done unto you” (John xv. 7). The Lord 
says, “ Blessed are the poor ; for theirs is the kingdom of God” 
(Luke vi. 20). Without doctrine it may be imagined that heav- 
en is designed for the poor, and not for the rich ; but doctrine 
teaches that the poor in spirit are here meant ; for the Lord says 
in another place, “ Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is 
the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. v. 3). Again the Lprd says, 
“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; for with what judg- 
ment ye judge, ye shall be judged” (vii. 1, 2; Luke vi. 37). 
Without doctrine a person might here be led to this conclu- 
sion, that he ought not to judge in respect to an evil man 
that he is evil ; whereas from doctrine it appears that it is lawful 
to judge, if it be done righteously; for the Lord says “ Judge 
righteous judgment” (John vii. 24). Again the Lord says, 
“ Be not ye called teacher, for one is your teacher, even Christ; 
and call no man your father upon earth, for one is your Father 
in heaven ; neither be ye called masters, for one is your Master, 
even Christ” (Matt, xxiii. 8, 9, 10). These words, unexplained 
by doctrine, would seem to imply that it is not lawful to call 
any person teacher, father, or master ; whereas by doctrine we 
learn that this is lawful in a natural sense, though it is unlaw- 
ful in a spiritual sense. Again, Jesus said to his disciples, 
“ When the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, 
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes 
of Israel” (Matt. xix. 28). From these words it mignt be con- 
cluded that the disciples of the Lord are to sit hereafter in 
judgment, when the truth is, that they cannot judge any per- 
son ; doctrine therefore explains this mystery, by teaching that 
the Lord alone, who is omniscient, and knows all hearts, will sit 
271 


226—229 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


in judgment, and is able to judge; and that by his twelve dis 
eipies is meant the church in respect to all the truths and goods 
which it has from the Lord by means of the Word ; from whence 
doctrine concludes that those truths and goods are to judge 
every one, according to the words of the Lord in John iii. IT, 
18 ; xii. 47, 48. Many other passages of a similar kind occur 
in the Word, from which it manifestly appears that the Word, 
without doctrine, is unintelligible. 

227. The Word, by means of doctrine, is rendered not only 
intelligible, but also bright and shining in the understanding ; 
for it is then like a chandelier full of lighted candles, w r hereby 
a man sees what wtis before invisible, and understands what was 
before unintelligible. The obscure and discordant passages he 
either does not see, and therefore takes no notice of them, or he 
sees, and by means of doctrine reconciles them to each other. 
That men see, and also explain the Word according to doctrine, 
is clear from the practice of all Christian churches. * The Re 
formed see it by the light of their doctrine, and explain it accord- 
ingly ; the Roman Catholics, and even the Jews, do the same, with 
respect to their doctrine; consequently, -where the doctrine is 
false, men see falsely, and give false interpretations ; but where 
the doctrine is true, they see and interpret according to truth. 
Hence it is evident that true doctrine is like a lantern in a dark 
night, or like a guide-post to direct travellers in the right way. 

228. From what has been said it is very clear that those who 
read the Word without doctrine, are in the dark concerning 
every truth, and that their minds must be wavering and un- 
settled, prone to errors, and easily betrayed into heresies, which 
they will even embrace with eagerness, in case they are sup- 
ported by the authority and favorable opinion of mankind, and 
that they may do it with a safe reputation; for the Word is to 
them as a candlestick without a light in it, and they see many 
things as it were in shade, though scarcely discerning a single 
object distinctly ; for doctrine is the only light which can guide 
them in their inquiries. I have seen such persons examined by the 
angels ; and it was found that they could confirm from the Word 
whatever opinion they pleased, and that they actually do so, par- 
ticularly all such opinions and tenets as favor their own love, and 
the lo\ e of those whom they study to oblige ; but I afterwards 
saw them stripped of their garments, which is a sign that they were 
destitute of truths ; for garments in the spiritual world are truths. 

229. 2. That doctrine ought to be drawn from the literal sense 
of the Word, and to be confirmed thereby. 

The reason of this is, because the Lord is present in that 
sense, teaching and enlightening the mind : for all the Lord’s 
operations are performed in fulness, and the W ord in its literal 
sense is in its fulness, as was shown above : this is the true 
ground why doctrine ought to be drawn from the sense of the 
272 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


229—231 


letter. The doctrine of genuine truth may also he fully drawn 
from the literal sense of the Word; for the Word in that sense 
is like a person with his clotnes On, whose face and hands, not- 
withstanding, are bare ; so all things in the Word, which apper- 
tain to man’s faith and life, and consequently to salvation, are 
bare and naked, but the rest are clothed ; and in many places 
where they are clothed they appear through their clothing, as 
females appear through a thin veil of silk thrown over their 
faces. The truths of the Word also, in proportion as they are 
multiplied by the love of them, and by that love are arranged in 
order, shine and become apparent more and more clearly through 
their outward covering. 

230. It may be imagined that the doctrine of genuine truth 
might be collected by means of the spiritual sense of the Word, 
which is learnt by the science of correspondences ; doctrine, 
however, is not attainable by means of that sense, but is only 
capable of receiving illustration and confirmation from it ; for, 
as was observed above, n. 208, it is possible for a person to 
falsify the Word by some correspondences with which he is ac- 
quainted, when he connects them together, and applies them to 
the confirmation of particular opinions originally fixed in his 
mind. Besides, the spiritual sense of the Word is not granted 
to any one except by the Lord only, and he guards it as he does 
the angelic heaven, which indeed is included in it. 

231. 3. That genuine truth , which should constitute doc- 
trine , in the literal sense of the Word, is apparent only to those 
who are in illustration, from the Lord. 

Illustration comes from the Lord alone, and is afforded to 
those who love truths for truth’s sake, and apply them to the 
uses of life; none else can receive illustration from the Word. 
The reason why illustration comes from the Lord alone is, be- 
cause the Word is from him, and consequently he is in the 
Word ; and the reason of its being afforded only to those who 
love truths for truth’s sake, and apply them to the uses of life, 
is because they are in the Lord, and the Lord in them ; for the 
Lord is truth itself, as was shown in the chapter concerning 
him ; and the Lord is then loved when men live according to 
his divine truths, and by virtue thereof perform uses, according 
to these words in John : “ At that day ye shall know that ye 
are in me, and I in you : he that hath my commandments, and 
doeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and I will love him, and 
will manifest myself to him ; and will come unto him, and make 
my abode with him” (xiv. 20, 21, 23). These are those who are 
in illustration when they read the Word, and to whom the Word 
appears in its brightness and transparence. The reason why the 
Word appears to such in its brightness and transparence, is be- 
cause there is both a spiritual and a celestial sense in every pari 
of the Word, and these senses are in the light of heaven ; there- 
273 * 


231—233 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


fore the Lord, by these senses and their light, enters by influx 
into the natural sense of the Word and the light thereof abiding 
in man : hence a man acknowledges the truth from an interior 
perception, and afterwards sees it in his own thought, and this 
as often as he is in the affection of truth for truth’s sake ; for 
perception comes from affection, and thought from perception, 
and thence arises acknowledgment, which is called faith. 

232. The very reverse takes place with men who interpret the 
Word by the doctrine of false religion, and particularly when 
they confirm such doctrine by the Word, with a view to their 
own glory and the acquirement of worldly wealth. To such 
persons the truths of the Word appear as in the shades of night, 
and falses as in the light of day : they read truths, but they do 
not see them ; and if they see the shadow of them they falsify 
them. These are those whom the Lord describes as “ having 
eyes, and yet they see not, and ears, and yet they do not under- 
stand” (Matt. xiii. 14, 15). Hence their light in spiritual 
things, or such as regard the church, becomes merely natural, 
and their intellectual sight is like that of a person who imagines 
he sees phantoms when he lies awake in his bed, or like that of 
a man walking in his sleep, who fancies himself broad awake. 

233. I have been permitted to converse with several after 
death, who believed they should shine as the stars in the firma- 
ment, because, as they said, they had accounted the Word holy, 
had often perused it, and had collected many things from it, 
whereby they had confirmed the tenets of their particular faith, 
and had acquired the reputation of being great scholars and 
learned men, in consequence of which they supposed they should 
be advanced to the dignity of a Michael or a Raphael. But on 
the examination of several of them respecting the love which in- 
fluenced them in their study of the Word, it was discovered that 
some of them had studied it from self-love, with a view to ac- 
quire rank and distinction in the church, and some from worldly 
love, with a view to gaiu. On their examination also respecting 
what they had learnt from the Word, it was discovered that 
they did not know a single genuine truth, but only what may 
be called truth falsified, which, in its own proper nature, is the 
false in a state of putridity, for in heaven it stinks ; and they 
were informed that this was a consequence of reading the Word 
only with a view to themselves and the world, without regarding 
the truth of faith, and the good of life, as the ends of their read^ 
ing ; for in this case, where self and the world are the ends, the 
mind, in reading the Word, abides in self and in the world, and 
hence their thoughts are constantly derived from their own 
proprium or selfhood, and the proprium of man is in utter dark- 
ness respecting all things that relate to heaven and the church ; 
so that in such a state it is impossible for a man to be under the 
Lord’s guidance, and to be elevated by him into the light of 

274 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


233—230 


Heaven ; consequently it is impossible be should receive any 
influx from the Lord through heaven. I have also seen such 
persons admitted into heaven ; but when they were discovered 
to be without truths, they were cast down again ; yet still they 
remained full of a conceit that they deserved to be in heaven. 
The case is different with those who have studied the Word from 
the affection of knowing truth for truth’s sake, and because it is 
serviceable to the uses of life, not only in respect to themselves, 
but also to their neighbor. I have seen these raised up into 
heaven, and thus into the light wherein divine truth there 
appears, and at the same time exalted into that angelic wisdom 
and its happiness which the angels of heaven enjoy. 

YI. That by the literal sense of the word a man has con- 
junction WITH THE LORD, AND CONSOCIATION WITH THE ANGELS. 

234. The reason why a man has conjunction with the Lord, by 
means of the Word, is, because he is the Word, that is, the very 
divine truth and divine good contained therein ; and the reason 
why such conjunction is effected by the literal sense is, because 
the Word in that sense is in its fulness, in its holiness, and in its 
power, as was shown above. This conjunction is not apparent to 
man, but is wrought in the affection and perception of truth. The 
reason of a man’s consociation with angels, by means of the lit- 
eral sense, is because the spiritual and celestial senses are contained 
in that sense, and the angels are in those senses, the angels of the 
Lord’s spiritual kingdom in the spiritual sense of the Word, and 
the angels of the Lord’s celestial kingdom in its celestial sense. 
Those two senses are evolved or unfolded from the natural sense, 
while it is read by a person who accounts the Word holy. Such 
evolution is instantaneous, consequently so also is consociation. 

235. It has been proved to me by manifold experience, that 
the spiritual angels are in the spiritual sense of the Word, and 
the celestial angels in its celestial sense. It was granted me to 
perceive, that while I was reading the Word in its literal sense 
communication was opened with the heavens, sometimes with 
one society, sometimes with another. What I understood according 
to the natural sense, the spiritual angels understood according to 
the spiritual sense, and the celestial angels according to the celes- 
tial sense, and this in an instant ; and as I have perceived this 
communication many thousand times, I have not a single doubt 
remaining as to its reality. There are spirits also below the heavens, 
who abuse this communication; for they read over particular pas- 
sages in the literal sense of the Word, and immediately observe 
and note the society with which communication is effected. This 
also I have frequently seen and heard. From these circumstances 
it has been granted me to know, by sensible experience, that the 
Word, as to its literal sense, is a divine medium of conjunction 
with the Lord, and of consociation with the angels of heaven. 

236. But we will illustrate by instances in what manner the 
275 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


236, 237 

spiritual angels perceive their sense, and the celestial angels 
theirs, from the natural sense, while a man is reading the Word. 
Let us take as examples four commandments ot the Decalogue 
beginning with the fifth. Thou shalt not commit murder. By 
murdering, a man understands not only the taking . away 
another’s life, but likewise bearing malice and hatred in the 
heart, and breathing a revengeful spirit against any person, even 
to death ; whereas, by murdering, a spiritual angel understands 
to play the devil’s part', and destroy men’s souls ; and a celestial 
angel, by murdering, understands to hate the Lord and the 
Word. So with respect to the sixth commandment, Thou shalt 
not commit adultery. By committing adultery, a man under 
stands to commit whoredom, to be guilty of obscene practices, 
to indulge in wanton discourse, and to entertain filthy thoughts ; 
whereas a spiritual angel, by committing adultery, understands 
to adulterate the goods of the Word, and to falsity its truths ; 
but a celestial angel, by committing adultery, understands to 
deny the Divinity of the Lord, and to profane the Word. Again, 
in the seventh commandment, Thou shalt not steal. By stealing, 
a man understands to rob, to defraud, and under any pre- 
tence to take from another what belongs to him ; whereas a 
spiritual angel, by stealing, understands to deprive others of their 
truths and goods of faith, by means of falses and evils ; but a 
celestial angel, by stealing, understands to attribute to himself 
what belongs to the Lord, and to appropriate to himself his 
righteousness and merit. Lastly, in the fhghth commandment, 
Thou shalt not bear fcdse witness. By bearing false witness, a 
man understands also to tell lies, and to defame any person ; 
whereas a spiritual angel, by bearing false witness, understands 
to 0 clare and to endeavor to persuade others that what is false 
is true, and what is evil is good, and contrariwise; but a celestial 
angel, by bearing false witness, understands to blaspheme the 
Lord and the Word. These instances may serve to show after 
what manner the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word are 
unfolded and extracted from the natural sense in which they are 
contained : and what is wonderful, the angels extract their 
senses without having any knowledge of a man’s thoughts ; but 
still the thoughts of angels and men make a one by correspond- 
ences, like end, cause, and effect ; for ends do actually exist in 
the celestial kingdom, causes in the spiritual kingdom, and 
effects in the natural kingdom ; hence, then, the consociation of 
men with angels is effected by the Word. 

237. The reason why a spiritual angel, from the literal sense 
of the Word, extracts and calls forth spiritual things, and a 
celestial angel celestial things, is, because they are in agreement 
with their natures, and are homogeneous. This may be illus- 
trated by similar cases in the three kingdoms of nature, the 
animal, the vegetable, and the mineral. In the animal king- 
276 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


237— 239 


dom, for instance, when the food is formed into chyle, the blood 
vessels extract from thence and call forth their blood, the nerv- 
ous fibres their juices, and the substances whence those fibres 
originate their spirit. In the vegetable kingdom, a tree with 
its trunk, branches, leaves, and fruits, is supported on its root,' 
and out of the ground, by means of its root, extracts and calls 
forth a grosser juice for the trunk, branches, and leaves, a purer 
for the fleshy part of the fruit, and the purest of all for the seeds 
within the fruit. So lastly, in the mineral kingdom, minerals, 
in some places in the bowels of the earth, are impregnated with 
gold, silver, copper, and iron ; and from the vapors and effluvia 
which exhale from the rocks, the gold, silver, copper, and iron, 
attract their several elements, while the watery element is the 
medium of conveyance by which the other elements are dis- 
tributed around. 

238. The Word, in its literal sense, is like a cabinet which 
contains precious stones, pearls, and diadems, arranged in exact 
order; and where a man accounts the Word holy, and reads it 
for the sake of its uses in respect to life, the thoughts of his 
mind may be compared with a person who takes such a cabinet 
in his hand, and sends it up towards heaven, when lo ! it flies 
open in its ascent, and its precious contents are displayed to the 
sight of the angels, who are penetrated with delight in beholding 
and examining them. This delight of the angels is communi- 
cated to the man, producing consociation, and likewise a com- 
munication of perceptions. For the sake of such consociation 
with angels, and conjunction with the Lord, the Holy Supper 
was instituted, in which the bread becomes, in heaven, divine 
good, and the wine, divine truth, both from the Lord. *Such 
correspondence was established from creation, in order that the 
angelic heaven and the church on earth, and in general the 
spiritual world and the natural, might make a one, and that the 
Lord might at once conjoin himself with both. 

239. The reason why the consociation of a man with the an- 
gels is effected by the natural or literal sense of the Word, is, 
because in every man from creation, there are three degrees of 
life, the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural. A man, how- 
ever, is in the natural degree, so long as he continues in this 
world; and at the same time so far in the angelic spiritual de- 
gree as he is in genuine truths ; and so far in the angelic celes- 
tial degree as he is in a life according to those truths ; neverthe- 
less, he is not admitted into the spiritual and celestial degrees 
themselves till after death, because they are both included and 
hid within his natural ideas ; wherefore when the natural is put 
off by death, the spiritual and celestial remain, from whence the 
ideas of his thought then flow. From what has been said it 
must appear evidently, that the word alone contains spirit and 
life, as the Lord says, “ The words which I speak unto you are 

277 


239—241 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE. 


spirit and life” (John vi. 63). “ The water that I will give you, 

shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” 
(John iv. 14). “ Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. iv. 4). 
“ Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which 
endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man will give 
unto you” (John vi. 27). 

VII. That the word is in all the heavens, and the wisdom 

OF THE ANGELS IS THENCE DERIVED. 

240. It has remained a secret to mankind unto this day, that 
the Word is in the heavens, and it could not be made known so 
long as the church was ignorant that angels and spirits are men, 
with faces and bodies like men in this our world, and other things 
among them similar to what we see among men on earth, differ- 
ing only in this', that they themselves are spiritual beings, and 
that all things which they have among them are from a spiritual 
origin ; whereas men on earth are natural beings, and all things 
among them are from a natural origin. So long as this remained 
concealed, it could never be known that the Word is also in the 
heavens, and is read by the angelic inhabitants, and also by the 
spirits who are beneath the heavens. But lest this truth should 
remain forever a secret, it has been granted me to be in fellow- 
ship with angels and spirits, to converse with them, and to see 
what is in their world, and afterwards to relate to mankind many 
of the things which I have seen and heard. This I have done 
in a treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, published at London 
in the year 1758 ; from which work it will appear that angels and 
spirits are men, and having among them an abundance of all such 
things as exist among men on earth. That angels and spirits are 
men may be seen in that treatise, n. 73 — 77, and n. 453 — 456. 
That the same things exist among them that exist here among 
men, n. 170 — 190 ; also, that they have divine worship among 
them, and preaching in their temples, n. 221 — 227 ; likewise 
writings and books, n. 253 — 264 ; and also the Holy Scripture 
or Word, n. 259. 

241. As to what respects the Word in heaven, it is written 
in a spiritual style, which differs entirely from a natural style : 
a spiritual style consists of mere letters, each of which in- 
volves some particular sense ; and there are small lines, cur- 
vatures and dots, above and between the letters, and inserted 
in them, which exalt the sense. The letters in use among 
the angels of the spiritual kingdom are like the letters used 
in printing among men ; and the letters in use among the 
angels of the celestial kingdom are, in some societies, like Ara- 
bic characters, in others like the old Hebrew letters, but in- 
flected above and beneath, with marks above, between, and 
within them, each of which in itself involves some entire sense. 
Since their writing is of such a nature, therefore the names of 

278 


OK WORD OF THE LORD. 


241, 242 


persons and places which occur in the Word are expressed among 
them by marks. Thence the wiser angels understand what 
spiritual and celestial meaning is involved in each name ; as that 
Moses means the Word of God which he wrote, and in general 
the historical Word ; Elijah, the prophetic Word ; Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, the Lord with respect to his divine-celestial, 
his divine-spiritual, and his divine-natural ; Aaron, the priestly 
office ; David, the kingly office, each in relation to the Lord ; the 
names of the sons of Jacob, or the twelve tribes of Israel, signify 
various things respecting heaven and the church ; so also the 
names of the Lord’s twelve disciples ; Zion and Jerusalem, the 
church as to doctrine derived from the Word ; the land of Canaan, 
the church itself; the places and cities therein, on this side the 
river Jordan and beyond it, signify various things relating to the 
church and its doctrine. The case is the same in respect to 
numbers ; they do not occur in the copies of the Word writ- 
ten in heaven, but instead of them the realities with which the 
numbers correspond are expressed. It is hence plain to see, that 
the Word in heaven, as to the literal sense, is similar to, and 
at the same time corresponding with, our Word, and that con- 
sequently they are a one. It is a wonderful circumstance, that 
the Word in heaven is so written, that the simple understand 
it in simplicity, and the wise in wisdom ; for there are various 
curvatures and marks over the letters, which, as was observed, 
exalt the sense, but which the simple neither regard nor un- 
derstand ; whereas the wise are attentive to them, every one 
in proportion to his wisdom, even to its highest degree. A 
copy of the Word, written by angels under the Lord’s inspira- 
tion, is kept by every considerable society in a sacred reposi- 
tory appointed for that purpose, lest it should suffer alteration 
in any of its points and marks. The Word in our world is so 
far similar to that in heaven, that the simple understand it in 
simplicity, and the wise in wisdom ; but this is effected in a 
different manner. 

242. The angels themselves confess that they derive all their 
wisdom from the Word ; for in proportion to their understanding 
of the Word is the degree of light in which they dwell : the 
light of heaven is divine wisdom, which in the eyes of the angels 
is light. In the sacred repository where the copy of the Word 
is kept, the light is bright and flaming, exceeding every degree 
of light that shines in the other parts of heaven. The wisdom 
of the celestial angels exceeds that' of the spiritual angels, almost 
as much as the»wisdom of the spiritual angels exceeds that of 
men ; and this because the celestial angels are in the good of 
love from the Lord, and the spiritual angels in the truths ol 
wisdom from the Lord ; and wherever there is the good of love, 
there wisdom resides at the same time ; but where there are 
truths, there no more wisdom resides than in proportion to the 
279 


242-245 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE. 


good of love by which it is attended. This is the reason why 
the Word in the Lord’s celestial kingdom is differently written 
from the Word in his spiritual kingdom; for in the Word of 
the celestial kingdom the expressions are goods of love, and the 
marks are affections of love ; but in the Word of the spiritual 
kingdom the expressions are truths of wisdom, and the marks 
interior perceptions of truth. We may from this conclude how 

f reat must be the wisdom which lies concealed in the Word we 
ave here on earth ; for in this is hidden all angelic wisdom, 
which is inexpressible ; and every man who is made an angel by 
the Lord through the Word, comes into this wisdom after death. 
VIII. That the church exists from the word, and the 

QUALITY OF THE CHURCH WITH MAN IS ACCORDING TO HIS UNDER- 
STANDING OF THE WORD. 

243. That the church exists from the Word cannot possibly 
be a matter of doubt, for it was shown above that the Word is 
divine truth, n. 189 — 192 ; that the doctrine of the church is 
derived from the Word, n. 225 — 233; and that conjunction 
with the Lord is effected by means of the Word, n. 234 — 239 ; 
but that the understanding of the Word constitutes the church, 
may be made a matter of doubt, as there are some who believe 
that they belong to the church merely because they are in pos- 
session of the Word, and read it, or hear it from a preacher, 
and have some knowledge of its literal sense ; although at the 
same time, they are totally ignorant of its meaning, and how 
it is to be understood in different passages, which they very 
frequently make a matter of small account. It will be necessary 
to prove then that it is not merely the Word, but the right 
understanding thereof, which constitutes the church, and that 
the quality of the church is determinable by the understanding 
of the Word among its members. 

244. The reason w T hy the quality of the church depends on 
the understanding of the Word is because the quality of the 
church depends on the truths of faith and the goods of charity ; 
and these are two universals, which are not only scattered 
through every part of the literal sense of the Word, but also lie 
concealed within like jewels in a treasury. The contents of 
the literal sense are apparent to every man, because they lie im- 
mediately before his eyes ; but the latent contents of the spiritual 
sense appear only to those who love truths for the sake of truths, 
and do good for the sake of good : to such the treasure is dis- 
covered, which the literal sense hides and guards ; and these 
goods and truths are the essential constituents of the church. 

245. It is generally acknowledged that the quality of the 
church depends on its doctrine, also that its doctrine must be 
drawn from the Word ; still it is not mere doctrine, but its 
soundness and purity, which establishes the church, consequently 
the understanding of the Word; for mere doctrine dcJes not 
280 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


245, 246 


establish and constitute the church in each individual man, but 
faith and life in agreement with it ; in like manner the Word 
does not establish and constitute the church in individuals, but 
a faith conformable to the truths, and a life conformable to the 
goods, which each man extracts thence and applies to his own 
state. The Word is like a mine, whose depths contain an abun- 
dance of gold and silver ; or like a mine which, the deeper it is 
penetrated, exhibits precious stones of a higher and more excel- 
lent value ; and these mines are opened according to the under- 
standing of the Word : for if it be not understood, as it is in its 
true nature, in its interior contents and its depths, it is impossi- 
ble it should constitute the church among men any more than 
the mines of gold and precious stones in the kingdoms of Asia 
would make a European rich, unless he had some share in their 
actual possession. The Word, among such as seek to collect 
thence Jthe truths of faith and the goods of life, is like the treas- 
ures belonging to the King of Persia, the Great Mogul, or the 
Emperor of China ; and the members of the church are like of- 
ficers set over those treasures, having the liberty given them of 
taking what they please to their own use ; whereas, those who 
only have the Word in their possession, and read it, without 
ever seeking after genuine truths to form the objects of their 
faith, and genuine goods for the purposes of life, are like those 
who only know by hearsay that such treasures exist, but never 
receive a single piece of money for their own use. Those who 
have the word in their possession, and yet never draw from 
thence any portion of the understanding of genuine truth, or of 
the will of genuine good, are like persons who fancy themselves 
rich in consequence of having borrowed money from others, 01 
who imagine that they are the real owners of estates, houses, 
and goods, which they only rent and hire ; than which there 
cannot be a more palpable delusion. They may be further 
compared with those who are clad in rich garments, and are 
carried"' in gilded chariots, with a numerous train of guards and 
attendants, and yet have no property in all this stately equipage 
and retinue. 

246. Such was, the Jewish nation when the Lord appeared 
among them, and he therefore likens them, in consequence of 
their possessing the Word, to a rich man, clothed in purple and 
fine linen, who fared sumptuously every day ; and yet this rich 
man had never extracted from the Word so much truth and 
good as to show mercy and compassion to poor Lazarus, who 
lay at his gates full of sores; tor the Jews not only neglected to 
appropriate to themselves any truths from the Word, but they 
appropriated falses in such abundance that at length they could 
not see any truth ; for truths are not only concealed by falses, 
but also are thereby obliterated and rejected : hence it was that 
281 


TI1E S ACHED SCRIPTURE, 


246, 247 

they did not acknowledge the Messiah, although all the j>rophets 
had announced hisadvent. 

247. The prophets, in many parts of their writings, describe 
the Israelitish and Jewish church as totally destroyed and anni- 
hilated, in consequence of falsifying the meaning or understand- 
ing of the Word ; for the destruction of the church proceeds from 
no other source than this. The understanding of the Word, 
both true and false, is described in the prophetic writings, par- 
ticularly in the prophet Hosea, by Ephraim ; for the understand- 
ing of the Word in the church is signified in the Word by 
Ephraim. Since the understanding of the Word constitutes the 
church, therefore Ephraim is called u a deal' son and a pleasant 
child” (Jeremiah xxxi. 20) ; “ The first-born” (xxxi. 9); “ The 
strength of the head of Jehovah ” (Psalm lx. 7 ; cviii. 8) ; “4 
mighty man ” (Zech. x. 7); “ Filled with the bow” (ix. 13); and 
the children of Ephraim are called “ armed and shooters with 
the bow” (Psalm lxxviii. 9) ; for a bow signifies doctrine derived 
from the Word, combating with falses. For the same reason 
also, “Israel set his right hand upon Ephraim, and blessed him 1 ’ 
(Gen. xlviii. 14). And he was also accepted in lieu of Peuben 
(ver. 5); and for the same reason, Ephraim, with his brother, 
Manasseh, under the name of their father Joseph, was exalted 
by Moses in his blessing of the children of Israel above all the 
rest (Deut. xxxiii. 13 — 17). But the state and nature of the 

church when the understanding of the Word is destroyed, is also 
described in the writings of the prophets by Ephraim, particu- 
larly in Hosea ; as in these passages : “ Israel and Ephraim 
shall fall in their iniquity ; Ephraim shall be desolate ; Ephraim 
is oppressed and broken in judgment” (v. 5, 9, 11 — 14). u O 
Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? For thy goodness is as a 
morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away” (Hosea vi. 
4). “They shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah; but Ephraim 
shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean things in Assyria” 
(ix. 3). The land of Jehovah is the church ; Egypt' is the 
scientific principle of the natural man; Assyria is reasoning 
founded on it : therefore it is said, that Ephraim shall return 
into Egypt, and shall eat unclean things in Assyria. “Ephraim 
feedeth on wind, and folio weth after the east wind ; he daily 
increaseth lies and desolations ; he maketh a covenant with 
Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt” (xii. 1). To feed on 
wind, to follow after the east wind, to increase lies and desola- 
tions, is to falsify truths, and so to destroy the church. The 
same is also signified by the whoredom of Ephraim ; for whore- 
dom signifies the falsification of the understanding of the Word, 
that is, of its genuine truth ; as in these passages : “ For now, 
O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled’ 
(v. 3). “I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel* 
282 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


247, 248 

there is the whoredom of Ephraim, and Israel is defiled” (vi. 
10). Israel means the church itself, and Ephraim, the under- 
standing of the Word, which determines the state and quality 
of the church ; therefore it is said, Ephraim commits whoredom 
and Israel is defiled. But as the church among the children of 
Israel and J udah was totally destroyed by falsifications of the 
Word, therefore it is said of Ephraim, “I will give thee up, 
Ephraim, I will deliver thee up, Israel, I will make thee as 
Admah, I will set thee as Zeboim” (xi. 8). Now since the 
prophet Hosea, from the first chapter to the last, treats of the 
falsification of the genuine understanding of the Word, and of 
the consequent destruction of the church, therefore he was com- 
manded, for the purpose of representing that state of the church, 
“ to take unto himself a wile of whoredoms, and children of 
whoredoms” (i. 2) ; and again, 44 to take to himself an adulter- 
ess” (iii. 1). We have quoted these passages for the sake of 
showing and proving from the Word that the quality of the 
church is always determined by its understanding of the Word ; 
and that it is excellent and precious, if its understanding be 
founded on the genuine truths of the Word, but that it is de- 
stroyed, yea, filthy, if it be founded on truths falsified. 

IX. That the marriage of the lord and the church, and 

THENCE THE MARRIAGE OF GOOD AND TRUTH, IS IN EVERY PART OF 
THE WORD. 

248. That the marriage of the Lord and the church, and 
thence the marriage of good and truth, is in every part of the 
Word, has never yet been discovered ; and it could not be dis- 
covered so long as the spiritual sense of the Word remained 
unknown, for this sense alone can make manifest such a mar- 
riage. There are two senses contained in the Word, which lie 
concealed in it's literal sense, and are called spiritual and celes- 
tial ; what belongs to the spiritual sense of the Word has more 
particular relation to the church, and what belongs to the celes- 
tial sense, to the Lord. The contents also of the spiritual sense 
have relation to divine truth, and the contents of the celestial 
sense, to divine good ; and this is the ground of the above-men- 
tioned marriage in the Word. But this is apparent only to 
those who, by virtue of the spiritual and celestial sense of the 
Word, are acquainted with the signification of its names and 
expressions ; for some particular names and expressions are pre- 
dicated of good, and some of truth, and some include both ; 
therefore, without the knowledge of such signification, it is im- 
possible to see how such a marriage exists in every part of the 
Word ; and this is the reason why this arcanum was never here- 
tofore discovered. Since there is such a marriage in every part 
of the Word, therefore we frequently find in the Word two ex- 
pressions, which appear like repetitions of one and the same 
thing ; they are, however, not repetitions, but one has relation 
283 


248—250 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


to good, and the other to truth, and both taken together effect 
the conjunction of good and truth, and consequently make them 
a one. This also is the true ground of the divine sanctity of the 
Word ; for in every divine work there is a conjunction of good 
with truth, and of truth with good. 

249. It is asserted that the marriage of good and truth in 
the Word is a consequence of the marriage of the Lord and the 
church therein, because wherever the marriage of the Lord and 
the church is, there also is the marriage of good and truth, the 
latter marriage being derived from the former ; for when the 
church, or any member of it, is principled in truths, then the 
Lord flows in by good into those truths, and communicates life 
to them ; or, what amounts to the same, When any member of 
the church is in the understanding of truth, then the Lord flows 
in by the good of charity into that understanding, and thus in- 
fuses life into it. There are two faculties of life in every man, 
which are called understanding and will : the understanding is 
the receptacle of truth, and thence of wisdom, and the will is 
the receptacle of good, and thence of charity. These two facul- 
ties ought to be united, and make a one, in order that a man 
may be a member of the church ; and they are so united when 
a man forms his understanding of genuine truths, which is done 
to all appearance as of himself, and when his will is replenished 
with the good of love, which is effected by the Lord : hence 
man derives the life of truth and the life of good ; the life of 
truth in his understanding, and the life of good in his will, 
which being united, constitute no longer two but one life. In 
this consists the marriage of the Lord and the church, and also 
the marriage of good and truth in man. 

250. That there are two expressions used in the Word, which 
appear like repetitions of the same thing, must be evident to 
every attentive reader ; as for instance, brother and companion, 
poor and needy, wilderness and desert, vacuity and emptiness, 
foe and enemy, sin and iniquity, anger and wrath, nation and 
people, joy and gladness, mourning and weeping, justice and 
judgment, &c. These appear to be synonymous expressions, 
when in fact they are not ; for the terms brother, poor, wilder- 
ness, vacuity, foe, sin, anger, nation joy, mourning, and justice, 
are predicated of good, and, in the opposite sense, of evil ; 
whereas the terms companion, needy, desert, emptiness, enemy, 
iniquity, wrath, people, gladness, weeping, and judgment, are 
predicated of truth, and, in the opposite sense, of what is false ; 
and yet it must appear to the reader who is unacquainted with 
this arcanum, as if the terms poor and needy, desert and wilder- 
ness, vacuity and emptiness, &c., were one thing ; whereas they 
are not so, but yet they become one thing by conjunction. In 
the Word also we frequently find two things joined together; 
as fire and flame, gold and silver, brass and iron, wood and stone. 

284 


OR WORD OF THE # LORD. 250, 25 i 

bread and wine, purple and fine linen, &c. ; because fire, gold, 
brass, wood, bread, and purple, are predicated of good; whereas 
flame, silver, iron, stone, water, wine, and fine linen, are predi- 
cated of truth. In like manner it is said that God is to be loved 
with all the heart, and with all the soul, and also that God will 
create in man a new heart and a new spirit ; for heart is predi- 
cated of the good of love, and soul and spirit of the truths of 
faith. There are some expressions also, winch in consequence 
of partaking alike both of good and truth, are used by themselves 
without the adjunction of others ; but these, and many things 
besides, are apparent only to the angels, and to those who see 
into the spiritual sense of the Word while they are reading the 
natural sense. 

251. It would be tedious to show from the Word that two 
expressions of this nature are used, and it would fill a volume to 
quote all the particular cases that occur ; I will however produce 
some passages, in order to remove all doubt on this subject, 
where the terms nation and people, joy and gladness, are 
used together. The following are the passages where nation 
and people occur together: “ All ! sinful nation , a people laden 
with iniquity” (Isaiah i. 4). u The people that walked in dark- 
ness have seen a great light : thou hast multiplied the nation ” 
(ix. 2, 3). “ O Assyria, the rod of mine anger, I will send him 

against a hypocritical nation , and against the people of my wrath 
will I give him a charge” (x. 5, 6). “In that day there shall 
be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign to th e people : 
to it shall the nations seek” (xi. 10). “Jehovah, who smiteth 
the people in wrath with an incurable stroke, that ruleth the 
nations in anger” (xiv. 6). “In that day shall be brought, as 
an offering to Jehovah Zebaoth, people scattered and peeled, a 
nation drawn out and trodden down” (xviii. 7). “ A strong 

people shall honor thee ; the city of powerful nations shall fear 
thee” (xxv. 3). “ Jehovah will destroy in this mountain the 

face of the covering cast over all people , and the veil that is 
spread over all nations ” (xxv. 7). “ Come near, ye nations , to 
hear; and hearken, ye people” (xxxiv. 1). “I have called thee 
for a covenant of the people , for a light of the nations ” (xlii. 6). 
“ Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be 
assembled” (xliii. 9). “ Behold, I will lift up my hand to the 

nations , and set up my standard to th e people” (xlix. 22). “Be- 
hold, I have given him for a witness to the people , a leader and 
a commander to the nations” (lv. 4). “ Behold, a people cometh 

from the north country, and a great nation from the sides of the 
earth” (Jerem. vi. 22). “I will not make thee hear the calumny 
of the nations any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of 
the people any more” (Ezek. xxxvi. 15). “ All people and nations 
shall worship him” (Dan. vii. 11). “ Let not the nations rule 

over them, and let them not say among the people where is their 
285 


THE SA€RED SCRIPTURE, 


251, 252 

God?” (Joel ii. 17). u The remains of my people shall ^spoil 
them, and the resiaue of my nation shall possess them” (Zeph. 
ii. 9). “ Many people, and numerous nations , shall come to seek 
Jehovah in Jerusalem” (Zech. viii. 22). “Mine eyes have seen 
thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face ot all 
people , a light to lighten the nations ” (Luke ii. 30, 31, 32). 
“ Thou hast redeemed us by thy blood out of every people and 
nation ” (Rev. v. 9). “ Thou must prophesy again before many 

people and nations ” (x. 11). “ Thou shalt set me as the head 

of the nations : a people whom I have not known shall serve me” 
(Psalm xviii. 43). “ Jehovah maketh vain the counsel of the 

nations ; he overturneth the thoughts of th z people” (xxxiii. 10). 
“ Thou makest us a proverb among the nations , a shaking of the 
head among th people” (xliv. 14). “Jehovah shall subdue the 
people under us, and the nations under our feet : Jehovah reign- 
eth over the nations; the princes of the people are gathered 
together” (xlvii. 3, 8, 9). “ Let the people praise thee; let the 

nations sing for joy : for thou shalt judge the people in upright- 
ness, and govern the nations upon earth” (lxvii. 3, 4). “ Re- 

member me, Jehovah, when thou art well pleased with thy people, 
that I may be glad in the joy of thy nations ” (cvi. 4, 5) ; not to 
mention several other places. The reason why people and nations 
are expressed at the same time is because by nations are under- 
stood those who are in good, and, in the opposite sense, those 
who are in evil, and by people, those who are in truths, and, in 
the opposite sense, those who are in falses. For this reason those 
who are of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are called people, and 
those who are of his celestial kingdom are called nations ; for all 
in the spiritual kingdom are in truths, and thereby in intelli- 
gence, but all in the celestial kingdom are in goods, and thereby 
in wisdom. 

252. The case is the same with many other expressions, as 
with joy and gladness, which frequently occur together, as 
may be seen in the following passages : “ And behold, joy and 
gladness , slaying oxen and killing sheep” (Isaiah xxii. 13). 
“ They shall obtain joy and gladness , and sorrow and sighing 
shall flee away” (xxxv. 10 ; li. 11). “ Joy and gladness are 

cut off from the house of our God” (Joel i. 16). “ Then will I 

cause to cease from Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice ot 
gladness ” (Jer. vii. 34; xxv. 10). “The fast of the tenth month 
shall be to the house of Judah^y and gladness ” (Zech. viii. 19). 
“ Be glad in Jerusalem, and rejoice in her” (Isaiah Ixvi. 10). 
“ Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom” (Lament, iv. 21). 
“ Let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God” (Psalm lx viii. 
3). Make me to hear joy and gladness ” (li. 8). Joy and glad- 
ness shall be found in Zion, thanksgiving and the voice of sing- 
ing” (Isaiah li. 3). And thou shalt have joy and gladness , and 
many shall rejoice at his birth” (Luke i. 14). “ I will cause to 

286 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


252 — 254 


cease the voice of joy and the voice of gladness , the voice of the 
bridegroom and the voice of the bride” (Jerem. vii. 34 ; xvi. 9 ; 
xxv. 10). “ Again there shall be heard in this place the voice 

of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and 
the voice of the bride” (xxxiii. 10, 11). The reason why both 
joy and gladness are mentioned in these passages is, because joy 
is predicated of good, and gladness of truth ; or joy of love, and 
gladness of wisdom; for joy belongs to the heart, and gladness 
to the spirit ; or joy belongs to the will, and gladness to the 
understanding. That the marriage of the Lord and the church 
is also contained in these two, is evident from this circumstance, 
that mention is made of “ the voice of joy and the voice of glad- 
ness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride” 
(Jer. vii. 34 ; xvi. 9 ; xxv. 10 ; xxxiii. 10, 11) ; and the Lord is 
the bridegroom, and the church the bride. That the Lord is 
the bridegroom, may be seen (Matt. ix. 15 ; Mark ii. 19, 20 ; 
Luke v. 34) ; and that the church is the bride, may be seen 
(Rev. xxi. 2, 9 ; xxii. 17) ; therefore John the Baptist said of 
Jesus, “ He that hath the bride is the bridegroom” (John iii. 29). 

253. By reason of the marriage of divine good and divine 
truth in every part of the Word, the expression Jehovah God 
so frequently occurs, also Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel, 
as if they were two, when nevertheless they are one ; for by Je- 
hovah is meant the Lord as to the divine good of his divine love ; 
and by God, and the Holy One of Israel, is meant the Lord as 
to the divine truth of his divine wisdom. That the expressions 
Jehovah and God, and Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel, 
also occur in many parts of the Word, and yet signify one, may 
be seen in the Doctrine concerning the Lord the Redeemer. 

X. That men may collect and imbibe heretical opinions 

FROM THE LETTER OF THE WORD, BUT IT IS HURTFUL TO CONFIRM 
SUCH OPINIONS. 

254. It was shown above, that the Word cannot be under- 
stood without doctrine, that doctrine is as a lantern for the 
discovery of genuine truths, and that this is a consequence ot 
the Word’s being written by mere correspondences : hence it is 
that many passages are appearances of truth, and not naked 
truths ; thus many are adapted to the apprehension of the merely 
natural man, yet in such a manner that the simple may under- 
stand them in simplicity, the intelligent in intelligence, and the 
wise in wisdom. Now since the Word is of such a nature, the 
appearances of truth, which are truths clothed, may be taken 
for naked truths; and such appearances, when they are con- 
firmed, become fallacies, which in themselves are falses. All 
the heresies which ever did or do still exist in Christendom, 
have sprung from this circumstance, that men have taken ap- 
pearances of truth for genuine truths, and as such have confirmed 

hem. Heresies themselves do not occasion a man’s condemna- 
287 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE) 


254, 255. 

tion ; but confirmations of the falsities contained in any heresy 4 
by misapplication of the Word, and by reasonings that originate 
in the natural man together with an evil life ; these are whaf 
condemn him. For every one is by birth introduced into the 
religion of his country, or his parents, and is initiated into it 
from his earliest years, and afterwards continues in the same 
persuasion ; and he cannot of himself extricate himself from its 
falses, being prevented both by his engagements in the world and 
by the weakness of the human understanding when applied to the 
discovery of religious truths ; but to live in evil, and to confirm 
falses, so as to destroy genuine truths, this it is which causes 
condemnation. For whoever abides in the religion of his coun- 
try, and believes in God, and (in case he be of the Christian 
church) believes in the Lord, esteems the Word to be holy, and 
from a religious motive lives according to the commandments 
of the decalogue, such a one never confirms himself in falses. 
When therefore truths are proposed to him, and he perceives 
them according to the measure of light which he has attained, 
he is in a capacity to embrace them, and thus to be extricated 
from falses ; but the case is otherwise where a man has confirmed 
the falses of his religion ; these, when confirmed, are made per- 
manent and cannot be extirpated ; for when a man has con- 
firmed himself in what is false, he is bound to it, as it were, by 
an oath, especially if self-love, or the pride of his own under- 
standing, be engaged in its favor. 

255. I have conversed in the spiritual world with some who 
lived many ages ago, and had confirmed themselves in the falses 
of their particular religious persuasions, and I found that they 
still continued rooted in the same ; I have likewise conversed in 
that world with others who had been of the same religious per- 
suasion, and had entertained the same notions with the former, 
but yet had not confirmed their falses in themselves ; and I 
found that when they were instructed by the angels, they rejected 
falses, and received truths ; the consequence was, that the latter 
were saved, but the former were not. Every man after death is 
instructed by angels, and those who discern truths, and thence 
falses, are received into heaven ; but those only are in a capacity 
to see truths who have not confirmed themselves in falses ; for 
those who have so confirmed themselves are unwilling to see 
truths, and in case they do see them, they turn their backs upon 
them, and then either ridicule or falsify them ; the true cause 
hereof is, that confirmation enters the will, and the will is the 
real man, and imparts to the understanding whatever form it 
pleases ; whereas bare knowledge enters the understanding only, 
and this has no power over the will ; consequently such knowl- 
edge is not in the man, but is, comparatively, like one stand- 
ing in an outer court, or gateway, and has not yet entered into 
the house. 

288 


OK WOKD OF THE LORD. 


256, 257 


256. But we will illustrate what we mean by an example. 
In many passages of the Word we find anger, wrath, and ven- 
geance, attributed to God, and it is said that he punishes, casts 
into hell, and tempts, with many other expressions of a similar 
nature; now when this is believed in a childlike simplicity, and 
made the ground of the fear of God, and of care not to offend 
him, no man incufs condemnation by such a simple belief. But 
when a man confirms himself in such notions, so as to bfe per- 
suaded that anger, wrath, vengeance, vindictiveness, and conse- 
quently passions which originate in evil, belong to God, and that 
he punishes mankind, and casts them into hell, under the influ- 
ence of such anger, wrath, and vengeance, in this case his belief 
is condemnatory, because he has destroyed the genuine truth, 
which teaches that God is love itself, mercy itself, and goodness 
itself, and being these, that he cannot be angry, wrathful, or 
revengeful. Where such evil passions then are attributed in the 
Word to God, it is owing to the appearance only; such things 
are but appearances of truth. 


257. That several expressions in the literal sense of the Word 
are but appearances of truth, which conceal genuine truths, and 
that it is not hurtful to think or even to speak in simplicity, 
according to such appearances, but that it is hurtful to confirm 
them, since by confirmation the divine truth concealed within is 
destroyed, may be also illustrated by an example from nature, to 
which we shall appeal, because what is natural enlightens and 
instructs the mind more clearly than what is spiritual. It 
appears to the bodily eye as if the sun performed a daily and 
annual revolution about the earth ; hence it is common to say 
that the sun rises and sets, that it causes morning, noon, even- 
ing, and night, and also the seasons of the year, spring, summer, 
autumn, and winter, and consequently days and years, when 
nevertheless the sun, being an ocean of fire, continues immova- 
ble, while it is the earth which moves, revolving daily on her own 
axis, and annually around the sun. A person now, who in sim- 
plicity and ignorance supposes that the sun revolves about the 
earth, does not destroy this natural truth respecting the earth’s 
rotation about her own axis, and her annual revolution in the 
ecliptic ; but whoever confirms the sun’s apparent motion by 
the reasonings of the natural man, particularly if he supports 
uch an opinion by the authority of the Word, which speaks of 
the sun’s rising and setting, invalidates and destroys the truth ; 
the consequence of which is, that he cannot afterwards discern it, 
though he have ocular demonstration given him that the whole 
firmament of stars has in like manner an apparent daily and 
annual motion, and yet one star never changes its situation in 
respect to another. That the sun moves is then an apparent 
truth, but that it does not move is a genuine truth ; neverthe 


289 


u 


257, 258 THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 

less every one speaks according to apparent truth, saying that 
the sun rises and sets ; and this indeed is allowable, because it 
is impossible to use any other mode of expression ; but to think, 
in conformity with such a mode of expression, that the fact is 
really so, and to confirm such a thought, this dulls and darkens 
the rational understanding. 

258. That it is hurtful to confirm the appearances of truth 
that occur in the Word, on account of the fallacies which are 
thus occasioned, and because the divine truth which lies con- 
cealed under such appearances is thus destroyed, may be evident 
from this consideration : All and every part of the literal sense 
of the Word has communication with heaven, arising, as was 
shown above, from the spiritual sense which it contains, and 
which is opened in its passage from man to heaven. Now all 
things contained in the spiritual sense are genuine truths; when 
therefore a man is principled in falses, and applies the literal 
sense of the Word to their confirmation, in this case falses have 
interior possession, and when these enter, truths are dissipated, 
which (dissipation is effected in the way from man to heaven. 
This circumstance may admit of illustration by comparisons. It 
is like a shining bladder filled with gall, thrown by one person 
at another, which before it reaches him bursts in the air, and 
the gall is scattered about, and infects the air with its horrid 
stench ; and when the person at whom it was thrown perceives 
it he turns away, and also shuts his mouth, lest any particle of 
the gall should touch his tongue. It may also be compared to 
a barrel with cedar hoops, filled with vinegar, in which worms 
have bred, and which being thrown in like manner by one per- 
son at another, bursts in the way, and communicates its stench 
to the person at whom it was thrown ; and he, on account of the 
nausea which it excites, instantly fans the air, to prevent the 
stench from entering his nostrils. It may be further compared 
with the shell of an almond, within which, instead of the almond, 
a new-born serpent is inclosed, which, on the shell being broken, 
appears to be carried by the wind towards the eyes of a by- 
stander, who instantly turns aside to escape the invader. So "it 
is with the reading of the Word, when the reader is principled 
in falses, and applies some particulars contained in the literal 
sense to favor those falses ; his reading, in this case, is rejected 
before it reaches heaven, lest any of the falses with which he 
connects it should flow in, and infest the angels ; for the false, 
when it comes into contact with the truth, is like the point of a 
needle when it touches the fibril of a nerve, or the pupil of the 
eye : every one knows that in such a case the nervous fibril in- 
stantly draws back into a spiral, and folds itself within itself; in 
like manner the eye, at the first sensation of the needle’s touch, 
covers itself with its eyelids. Hence it appears that truth falsi- 
290 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


258—260 


fled prevents communication with heaven, and shuts it against 
the falsifier ; and this is the reason why it is hurtful to confirm 
any false heretical opinion. 

259. The Word is like a garden, which may be called a 
heavenly paradise, containing delicacies and delights of every 
kind, delicacies of fruits, and delights of flowers, in the midst of 
which are trees of life, and beside them fountains of living water, 
and forest trees round about the garden. Whoever is principled 
in divine truths, by virtue of doctrine, is in the midst of the 
garden, among the trees of life, and in the actual enjoyment ot 
its delicacies and delights. When a man is not principled in 
truths by virtue of doctrine, but only from the literal sense, he 
abides in the boundaries of the garden, and sees nothing but 
forest scenery ; but where a man is in the doctrine of a false 
religion, and has confirmed its falses in his mind, he is not even 
in the forest, but in a sandy plain without, where there is not 
even grass. That these are also the respective states of such 
persons after de&th, is shown in the treatise concerning Heaven 
and Hell. 

260. It is moreover to be observed, that the literal sense ot 
the Word is a guard to the genuine truths concealed in it, lest 
they should be injured ; and it operates as a guard thus, that 
the literal sense can be turned in every direction, and be ex- 
plained according to the reader’s apprehension, without its in- 
ternal being hurt and violated ; for no hurt ensues from the 
literal sense being understood differently by different persons : 
but the danger is, when a man introduces falses, which are con- 
trary to divine truths, as is the case with those, and those only, 
who have confirmed themselves in falses. From this the Word 
suffers violence, to prevent which the literal sense is its guard, 
and it operates as such a guard with those who are in falses 
from a principle of religion, and yet do not confirm them. The 
literal sense of the Word acting as a guard, is signified and also 
described in the Word by the cherubs. This guard is signified 
by the cherubs, which, after the expulsion of Adam and his wife 
from the garden of Eden, were placed at the entrance, of which 
it is written, u Jehovah God drove out the man, and placed, at 
the east of the garden of Eden, cherubs, and a flaming sword, 
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” 
(Gen. iii. 23, 24). No one can know what these words signify, 
unless he knows the signification of cherubs, of the garden of 
Eden, of the tree of life therein, and lastly, of the flaming sword 
which turned every way. All these particulars are explained in 
the work entitled Arcana C(elestia, published at London, 
where it is shown that cherubs signify a guard ; the way of the 
tree of life signifies admission to the Lord, which men have by 
means of the truths contained in the spiritual sense of the Word 

291 


260 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


divine truth in its ultimates is represented by the flaming sward, 
which turned every way, which, like the Word in its literal 
sense, is thus capable of being so turned. The like is under- 
stood by the “ cherubs made of gold oyer the two extremities of 
the propitiatory which was above the ark, in the tabernacle” 
(Exod. xxv. 17 — 21). The Word is signified by the ark, because 
the decalogue contained in it was its primitive ; the cherubs 
there signify a guard, on which account the Lord talked with 
Moses from between them (xxv. 22 ; Numb. vii. 89) ; and he 
spoke in the natural sense, for he never speaks with man but in 
fulness, and divine truth, in the literal sense, is in its fulness, as 
was shown above, n. 214 — 224. The like is understood by 
“ the cherubs over the curtains of the tabernacle, and over the 
vail” (Exod. xxvi. 31) ; for the curtains and vails of the taber- 
nacle signified the ultimates of heaven and the church, and con- 
sequently of the Word, n. 220 ; and also by the “ cherubs carved 
over the walls and doors of the temple at Jerusalem” (1 Kings 
vi. 29, 32, 35); see above, n. 221 ; and also by the “ cherubs in 
the new temple” (Ezek. xli. 18, 19, 20). Since cherubs signi- 
fied a guard, to show that the Lord, heaven, and divine truth, 
which constitute the internal of the Word, should not be ap- 
proached immediately, but by the mediation of ultimates, it is 
therefore said of the king of Tyre, “ Thou that sealest up the 
sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty ; thou hast been in 
Eden the garden of God ; every precious stone was thy covering ; 
thou, O Jherub , wast the spreading forth of the covering ; I have 
destroyed thee, 0 covering cherub , from the midst of the stones 
of fire” (xxviii. 12, 13, 14, 16). Tyre signifies the church in 
respect to the knowledges of truth and good, and hence, the 
king of Tyre is the Word, where those knowledges are, and from 
whence they are derived. That the Word in its ultimate in this 
place is signified by the king of Tyre, and by cherub, a guard, 
is plain from this circumstance, that it is said, “ Thou that 
sealest up the sum, every precious stone was thy covering ; thou, 
O cherub, art the spreading forth of the covering,” and “ O 
covering cherub.” That whatever belongs to the literal sense of 
the Word is signified by the precious stones, which are also men- 
tioned in the same chapter, may be seen above, n. 217, 218. 
Since the Word in its ultimates is signified by cherubs, and also 
a guard, it is therefore written in the rsalms of David, “ Jehovah 
bowed the heavens, and came down ; and he rode upon a cherub” 
(xviii. 9,10). “O shepherd of Israel, thou that sittest upon the 
cherubs, shine forth” (lxxx. 1). “Jehovah sitteth upon the 
cherubs” (xcix. 1). To ride on the cherubs, and to sit upon 
•them, means on the ultimate sense of the Word. Divine truth 
in the Word, with its nature and quality, is described by the 
four animals, which are also called cherubs, in Ezekiel i., ix., and 
292 


OB WORD OF THE LORD. 


260— 262 


x. ; and likewise by the four animals in the midst of the throne, 
and near the throne, Rev. iv. 6. See the Apocalypse Revealed. 
n. 239, 275, 314. 

XI. That THE LORD, DURING HIS ABODE IN THE WORLD, FUL- 
FILLED ALL THINGS CONTAINED IN THE WORD, AND WAS THUS 
MADE THE WORD, THAT IS, THE DIVINE TRUTH, EVEN IN ULTI- 
MATES. 

261. That the Lord during his abode in the world fulfilled 
all things contained in the Word, and that he was thus made the 
divine truth, or the Word, even in nltimates, is understood by 
these words in John: “ And the Word was made flesh, and 
dwelt amongst us ; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (i. 14) ; to 
be made flesh, is to be made the Word in ultimates. What the 
Lord’s appearance is, as the Word in ultimates, he exhibited 
to his disciples at his transfiguration (Matt. xvii. 2, Ac. ; Mark 
ix. 2, Ac. ; Luke ix. 29). It is there said that Moses and Elias 
appeared in glory ; and by Moses is meant the Word which was 
written by him, and in general the historical Word, and by Elias 
the prophetical Word. The Lord, as the Word in ultimates, 
was also represented before John in the Revelation (i. 13 — 16) ; 
where all parts of the description given of him, signify the ulti- 
mates of divine truth, or of the Word. The Lord indeed, before 
his incarnation, was the Word, or the divine truth, but only in 
first principles ; for it is said, “ In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ” (John i. 
1, 2) ; but when the Word was made flesh, then the Lord was 
made the Word in ultimates also; and it is from this circum- 
stance that he is called the First and the Last (Rev. i. 8, 11, 17 ; 
ii. 8; xxi. 6; xxii. 13; Isaiah xliv. 6). 

262. That the Lord fulfilled all things contained in the 
Word, is evident from the passages where it is said that the law 
and the Scripture were fulfilled, and that all things were accom- 
plished or finished by him ; as in the following : “ Jesus said, 
Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the yprojphets ; 
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matt. v. 17). u Jesus 
went into the synagogue, and stood up to read. Ana there was 
delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when 
he had unrolled the book, he found the place where it is written, 
The spirit of Jehovah is upon me, because he hath anointed me 
to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the 
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recov- 
ering of sight to the blind, to preach the acceptable year of the 
Lord. And he closed the book and said, This day is this scrip 
ture fulfilled in your ears ” (Luke iv. 16 — 21). “ That the Scrip- 
ture may be f ulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted 
up his heel against me” (John xiii. 18). “None of them is lost, 
but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” 

293 


262, 263 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE. 


pfohn xvii. 12). “ That the word might be fulfilled which he. 

spake, Of them that thou gavest me have I lost none” (John 
xviii. 9). “ Jesus said unto Peter, Put up again thy sword into 

his place ; how then shall the Scripture be fulfilled, that thus it 
must be ? But all this was done that the Scripture might be ful- 
filled^ (Matt. xxvi. 54, 56). “The Son of man goeth as it is written 
of him” (Mark xiv. 21). “ And the Scripture was fulfilled, which 
saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors” (Mark xv. 
23 ; Luke xxii. 37). “ That the Scripture might be fulfilled, 
which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and tor my 
vesture did they cast lots” (John xix. 24). “After this, Jesus 
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scrip)- 
twee might be fulfilled?"* (John xix. 28). “ When Jesus therefore 
had taken the vinegar, he said, It is finished (that is, fulfilled)” 
(John xix. 30). “These things were done, that the Scripture 
might be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken ; and again, 
another Scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they 
pierced” (xix. 36, 37). That the whole Word was written con- 
cerning him, and that he came into the world to fulfil it, he 
himself, before his departure, taught his disciples in these 
words : “ O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the pro- 
phets have spoken ! Ought not Christ to suffer these things, 
and so to enter into his glory ? And beginning at Moses and all 
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the 
things concerning himself” (Luke xxiv. 25, 26, 27.) Moreover 
Jesus said, “ All things must be fulfilled which were written in 
the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms , con- 
cerning me” (xxiv. 44, 45). That the Lord, during his abode 
in the world, fulfilled all things contained in the Word, even to 
its most minute particulars, is evident from these his own words: 
“ Y erily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one 
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fid- 
filled” (Matt. v. 18). Hence then it may clearly appear that by 
this circumstance of the Lord’s fulfilling the whole law, is meant 
that he fulfilled not only all things contained in the decalogue, 
but all things contained in the Word. That all the contents of 
the Word are understood by the law, may be evident from these 
passages : “ Jesus said : Is it not written in your law, I said ye 
are gods %” (John x. 34) ; it is so written Psalm lxxxii. 6. “The 
people answered him, We have heard out of the law, that Christ 
abideth for ever” (John xii. 34). This is written Psalm Ixxxix. 
29; cx. 4; Dan. vii. 14. “That the Word might be lulfilled, 
which is written in their law, They hated me without a cause” 
(John xv. .25); this is written Psalm xxxv. 19. “It is easiei 
for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail” 
(Luke xvi. 17). In these and other passages throughout the 
Word, the law means the whole Sacred Scripture. 

263. Pew people understand in what sense the Lord is the 
294 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


263, 26-1 

Word. It is generally supposed that the Lord, by means of tho 
Word, may enlighten and teach mankind, and yet that this is 
no reason why he should be called the Word ; but let it be ob- 
served that every man is his own particular will, and his own 
particular understanding, and thus one person is distinguished 
from another. Now as the will is the recipient of love, and 
consequently of all the goods belonging to that love, and the 
understanding is the recipient of wisdom, and consequently of 
all the truths belonging to that wisdom, it follows that every 
man is his own particular love, and his own particular wisdom, 
or what amounts to the same, his own particular good, and his 
own particular truth. A man is a man only by virtue of these 
his constituent parts, and nothing else in his constitution can be 
called man. With respect to the Lord, he is love itself and 
wisdom itself, thus good itself and truth itself, which he became 
by virtue of his fulfilling all the good and all the truth contained 
in the Word; for whoever thinks and speaks nothing but truth, 
becomes that truth, and whoever wills and does nothing but 
good, becomes that good ; and thus the Lord, in consequence 
of fulfilling all divine truth and divine good contained in the 
Word, as well in its natural as in its spiritual sense, became 
good itself and truth itself, thus the Word. 

XII. That previous to the word which the world now 

POSSESSES, THERE WAS A WORD WHICH IS LOST. 

264. That previous to the Word which was given by Moses 
and the prophets to the people of Israel, men were acquainted 
with sacrificial worship, and prophesied from the mouth of Jeho- 
vah, may appear from what is recorded in the books of Moses. 
That they were acquainted with sacrificial worship, is evident 
from these circumstances, that the children of Israel were com- 
manded to destroy the altars of the Gentiles, to break their 
images and cut down their groves (Exodus xxxiv. 13 ; Deut. vii. 
5; xii. 3); that Israel in Schittim began to commit whoredom 
with the daughters of Moab, and called the people unto the 
sacrifices of their gods, and that the people did eat (Numb, 
xxv. 1, 2, 3) ; that Balaam, who was from the land of Syria, 
caused altars to be built, and sacrificed oxen and sheep (Numb, 
xxii. 40; xxiii. 1, 2, 14, 29, 30); that he also prophesied concern- 
ing the Lord , saying, that there should come a star out of Ja- 
cob, and a sceptre should rise out of Israel (xxiv. IT) ; and that 
he prophesied from the mouth of Jehovah (xxii. 13, 18 ; xxiii. 3, 
5, 8, 16, 26 ; xxiv. 1, 13) : from these circumstances it is very 
evident that the Gentiles performed divine worship, in many 
respects similar to that which was instituted by Moses among the 
people of Israel. That such worship was in use also before the 
days of Abraham, is plain from what is written by Moses (Deut. 
xxxii. 7, 8) ; but still plainer from what is recorded of Melchize - 
dcchs king of Salem, as that he brought forth bread and ivint 
295 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


264, 265 

and blessed Abraham; that Abraham gave him tithes of all 
(Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 20) ; and that Melchizedech represented the 
Lord, for he is called the priest of the Most High God (xiv. 18) ; 
and it is said of the Lord by David, “Thou art a priest for ever, 
after the order of Melchizedech” (Psalm cx. 4). Hence It was 
that Melchizedech brought forth bread and wine, as being the 
most holy things of the church, agreeably to their holiness in 
the Lord’s Supper. These and many other circumstances of the 
same nature, are standing proofs, that previous to the Word 
which was given to the people of Israel, there was a Word from 
which such revelations were derived. 

265. That the ancients had a Word, is declared by Moses, 
who mentions it, and also gives some quotations from it 
(Numb. xxi. 14, 15, 27 — 30).; the historical parts of that Word 
were called the wars of jehovah, and the prophetical parts 
enunciations. From the historical parts of that Word Moses 
has given this quotation, “ Wherefore it is said in the look of 
the wars of Jehovah , I marched into the Red Sea ( Supha ), and 
the rivers of Arnon, and the channels of the rivers ; that turned 
aside where Ar dwelleth, and stopped at the border of Moab” 
(xxi. 14, 15). By the wars of Jehovah mentioned in that Word, 
as in ours, are understood and described the Lord’s combats 
with the hells, and his victories over them, when he should come 
into the world : the same combats are also understood and de- 
scribed in many passages in the historical part of our Word, as 
in the wars of Joshua with the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, 
and in the wars of the Judges and of the Kings of Israel. From 
the prophetical parts of that Word Moses has given this quota- 
tion : “ Wherefore say the enunciators , Come into Heshbon ; 
the city of Sihon shall be built and strengthened ; for there is a 
fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon ; it hath 
consumed Ar of Moab, and the possessors of the high places of 
Arnon. W oe to thee, Moab, thou art undone, O people of Che- 
mosh ! he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, 
into captivity unto Sihon, king of the Amorites : we have shot 
them ; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid 
waste even unto Nopliah, which reacheth unto Medeba” (Numb, 
xxi. 27 — 30). The translators render it composers of proverbs, 
but they are more properly called enunciators, and their com- 
positions prophetical enunciations, as may appear from the 
signification of the word Moschalim in the Hebrew tongue, 
which means not only proverbs, but also prophetical enuncia- 
tion; as in Numb, xxiii. 7, 18; xxiv. 3, 15. It is there said, 
that Balaam uttered his enunciation, which was also prophet- 
ical concerning the Lord : his enunciation is called Moschal, 
in the singular number. It may be further observed, that the 
passages thence quoted by Moses are not proverbs bul prophe- 
cies. That that Word, like ours was ip speech w plain 

296 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


265 — 268 


from a passage in Jeremiah, where nearly the same expressions 
occur : “ A fire hath gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame 
from the midst of Sihon, and hath devoured the corner of Moab, 
and the crown of the head of the sons of Shaon. Woe unto thee, 
O Moab ! the people of Chemosh perisheth ; for thy sons are 
taken away into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity” 
(xlviii. 45, 46). Mention is also made of a prophetical book of 
the ancient Word, called the book of Jasfier, or the book of 
the Upright, by David and by Joshua; by David in the following 
passage : “David lamented over Saul and over Jonathan ; also 
he bade them teach the children of Judah the bow : behold, it 
is written in the book of Jashe?'” (2 Sam. i. 17, 18) : and by 
Joshua in this passage: “Joshua said, Sun, stand thou still 
upon Gibeon, and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon : is not 
this written in the book of Jasher f ” (Josh. x. 12). 

266. From these quotations it may appear, that there was an 
ancient Word extant in the world, particularly in Asia, previous 
to the Word which was given to the children of Israel. That 
the former is preserved in. heaven among the angels who lived 
iix those times, and that it is also still extant among the nations 
inhabiting Great Tartary, may be seen in the third memor- 
able relation, at the close of this chapter on the Sacred 
Scripture. 

XIII. That by means of the word, light is communicated 
to those who are out of the pale of the church, and not in 
possession of the word. 

267. There is no possibility of conjunction with heaven, un- 
less there be, in some part or other of the earth, a church which 
is in possession of the Word, and is thus acquainted with the 
Lord ; for the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and without 
him there is no salvation. That conjunction with the Lord and 
consociation with angels, are effected by means of the Word, 
may be seen above, n. 234 — 240. It is enough that there be a 
church which is in possession of the Word, although it may 
consist of very few persons in respect to the whole race of man- 
kind ; for still, by means of the Word so possessed, the Lord is 
present in every country on the face of the earth, since by that 
means heaven is in conjunction with mankind. 

268. We will now show in what manner the presence and 
conjunction of the Lord and heaven are effected in all countries 
by means of the Word. The universal angelic heaven is, in the 
Lord’s sight, as a single man, and so also is the church on earth ; 
that they have moreover the actua- appearance of a man, may 
be seen in the treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 59 — 
87. In this man, the church where thejWord is read, and where 
the Lord is thereby known, is as the. heart and lungs ; the 
Lord’s celestial kingdom as the heart, and his spiritual kingdom 
as the lungs. Now aa from these two fountains of life in the 

297 


268, 269 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE. 


human bo Jy, all the other members, viscera, and organs subsist 
and live, so also do all those people in every part of the earth, 
who have any religion, who worship one God, lead good lives, 
and thus make a part of this man, subsist and live from the con- 
junction of the Lord and heaven with the church by means of 
the Word, resembling in this respect the members and viscera 
without the thorax, wherein the heart and lungs are contained ; 
for the Word in the Christian church is life to all the rest from 
the Lord through the heavens, just as the members and viscera 
of the whole body receive life from the heart and lungs. The 
communication also is similar ; which is a reason why those 
Christians among whom the Word is read, constitute the breast 
of the fore-mentioned man. They are also in the middle or 
centre of all the rest next about them are the Roman Catholics ; 
about these are the Mahometans, who acknowledge the Lord as 
a very great prophet, and a Son of God ; after these come the 
Africans ; and the last circumference is occupied by the people 
and nations in Asia and the Indies. 

269. That this is the case in the universal heaven, may be 
concluded from a similarity of circumstances in every particular 
society there ; for every particular society is a heaven in a lesser 
form, and is likewise as a man : this may be seen in the treatise 
concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 41 — 87. In every society of 
heaven, those who are in the middle in like manner represent 
the heart and lungs, and enjoy the greatest degree of light ; this 
light, and the perception of truth thence arising, diffuse them- 
selves from the centre in ev.ery direction towards the circum- 
ferences, consequently to all in the society, and cause their spir- 
itual life. It was shown me, that when those who were in the 
centre, and who constituted the province of the heart and lungs, 
and enjoyed the greatest degree of light, were removed, imme- 
diately those who were in the neighborhood around them had 
their understandings obscured, and were reduced to so faint a 
perception of truth, as to cause them to utter lamentations ; but 
as soon as the others were replaced, the light reappeared, and 
their former perception of truth was restored. This may be 
illustrated by comparison with the heat and light flowing from 
the sun of this world, which cause vegetation in trees and shrubs, 
even in such as are not exposed to their direct influence, but are 
planted in shady places, which yet never fail to grow, if the sun 
be only risen above the horizon. So it is with the light and 
heat of heaven proceeding from the Lord as the sun of heaven, 
which light in its essence is Divine Truth, whence angels and 
men derive all intelligence and wisdom : it is therefore said ol 
the Word, “ that it was with God, and was God ; that it enlight- 
eneth every man that cometh into the world ; and that this light 
also shineth in darkness” (John i. 1, 5, 9). The Word there 
means the Lord as to divine truth. 

29S 


OR WORD OF THE 10RD. 


270—272 


270. From these circumstances it may evident] y appear that 
the Word, which Protestants and the Reformed possess, en- 
lightens all nations and people by spiritual communication ; and 
further, that the Lord provides tbat there should always he a 
church on earth, where the Word may be read, and the Lord in 
consequence be made known: when therefore the Word was 
almost totally rejected by the Romish church, through the divine 
providence of the Lord the reformation took place, to draw forth 
the Word, as it were, from its hiding-places, and bring it again 
into use. When the Word also was entirely falsified and adul- 
terated by the Jewish nation, and rendered in a manner null, it 
pleased the Lord immediately to descend from heaven, and to 
come as the Word, and to fulfil it, and thus to renew and restore 
it, and to give light again to the inhabitants of the earth, accord- 
ing to these words of the Lord : “ The people that walked in 
darkness have seen a great light ; to them that sit in the region 
and shadow of death hath the light arisen” (Isaiah ix. 2 ; Matt 
iv. 16). 

271. It having been foretold that at the end of the present 
church darkness should also arise, in consequence of not know- 
ing the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and of separating 
faith from charity, therefore, lest the genuine understanding ot 
the Word, and consequently the church, should perish, it has 
pleased the Lord now to reveal the spiritual sense of the 
Word, and to show that in that sense, and from this in the 
natural sense, it contains innumerable things by which the light 
of truth derived from the Word, that was well-nigh extinguished, 
may be restored. That the light of truth would be almost 
wholly extinguished at the end of the present church, is foretold 
in many passages of the Revelation, and is also meant by these 
words of the Lord : u Immediately after the affliction of those 
days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her 
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the 
heavens shall be shaken ; and then they shall see the Son ot 
man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great 
glory” (Matt. xxiv. 29, 30). The sun there means the Lord in 
respect to love ; the moon, the Lord as to faith ; the stars, the 
Lord as to the knowledges of good and truth ; the Son of man, 
the Lord as to the Word ; clouds, the literal sense of the Word ; 
glory, its spiritual sense, and its transparence through the literal 
sense ; and power, the power of the Word. 

272. It has been granted me to know, by much experience, 
that a man has communication with heaven by means of the 
Word. In reading the Word, from the first chapter of Isaiah 
to the last of Malachi, with the Psalms of David, and keeping 
my thought fixed on the spiritual sense *of each passage, it was 
granted me to perceive clearly that every verse communicated 
with some particular society in heaven, and thus that the whole 

299 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE, 


272, 273 

Word communicated with the universal heaven ; from whence it 
appeared, that as the Lord is the Word, so also heaven is the 
Word, since heaven is heaven from the Lord, and the Lord, by 
the Word, is the all in all of heaven. 

XIV. That without the word no one would have any 

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, OF HEAVEN AND HELL, OR OF A LIFE AFTER 
DEATH, AND MUCH LESS OF THE LORD. 

273. Those who insist, and are confirmed in the opinion, that 
a man without the Word might know the existence of God, and 
likewise of heaven and hell, with other points which the Word 
teaches, do not believe that Word, but themselves ; it would not 
therefore be proper to reason with such persons from the Word, 
but from the natural light {lumen) of reason. Inquire then ot 
the light of reason, and you will find that there are two faculties 
of life in man, called understanding and will, and that the under- 
standing is subject to the will, and not the will to the under- 
standing ; for the understanding only teaches and shows what 
from the will ought to be done : hence there are many men of 
bright natural parts who have a clearer understanding than 
others of the moral duties of life, and who yet do not live 
according to them, which they would necessarily do if their wills 
concurred in such duties. Inquire further, and you will find 
that a man’s will is his proprium^ or selfhood, that this is evil 
from his birth, and that in consequence of this his understand- 
ing is full of falses. When you have made these discoveries, 
you will see that a man of himself is not willing to understand 
any thing but what comes from the proprium or selfhood of his 
will, and that unless there were some other source of knowledge, 
a man from th e proprium of his will would not be desirous of 
understanding any thing but what regarded himself and the 
world. Every thing of a higher nature would be in darkness to 
him : when he saw the sun, moon, and stars, if by chance he 
should reflect on their origin, he would not be able to refer them 
to any other creative power than their own, as many very learned 
men in the world have done, who, although they were informed 
by the Word that God created all things, have yet ascribed 
creation to nature ; what then would have been their sentiments 
in case they had received no information from the Word ? Is it 
credible that the ancient philosophers, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, 
and others, who have written about God, and the immortality of 
the soul, received their first information on those subjects from 
their own understanding ? No, surely, but from others, to whom 
the information was successively handed down from those who 
had it originally from that ancient Word of which w r e have 
spoken above. In like manner the writers on natural religion 
do not derive their knowledge on the subject from themselves, 
but only confirm, by rational deductions, the truths they have 
learnt from the church which is in possession of the Word : and 
300 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 273—275 

it is possible there may be some among them who confirm such 
truths, and yet do not believe them. 

274. It has been permitted me to see people, born in remote 
islands, who were possessed of rationality, so far as relates to 
civil concerns, and yet had no knowledge at all concerning God. 
Such persons in the spiritual world have the appearance of 
sphinxes ; but whereas by birth they are men, and consequently 
in a capacity of receiving spiritual life, they are instructed by 
angels, and, by means of knowledges concerning the Lord as to 
his human character, are made alive. What a man of himself 
is, clearly appears from those who are in hell, some of whom 
have been ranked among the learned and distinguished : these 
are unwilling to hear any thing of God, and on that account 
cannot pronounce the word u God.” I have seen and conversed 
with them ; and I have also conversed with some who have fallen 
into the fire of wrath and anger at the bare mention of the Lord. 
Consider therefore what sort of a creature man would have been, 
supposing him to have received no information about God, when 
some who have spoken, written, and preached about God, are 
still in such a blind and miserable state. The reason why they 
are in such a state is, because their wills are evil, and as before 
observed, the will leads the understanding, and robs it of the 
truths which it had received from the Word. If man could 
have known of himself that there is a God, and a life after death, 
why has he never discovered that a man is a real man after 
death ? Why does he imagine that his soul, or spirit, is like 
wind, or ether, which has neither eyes to see, ears to hear, nor 
mouth to speak, until it be reunited with its dead body and skel- 
eton ? Supposing therefore a doctrine derived from the light 
( lumen ) of reason alone,, must it not of necessity establish the 
worship of self, as was the case in former ages, and is still the 
case with many who yet are instructed by the Word that God 
alone is to be worshipped? It is impossible that any other wor- 
ship than that of self can be derived from the jproprium or self- 
hood of man, not even the worship of the sun and moon. 

275. The prevalence of religious worship from the most early 
ages of the world, and the universal knowledge of a God among 
the inhabitants of the globe, with some notion of a life after 
death, are not to be ascribed to men, or to their self-derived 
intelligence, but to the ancient Word mentioned above, n. 264, 
265, 266, and in succeeding times to the Israelitish Word. 
From those two religious knowledge was propagated through all 
parts of India, with its islands; through Egypt and Ethiopia 
into the kingdoms of Africa ; from the maritime parts of Asia 
into Greece, and from thence into Italy. But as the Word 
could not be written otherwise than by representatives, which 
are such earthly existences as correspond with heavenly ones, 
and are consequently significative of them, therefore the reli- 

301 


275 — 277 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


gious notions of the gentiles were changed into idolatry, and in 
Greece were turned into fables ; and the divine properties and 
attributes were considered as so many separate gods, governed 
by one supreme Deity whom they called Jove, possibly from 
Jehovah. It is well known that they had a knowledge of para 
dise, the flood, the sacred fire, the four ages, beginning, with 
that of gold, and ending with that of iron, as in Daniel ii. 
31—35. 

276. Those who fancy themselves able, by their own intelli- 
gence, to procure any knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, 
and of the spiritual things of the church, do not consider that 
the natural man, regarded in himself, is in opposition to the 
spiritual man, and that, consequently, he is desirous to extirpate 
all the spiritualities which enter his understanding, or to involve 
them in fallacies, which are as worms, devouring the roots of 
pulse and corn. Such persons may be compared with those 
who dream that .they are sitting on eagles, and are carried aloft 
in the air, or on winged horses flying over Mount Parnassus to 
Helicon ; whereas they are actually like Lucifers in hell, who 
there still call themselves sons of the morning (Isaiah xiv. 12). 
They are also like the people in the plain of the land of Shinar, 
who attempted to build a tower whose top should reach to heaven 
(Gen. xi. 2, 4) ; and they are full of self-confidence like Goliah, 
not foreseeing that, like him, they may be struck to the ground 
by a stone from a sling sinking into their foreheads. I will here 
declare what is the state of such after death ; they are first like 
persons intoxicated, afterwards like idiots, and lastly they sink 
into stupidity, and sit in darkness. Let every one therefore take 
heed to himself that he fall not into such a delirium. 


277. To the above I shall add the following memorable 
relations. — First. I was one day in the spirit, traversing va- 
rious parts of the spiritual world, that I might observe the rep- 
resentations of heavenly things which are there exhibited in 
many places. In a certain house, where there were angels, I 
saw great purses, in which w T ere contained large sums of money ; 
and as they were open, it seemed as if any person might take 
out, or even steal, the money there deposited ; but near the 
purses there sat two young men as guards. The place where 
the purses were laid appeared like a manger in a stable. In an 
adjoining apartment there were modest virgins, with a chaste mar 
ried woman, and near the apartment stood two little children . 
it was given me however to understand that they were not to be 
played with like children, but to be treated wisely. Afterwards 
there appeared a harlot, and also a dead horse lying on the ground. 
When I had attended to these appearances, I was informed 
that they represented the natural sense the Word, which ccn- 
302 


OK WORD OF THE LORD. 277, 278 

tains the spiritual sense. The great purses full of money signi 
fied knowledges of truth in great abundance; their being open, 
and yet guarded by young men, signified that every one might 
take thence the knowledges of truth, but that care is taken lest 
any one should violate the pure truths which are contained in 
its spiritual sense. The manger, like those in a stable, signified 
spiritual nourishment for the understanding ; this is the s.gnifi 
cation of a manger, because a horse, which feeds out of it, sig- 
nifies the understanding. The modest virgins who appeared in 
the adjoining apartment, signified the affections of truth ; the 
chaste married woman, the conjunction of good and truth ; and 
the young children, innocence of wisdom ; for the angels of the 
highest heaven, who are the wisest of all, appear at a distance, 
by reason of their innocence, like little children. The harlot, 
with the dead horse, represented the falsification of truth among 
many people at this day, by which the understanding of the 
Word is totally lost ; a harlot signifying falsification, and a dead 
horse the understanding of truth annihilated. 

278. Th.e second memorable relation. — There was once 
sent me down from heaven a small piece of paper, covered with 
Hebrew characters, but written as they used to be among the 
ancients, with whom those letters, which are at this day partly 
linear, were inflected with little bendings upward. The angels 
who were then with me, declared that they could discover entire 
and complete senses by the very letters, and that they discovered 
them particularly by the flexures of the lines, and of the apexes 
of each letter. They explained their signification both sepa- 
rately and conjointly, telling me that the H, which was added 
to the names of Abram and Sarai, signified the infinite and 
the eternal : they also explained to me the meaning of the Word 
in Psalm xxxii. 1, by the letters or syllables only, and that the 
general sense contained therein- was, that the lord is merci- 
ful even to those who do evil. They informed me that 
writing in the third heaven consisted of letters inflected, and 
variously curved, each of which contained some particular mean- 
ing ; that the vowels there used were to express a sound corre- 
sponding with affection ; and that in that heaven they were not 
able to pronounce the vowels Zand A, but instead of them Hand 
EIJ , and that the vowels A , 0 , and U , were in use among them, 
because they give a full sound ; also, that they did not express 
any consonants roughly, but softly, and that it was on this ac- 
count that some Hebrew letters have points placed within them, 
as a mark that their pronunciation should be soft. They added 
that harshness in the pronunciation of letters was in use in the 
spiritual heaven because the spiritual angels are principled in 
truths, and truth admits of harshness, whereas good, in which 
the angels of the Lord’s celestial kingdom, or of the third hea- 
ven, are principled, admits of no harshness. They declared 
803 


HIE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 


‘278, 279 

further, that they had the Word among them written in inflected 
letters, with significative little bendings and apexes, from whence 
it appeared what these words of the Lord signify : “ One jot or 
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled’' 
(Matt. v. 18) ; and again : “ It is easier for heaven and earth to 
pass, than one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke xvi. 17). 

279. The third memorable relation. — About seven years 
ago, as I was calling to mind what Moses had transcribed from 
the two books called The Wars of Jehovah, and The Enun- 
ciations (Numb, xxi.), there were some angels present, who 
told me that those books were the ancient Word, the histori 
cal parts of which were called The Wars of Jehovah, and 
the prophetical parts, The Enunciations. They said too, 
that that Word is still preserved in heaven, and is in use among 
the ancients there, who were in possession of it during their 
abode on earth. Those ancients, who still use it in heaven, 
were in part natives of the land of Canaan and its confines, as 
Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, Zidon, 
Tyre, and Nineveh, the inhabitants of all which kingdoms were 
in the practice of representative worship, and consecpiently were 
skilled in the science of correspondences. The wisdom of those 
times was derived from that science, and thus they enjoyed in- 
terior perception and communication with the heavens. Those 
who were acquainted with the correspondences of that Word 
were called wise men, and intelligent, and in succeeding ages 
diviners and magi : but as that Word was full of such correspond- 
ences as were remotely significative of celestial and spiritual 
things, and in consequence began to be falsified by many, by the 
divine providence of the Lord in process of time it was removed, 
and another Word written by correspondences less remote was 
given, which was that delivered by the prophets among the 
children of Israel. In this word were retained several names of 
places, not only of such as were in the land of Canaan, but also 
in the surrounding kingdoms of Asia, all which signified things 
and states of the church ; but then they derived such significa- 
tions from the ancient Word. It was on this account that 1 Abram 
was commanded to go into that land, and that his posterity, out 
of the loins of Jacob, were introduced into it. 

Concerning that ancient Word which was in Asia before the 
Israelitish Word, I am at liberty to state that it is still preserved 
among the people in Great Tartary. I have conversed with spir- 
its and angels in the spiritual world who came from that coun- 
try, and who informed me that they are in possession of the 
Word, and that they have possessed it time immemorial; that 
according to this Word they celebrate their divine worship, and 
that it consists of mere correspondences. They said likewise 
that it contains the book of Jasher, mentioned in Joshua, x. 
12, 13 ; and in the second book of Samuel, i. 17, 18 ; and that 
301: 


OB WORD OF THE LORD. 279, 280 

they are also in possession of the books called The Wars of 
Jehovah, and The Enunciations, which are mentioned by 
Moses (Numb. xxi. 14, 15, 27 — 30) ; and when I read to them 
the words which Moses has quoted from these books, they ex- 
amined whether they were in the original, and found them there ; 
from which circumstances it was evident to me that they are 
still in possession of the ancient Word. In the conversation 
which passed between us, they said that they worship Jehovah, 
some as an invisible God, and some as a visible one. They 
told me further, that they do not permit any foreigners to come 
among them except the Chinese, with whom they study to live 
upon good terms, because the emperor of China is from their 
country ; and besides, that they are so populous, they cannot 
imagine any country in the whole world to be more so, which 
indeed may appear credible from the great length of the wall 
which the Chinese formerly built, as a security against their 
incursions. I have been further informed by the angels, that 
the first chapters of Genesis, which treat of the creation, of 
Adam and Eve, of the garden of Eden, and of their children 
and posterity till the flood, and likewise of Noah and his chil- 
dren, are contained in that Word, and so were copied from it by 
Moses. The angels and spirits from Great Tartary appear in 
the southern quarter towards the east, and are separated from 
others by dwelling in a more eminent expanse. They do not 
admit among them any from the Christian world ; and if any do 
ascend, they secure them so that they cannot return. The 
cause of such separation is because they are in possession of 
another Word. 

280. The fourth memorable relation. — I once saw at a 
distance shady walks, planted with rows of trees, and several 
companies of young men assembled there conversing on subjects 
of wisdom. This was in the spiritual world ; so I went to join 
them ; and as I approached, I observed one to whom the rest 
paid particular respect, as to their chief, because he excelled 
them in wisdom. On seeing me, he said, “ I was surprised, as 
I saw you in the way coming towards us, to observe that some- 
times you were in sight, and sometimes out of sight, or at one 
moment visible, and the next invisible ; surely you are not in 
the same state of life with us ?” To this I replied, with a smile, 
“I am neither a stage-player nor a Vertumnus, but I am 
alternate, dwelling sometimes in your light and sometimes in 
your shade *, thus I am a stranger here, and at the same time 
an inhabitant.” On tins the wise personage looked at me 
attentively, and said, “ You speak strange and wonderful 
things ; tell me who you are.” I said, “ I am in the world in 
which you have been, and from which you are departed, which 
is called the natural world, and I am also in the world in 
which you now are, which is called the spiritual world : hence 
305 x 


280 


THE SACRED SCRIPTURE. 


I am in a natural state, and at the same time in a spiritual state : 
in a natural state with men on earth, and in a spiritual state 
with you. When I am in a natural state, I am invisible to you, 
but when I am in a spiritual state I become visible ; and this 
peculiarity in my nature is of the Lord’s appointment. It must 
be well known to a man so enlightened as you are, that an 
inhabitant of the natural world is invisible to an inhabitant of 
the spiritual world, and contrariwise ; so when I let my spirit 
into the body, I was no longer visible to you, but when I let it 
out from the body, I became visible ; and this is a consequence 
of the difference between what is spiritual and what is natural.” 
When he heard me speak of the difference between spiritual and 
natural, he said, “ What do you mean by that difference ? Is 
it not like that between things more or less pure ? What then 
is the spiritual but the natural in a higher state of purity?” I 
replied, u The difference is of another sort: the natural can 
never, by any subtilization or refining, so approach the spiritual 
as to become itself spiritual : for the difference between them is 
like what subsists between prior and posterior, which bear no 
determinate proportion to each other ; for the prior is in the 
posterior, as the cause is in its effect ; arid the posterior is de- 
rived from the prior, as the effect from its cause : hence it is that 
one does not appear to the other.” To this the wise personage 
replied, w I have frequently meditated on this difference, but 
heretofore in vain : I wish I were able to .discern it.” I said, 
u You shall not only discern the difference between spiritual and 
natural, but you shall even see it.” I then proceeded as follows : 
“You yourself are in a spiritual state with your associate spirits, 
but in a natural state with me; for you converse with your asso- 
ciates in spiritual language, which is common to every spirit 
and angel, but you converse with me in my native tongue : for 
every spirit and angel, when conversing with a man, speaks his 
particular language, consequently French with a Frenchman, 
Greek with a Grecian, Arabic with an Arabian, and so forth. 
That you may know therefore the difference between spiritual 
and natural, in respect to languages, make this experiment : 
withdraw to your associates, and there speak some sentence or 
other; then retain the expressions, and return with them in 
your memory, and utter them before me.” He accordingly did 
so, and returned to me with those expressions in his mouth, and 
uttered them, and they were expressions altogether strange and 
foreign, and such as do not occur in any language of the natu- 
ral world. By this experiment several times repeated, it was 
made very evident that all the inhabitants of the spiritual world 
have a spiritual language, which has not in it any thing common 
to any natural language, and that every man comes of himself 
into the use of that language after death. I also at one time 
experienced that the sound of spiritual language differs so far 
306 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


280 


from the sound of natural language, that a spiritual sound, though 
loud, could not be at all heard by a natural man, nor a natural 
sound by a spiritual man. Afterwards I desired him and some 
of the bystanders to withdraw to their associates, and write 
some sentence or other on a piece of paper, and then return 
with it to me and read it. They did so, and returned to me 
with the paper in their hands ; but when they attempted to read 
it, they were not able, for the writing consisted merely of cer- 
tain letters of the alphabet, with curvatures over them, each ot 
which was significative of some particular sense and meaning: 
from this it plainly appeared on what ground the Lord is called 
the Alpha and the Omega. • On their withdrawing a second and 
a third time, and writing in the same manner, and returning 
to me, they found that their writing involved and comprehended 
innumerable particulars, which no natural writing could possibly 
express ; and it was granted them to understand that this was 
in consequence of the spiritual man’s thoughts being incompre- 
hensible and ineffable to the natural man, and such as cannot 
be expressed in natural writing or language. But as there 
were some present who were unwilling to comprehend how spirit- 
ual thought should so far exceed natural thought as to be re- 
spectively ineffable, I said to them, “ Make the experiment : 
withdraw into your spiritual society, and think on some subjects, 
retain your thoughts, and then return and utter them before 
me and having done so, when they wanted to express what 
they had been thinking about, they were not able, for they 
could not find any idea of natural thought adequate to an idea 
of thought purely spiritual, consequently no words expressive of 
it ; for ideas of thought become words in speech. This experi- 
ment they repeated, and convinced themselves that spiritual 
ideas are supernatural, inexpressible, ineffable, and incompre- 
hensible to the natural man ; and on account of this their super- 
eminence, they said that spiritual ideas or thoughts, in respect 
to natural, are ideas of ideas, and thoughts of thoughts, and 
thus express qualities of qualities, and affections of affections; 
consequently, that spiritual thoughts are the beginnings and 
origins of natural thoughts. Hence also it appeared that spirit- 
ual wisdom is wisdom of wisdom, and thus inexpressible to any 
wise man in the natural world. It was then declared from the 
superior heaven, that there is a wisdom still more interior or 
superior, which is called celestial, bearing the same relation to 
spiritual wisdom as spiritual wisdom bears to natural, and that 
these descend by influx according to the order of the heavens, 
from the divine wisdom of the Lord, which is infinite. On this 
the person in conversation with me said, u I see it must be so, 
because I perceive that one natural idea is the continent of seve- 
ral spiritual ideas, and also that one spiritual idea is the conti- 
nent of several celestial ideas * hence too follows this consequence, 
307 


280 


THE SACKED SCRIPTURE, 


that a thing by division is not rendered more and more simple, 
but more and more multiple, because it approaches nearer and 
nearer to the infinite, in whom are all things after an infinite 
manner.” After this I said to all present, “ You see, from 
these three experimental proofs, the nature of the difference 
between what is spiritual and what is natural, and likewise the 
reason why the natural man is invisible to the spiritual man, 
and the spiritual to the natural, notwithstanding they are both 
in a perfect human form, when by reason of such a form it seems 
as if they might be visible to each other ; but the interiors be- 
longing to the mind are what constitute that form, and the 
minds of spirits and angels are composed of spiritual substances, 
and the minds of men, so long as they live in the world, of nat- 
ural substances.” After this, a voice was heard from the higher 
heaven addressed to one of the bystanders, saying, u Come up 
hither:” he therefore went up, and returned, with this infor- 
mation, that the angels did not previously know the differences 
between wdiat is spiritual and what is natural, because there 
never before had been any opportunity of comparing them to- 
gether, in any person existing at the same time in both worlds, 
and without such comparison and reference those differences 
were not ascertainable. 

Before we separated we had some further conversation on 
this subject, in which I said, “The true cause of those differ- 
ences is, that you who inhabit the spiritual world are substantial 
beings, and not material ; substantial things being the begin- 
nings or principles of material things : for what is matter but a 
gathering together of substances ? You therefore have your 
existence in principles, and thus in singulars ; but we in the 
natural world have our existence in the derivatives of those 
principles, and the composites of those singulars : you are in 
particulars, but we are in generals ; and as generals cannot enter 
into particulars, so neither can natural things, which are 
material, enter into spiritual things, which are substantial, any 
more than a ship’s cable can enter into or be drawn through 
the eye of a sewing needle ; or than a nerve can be introduced 
into one of the fibres of which it is composed. Here then we 
discover the reason why the natural man cannot conceive in his 
thoughts what the spiritual man conceives, or consequently 
express such conceptions ; and it was on this account, that Paul 
calls what he heard from the third heaven ineffable. Add to 
this, that to think spiritually, is to think abstractedly from space 
and time, but to think naturally, is to think in conjunction with 
space and time; for to every idea of natural thought there 
adheres something that has relation to space and time, which is 
not the case with spiritual ideas ; and this is, because the spir- 
itual world is not in space and time, as the natural world is, 
but only in their appearances. In this respect also, spiritual 
308 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


280, 281 

thoughts and perceptions are different from natuial; therefore 
you can think of the essence and omnipresence of God as exist- 
ing from eternity, that is, you can think of God as existing 
before the world was created, because you think of the essence 
of God without relation to time, and of his omnipresence without 
relation to space, and thus you comprehend things which tran- 
scend the natural ideas of man.” I then acquainted them that 
I was once engaged in contemplation about the essence and 
omnipresence of God, as existing from eternity, that is, about 
God before the creation of the world ; and in consequence of not 
being able to remove spaces and times from the ideas of my 
thought, I was brought into much anxiety, because the idea of 
nature entered instead of God. In this state J was directed to 
remove the ideas of space and time, with a promise that then I 
should see clearly ; accordingly power was given me to remove 
them, and I saw what I desired ; and from that time I have been 
able to think of God as existing from eternity, yet without 
thinking of nature as existing from eternity, because God is in 
all time without time, and in all space without space ; whereas 
nature in all time is in time, and in all space in space”; and 
natiye, with her time and space, must of necessity have had a 
beginning ; but not so God, who is without time and space : 
therefore nature is from God, not from eternity, but in time, 
originating together with her time and space. 

281. The fifth memorable relation. — As it has been grant- 
ed me by the Lord to be at one and the same time in the spirit- 
ual and in the natural world, and so to converse with angels as 
with men, and thus to become acquainted with the states of those 
who after death flock together into that heretofore unknown 
world (for I have conversed with all my relations and friends, 
likewise with kings and princes, and men of learning, after 
their departure out of this life, and this now for twenty-seven 
years without interruption), therefore I am enabled to describe 
the states of men after death, from lively experience, in rela- 
tion to both such as have lived good and such as have lived evil 
lives. At present, however, I will only mention some circum- 
stances relative to the state of those who from the Word have 
confirmed themselves in falses of doctrine, particularly of those 
who have done so for the sake of defending the doctrine of jus- 
tification by faith alone. The successive states through which 
they pass are as follows : 1. As soon as they are deceased, and 
revive as to the spirit, which takes place generally on the third 
day after the heart has ceased to beat, they appear to themselves 
in a body similar to the one they had in the world, so that they 
do not know but that they are still living there ; yet it is not a 
material body, but a substantial one, which to their senses 
appears like a material one, though it is not so. 2. After some 
days they see that they are in a world, where there are various 
309 


281 


TIIE SACKED SCRIPTURE, 


societies instituted, which is called the world of spirits, and 
is in the middle between heaven and hell . All the societies 
there, which are innumerable, are arranged in wonderful order, 
according to natural affections, both good and evil ; the societies 
which are arranged according to good natural affections having 
communication with heaven, and the societies arranged accord’ 
ing to evil affections with hell. 3. The novitiate spirit, or spir- 
itual man, is led about and translated into various societies, 
both good and bad ; thus he is examined whether he is affected 
with goods and truths, and in what manner, or whether he is 
affected with evils and falses, and in what manner. 4. If he is 
affected with goods and truths, he is withdrawn from the evil, 
and introduced into good societies of various kinds, till he comes 
to a society^ corresponding with his own natural affection, and 
there he enjoys good corresponding with such affection, until he 
puts off the natural affection, and puts on that which is spiritual, 
and then he is elevated to heaven ; but this is the case with 
those only who have lived in this world a life of charity, and 
thus a life of faith also, that is, who have believed in the Lord, 
and have shunned evils as sins. 5. But those who have confirmed 
themselves in falses by perverse reasonings, and particularly by 
misapplications of the Word, and in consequence have lived a 
merely natural life (that is, an evil life, for falses attend evils, 
and evils adhere to falses), all Such, because they are not affected 
by goods and truths, but only by evils and falses, are withdrawn 
from the good, and introduced into evil societies of various kinds, 
till they come to one that corresponds with the concupiscences 
of their evil love. 6. But, as during their former life, they had 
put on the appearance of good affections in their externals, when 
nevertheless there was nothing but evil affections or concupis- 
cences in their internals, they are kept by turns in their exter- 
nals ; and such as in their former life had enjoyed power and 
authority over others are now made rulers of societies in the 
world of spirits, with a greater or less extent of command, 
according to the dignity of the offices which they had before 
enjoyed ; but as they have no love for either truth or justice, and 
are not in a capacity to be enlightened so as to know what truth 
and justice are, after a few days they are degraded from their 
authority. I have seen such translated from one society to 
another, and invested with power in each society, and yet after 
a short time degraded in all. 7. After frequent degradations 
of this sort, some through weariness want the inclination, and 
some through fear of losing credit want the courage, to seek 
after any other public offices, therefore they retire from such 
duties, and sit down in sadness ; and then they are removed into 
a desert, where there are huts scattered about, into which they 
enter ; and there work is given them to do, and in proportion 
as they do it they receive food, but if they refuse to do it they, 
310 


OR WORD OF THE LORD. 


281 


are kept without food, so that at last necessity 'compels them to 
work. Food, in the spiritual world, is like the various kinds of 
food in our world, but from a spiritual origin, and is given from 
heaven by the Lord, to every one, according to the uses which 
he performs ; but none is given to the idle, because they per- 
form no uses. 8. After some time they loathe their work, and 
then go out of their huts, and in case they have been priests, 
they are seized with a desire to build themselves houses : then 
there appear heaps of hewn stone, bricks, beams, and boards, 
and likewise of reeds and rushes, with abundance of clay, lime, 
and mortar : at the sight of these the lust of building is kindled, 
and they begin to construct a house, taking up sometimes a 
stone, sometimes a piece of timber, sometimes a reed, sometimes 
mortar, which materials they lay one upon another without any 
order, though it appears to themselves as if they observed the 
most exact order ; but what they build up in the day-time falls 
down in the night, so tfiat the next day they have to collect the 
mixed materials, which they again endeavor to put together ; 
and so they go on till they are tired of building. This happens 
to them from its correspondence with their former life, in that 
they had collected passages from the Word, to confirm the falses 
of their faith, which falses build up the church in no better 
manner than their building is here represented. 9. Afterwards 
they quit their work through wearisomeness, and sit down in 
solitude and idleness ; and since, as was observed above, the idle 
have no food given them from heaven, they begin to hunger, 
and to think of nothing but how they may get somewhat to eat 
and satisfy their craving. When they are in this state, they are 

" Lorn they ask alms, who say 



come home with us, and we 


will find you work, and give you food.” Then they get up with 
joy and go home wnth them, and each has his work assigned 
him, and food given him as the reward of his labor : but because 
all those who have confirmed themselves in falses of faith, can- 
not perform works of real utility, but only such as are mis- 
chievous and evil, and do not execute their tasks faithfully, but 
fraudulently and unwillingly, therefore they neglect their em- 
ployment, and mind nothing but company, talking, sauntering 
about, and sleeping ; and as they cannot then any longer be 
engaged to work by their masters, they are dismissed as unprofit- 
able servants. 10. On their dismission their eyes are opened, 
and they perceive a way leading to a certain cavern, and when, 
they arrive there, the door is opened and they enter, and inquire 
whether any food is to be had there : on their being informed 
that there is, they desire leave to abide there, and accordingly 
leave is given them, and they are introduced, and the door is 
shut after them. Then the governor of the cavern comes and 
says to them, “ You cannot go out of this place any more 


311 


THE SACRED SCRIPT [JRE. 


2 > L 

behold jour companions; they all work hard, and in proportion 
to their work they receive food from heaven. I tell you this 
that you may not plead ignorance.” Their companions then 
also say to them, “ Our governor knows for what work every one 
is best fitted, and enjoins it daily, and on the day that we finish 
what he gives us to do, we receive food ; but if we do not finish 
it we receive neither food nor clothes ; and if any one does mis 
chief to another, he is thrown into a corner of the cavern upon 
a bed of cursed dust, where he is miserably tormented, until the 
governor observes in him some sign of penitence, and then he 
is taken off, and ordered again to his work.” The new-comer 
is also informed that every one is at liberty to walk, to converse, 
and afterwards to sleep, when he has done his work. He is then 
led into an inner part of the cavern, where there are harlots, and 
he is permitted to take one to himself, and call her his woman ; 
but he is forbidden under severe penalties to indulge in promis- 
cuous connections. 

It is of such caverns as these, which are nothing but eternal 
workhouses, that hell consists. I have been permitted to enter 
some of them, and to see their nature, in order that I might 
make it known. All that were confined there appeared like 
beggars, and none of them knew who they had been, or what 
office they had enjoyed in the former world ; but the angel who 
attended me informed me that one had formerly been a servant, 
one a soldier, one a captain, one a priest, one a person of great 
dignity, another of great wealth; and yet they none of them 
knew but that they had constantly lived as companions in a like 
state of servitude ; and the reason of this was, because they had 
been inwardly alike, although they had differed in externals, and 
in the spiritual world all are associated according to their in- 
teriors. 

With respect to the hells in general, they consist merely ot 
such caverns and workhouses, but with a difference between 
those inhabited by satans and those inhabited by devils : those 
are called satans who have lived in falses and in consequent evils, 
and those are called devils, who have lived in evils and in conse- 
quent falses. In the light of heaven satans appear pale and livid, 
like corpses, and in some cases black ( niger ) like mummies ; but 
devils appear in the same light of a fiery, dusky complexion, and 
in some cases intensely black (ater) like soot. The forms and 
faces of them all are monstrous ; and yet in their own light, 
which is like that of lighted charcoal, they do not appeal’ as 
monsters, but as men ; which appearance is permitted that they 
may be capable of consociation. 


312 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


282, 283 


CHAPTER Y. 

THE CATECHISM OK DECALOGUE EXPLAINED AS TO ITS EXTERNAL AND 
INTERNAL SENSE. 

282. There is no nation throughout the whole world so 
ignorant as not to know that murder, adultery, theft, and the 
hearing of false witness are evils ; and further, that unless there 
were laws for the prevention of those evils, no kingdom, com- 
monwealth, or any established order of society, could possibly 
subsist. Who, therefore, can suppose that the people of Israel 
were so particularly stupid as not to know that they were evils ? 
And how surprising therefore must' it appear that those laws, so 
universally known throughout the world, should be promulgated, 
in so miraculous a manner, from Mount Sinai, by Jehovah 
himself! But understand, those laws were promulgated in so 
miraculous a manner, as a token that they are not only civil 
and moral laws, but likewise divine laws, and that to act con- 
trary to them is not only a commission of evil against a man’s 
neighbor, that is, against his fellow-citizens and society, but 
likewise a sin against God ; therefore those laws, in consequence 
of their promulgation from Mount Sinai by Jehovah, were also 
made laws of religious obligation ; for it is evident that whatever 
J ehovah prescribes he designs to be made a principle of religion, 
and thus to be observed with a view to sal vation. But previous 
to an explanation of the commandments, it will be expedient to 
premise something concerning their sanctity, in order to show 
that the duties they include are of religious obligation. 

That the decalogue, in the israelitish church, was the 

VERY ESSENCE OF HOLINESS. 

283. The commandments of the decalogue, because they were 
the first-fruits of the Word, and consequently the first-fruits ot 
the church which was to be established among the people ot 
Israel, and because they contained, in a short summary, the 
whole of religion, by w r hich the conjunction of God with man, 
and of man with God is effected, were so holy, that nothing 
could be holier. Their supreme holiness is evident from the 
following circumstances: that Jehovah the Lord himself came 
down upon Mount Sinai in fire, and attended with angels, and 
thence promulgated them by word of mouth, and that bounds 
were set about the mount, lest any one should approach and die ; 
that neither the priests nor elders approached, but Moses alone ; 
that the commandments were written with the finger of God on 
two tables of stone; that the face of Moses shone, when he 
carried down the two tables the second time ; that the tables 
were afterwards deposited in the ark, and the ark in the inmost 
part of the tabernacle, and the propitiatory or mercy-seat over 

313 


283, 284 THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 

it, and the cherubs of gold over the mercy-seat, that the inmost 
of the tabernacle, where the ark was kept, was called the holy 
of holies ; that without the vail, within which the ark was placed, 
many things were deposited, which represented the holy things 
of heaven and the church, such as the table overlaid with gold, 
on which was the shew-bread, the golden altar on which the 
incense was burnt, and the golden candlestick with seven lamps, 
and also the curtains round about, made of fine linen, purple, 
and scarlet. The holiness of the whole of this tabernacle was 
derived solely from the law which was in fhe ark. By reason of 
the holiness of the tabernacle derived from the law in the ark, 
all the people of Israel were commanded to encamp about it in 
order, according to their tribes, and to march in order after it ; 
and at those times a cloud was over it in the day-time, and a 
fire in the night. By reason of the holiness of that law, and the 
presence of J ehovah in it, J ehovah conversed with Moses from 
over the propitiatory or mercy-seat between the cherubs ; and 
the ark which stood there was itself called Jehovah ; and Aaron 
was not permitted to enter within the vail, except with sacri- 
fices and incense, lest he should die. By reason of the presence 
of Jehovah in that law, and about it, miracles were also wrought 
by the ark, wherein the law was deposited : thus the waters of 
Jordan w T ere divided, and, while the ark rested in the midst 
thereof, the people passed over on dry ground ; the walls ot 
Jericho fell down in consequence of the ark’s being carried 
round about it ; Dagon, the god of the Philistines, fell on his 
face before it, and was afterwards found lying without his head, 
with the palms of his hands on the threshold of the house ; the 
Bethshemites, to the number of several thousands, were smitten 
on account of it ; and Uzzah died in consequence of touching it. 
It is further to be noted, that the same ark was introduced by 
David into Zion, with sacrifices and rejoicings, and afterwards 
by Solomon into the temple at Jerusalem, where it constituted 
the most sacred part of the temple ; not to mention other cir- 
cumstances, which, together with these, are convincing proofs 
that, in the Israelitish church, the decalogue w r as the very 
essence of holiness. 

284. The facts above-mentioned concerning the promulga- 
tion, holiness, and power of the law, are recorded in these places 
in the Word : That Jehovah descended in fire on Mount Sinai, 
and that then the mountain smoked and shook, and that there 
were thunders, lightnings, thick clouds, and the voice of a 
trumpet, Exod. xix. 16, 17, 18 ; Deut. iv. 11 ; v. 19 — 23 ; That 
the people, before the descent of Jehovah, prepared and sanc- 
tified themselves three days, Exod. xix. 10, 11, 15 ; That bounds 
were set about the mount, lest any of the people should approach 
and die, and that not even the priests were permitted to approach, 
but Moses only, xix. 12, 13, 20 — 23 ; xxiv. 1 2 : That the law 
314 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


284, 285 


was promulgated from Mount Sinai, xix. 2 — 14 ; Deut. v. 6 — IS ; 
That the law was written on two tables of stone, and with the 
finger of God, Exod. xxxi. 18 ; xxxii. 15, 16 ; Deut. ix. 10 ; That; 
Moses’ face did so shine, when he brought the two tables down 
from the mount the second time, that he covered his face with 
a vail while he talked with the people, Exod. xxxiv. 29 — 35 ; 
That the tables were laid up in the ark, xxv. 16 ; xl. 20; Deut. 
x. 5 ; 1 Kings viii. 9 ; That the propitiatory or mercy-seat was 
put over the ark, and the cherubs of gold placed over the mercy- 
seat, Exod. xxv. 17 — 21 ; That the ark, with the mercy-seat 
and the cherubs, was put into the tabernacle, and constituted 
the first and thus the inmost part thereof ; that the table over- 
laid with gold, on which was the shew-bread, the golden altar 
of incense, and the golden candlestick, with its golden lamps, 
constituted the outer part of the tabernacle ; and that the ten 
curtains of fine linen, purple, and scarlet, constituted its outer- 
most part, xxv. 1 to the end ; xxvi. 1 to the end ; xl. 17 — 28 ; 
That the place where the ark was, was called the holy of holies, 
xxvi. 33 ; That the whole body of the people of Israel encamped 
round about the tabernacle in order, according to their tribes, 
and marched in order after it, Numb. ii. 1 to the end; That 
then there was a cloud on the tabernacle by day, and fire by 
night, Exod. xl. 38; Numb. ix. 15 to the end; xiv. 14; Deut. 
i. 33 ; That Jehovah talked with Moses above the ark, between 
the cherubs, Exod. xxv. 22 ; Numb. vii. 89 ; That the ark, by 
reason of the law which it contained, was called Jehovah ; for 
Moses said, when the ark set forward, Rise up, Jehovah , and 
when it rested, Return , Jehovah , Numb. x. 35, 36 ; Psalm cxxxii. 
7, 8 ; That by reason of the holiness of the law it was not lawful 
for Aaron to enter within the vail except with sacrifices and 
incense, Levit. xvi. 2 — 14 ; That by virtue of the presence ot 
the Lord’s power in the law which was in the ark, the waters of 
Jordan were divided, and, while it rested in the middle, the 
people passed over on dry ground, Josh. iii. 1 — 17 ; iv. 5 — 20 ; 
That on carrying the ark round about the walls of Jericho, they 
fell down, vi. 1 — 20 ; That Dagon, the god of the Philistines, 
fell to the ground before the ark, and afterwards lay on the 
threshold, with his head separated from his body, and the palms 
of his hands cut off, 1 Sam. v. ; That the Bethshemites, on 
account of the ark, were smitten, to the number of many thou- 
sands, v. and vi. ; That Uzzah, because he touched the ark, died, 
2 Sam. vi. 7 ; That the ark was introduced into Zion by David, 
with sacrifices and rejoicings, vi. 1 — 19 ; That it was introduced 
also by Solomon into the temple at Jerusalem, where it con- 
stituted the most sacred part of the temple, 1 Kings vi. 19 ; 
viii. 3 — 9. 

285. The conjunction of the Lord with man, and of man 
with the Lord, being effected by means of that law, it is there- 
315 


' 285—287 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


fore called the covenant, and the testimony ; the covenant, 
because it conjoins, and the testimony, because it confirms the 
articles of the covenant; for a covenant in the Word signifies 
conjunction, and testimony the confirmation and witnessing of 
its articles. For this reason there were two tables, one for God, 
and the other for man. Conjunction is effected by the Lord, 
but only at that time when man performs what is written in his 
table ; for the Lord is continually present, and desires to enter ; 
but it is man’s part, by virtue of the freedom which he enjoys 
from the Lord, to open the door ; for the Lord says, u Behold, 
I stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear my voice, and 
open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and 
he with me” (Rev. iii. 20). That the tables of stone, on which 
the law was written, were called the tables of the covenant , and 
that the ark was from them called the ark of the covenant , and 
the law itself the covenant , may be seen Numb. x. 33 ; Deut. iv. 
13, 23 ; v. 2, 3 ; ix. 9 ; Josh. iii. 3 ; 1 Kings viii. 19, 21 ; Rev. 
xi. 19 ; and in other places. And as covenant signifies conjunc- 
tion, it is therefore said of the Lord “that he shall be for a 
covenant to the people” (Isaiah xlii. 6 ; xlix. 8) ; and he is called 
the angel of the covenant (Malachi iii. 1) ; and his blood the Hood 
of the covenant (Matt. xxvi. 28 ; Zech. ix. 11 ; Exod. xxiv. 4 — 10) ; 
and therefore the Word is called the old covenant , and the new 
covenant • for covenants are entered into for the sake of love, 
friendship, consociation, and conjunction. 

286. The cause why the law was so full of holiness and power 
was, because it contained the sum and substance of all religion ; 
for it was written on two tables, one of which contained the sum 
and substance of all duties relating to God, and the other the 
sum and substance of all duties relating to man ; therefore the 
commandments of that law are called the ten words (Exod. xxxiv. 
28 ; Deut. iv. 13 ; x. 4). They are so called, because ten signi- 
fies all, and words signify truths; for it is evident there were 
more than ten words. That ten signifies all, and that tenths, 
or tithes, were appointed on account of that signification, may 
be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 101 ; and that that 
law contains the sum and substance of all things in religion, will 
be seen in the following pages. 

That the decalogue, in its literal sense, contains general 

PRECEPTS OF DOCTRINE AND LIFE, BUT IN ITS SPIRITUAL AND CELES- 
TIAL SENSE ALL PRECEPTS UNIVERSALLY. 

287. It is well known that in the word the decalogue is 
called the law by way of eminence, because it contains all things 
relating to doctrine and life ; for it contains not only the sum 
and substance of whatever regards God, but likewise the sum 
and substance of whatever regards man ; that law was therefore 
written on two tables, one of which treats of God, and the other 
of man. It is also known that all things belonging to doctrine and 

316 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


287. 283 


life have relation to love to God and love towards oui neighbor 
and all things belonging to these loves are contained in the dec- 
alogue. That the whole word teaches nothing else, is plain 
from these words of the Lord : “ Jesus Said, Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself : on these two 
commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. xxii. 
37 — 40). The law and the prophets signify the whole Word. 
And in another place ; “ A certain lawyer, tempting Jesus , said, 
Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ? And 
Jesus said unto him, What is written in the law ? how readest 
thou ? And he answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. 
And Jesus said, This do , and thou shalt live ” (Luke x. 25 — 28). 
Now, since love to God and love towards our neighbor are the 
all of the Word, and the decalogue contains in its first table a 
summary of all things relating to love to God, and, in the second, 
a summary of all things relating to love towards our neighbor, 
it follows of consequence that it contains all things that relate 
to doctrine and life. It is plain, from looking at the two tables, 
that they are so conjoined that God from his table regards man, 
and that man from his regards God in return, and consequently 
that the regard is reciprocal, and of such a nature, that God, on 
his jDart, never ceases to regard man, and to operate whatever 
may concern his salvation ; and if man receives and performs 
the duties contained in his table, a reciprocal conjunction is 
effected, and the words which the Lord said to the lawyer are 
verified, This do , and thou shalt live. 

288. In the Word the law is frequently mentioned, and it 
may be expedient to show what it means in its confined sense, 
what in a more extensive sense, and what in the most exten- 
sive sense. In a confined sense the law means the decalogue ; 
in a more extensive sense it means the statutes given by Moses 
to the children of Israel ; and in the most extensive sense it means 
the whole Word. That in a confined sense the law means 
the decalogue, is well known ; but that in a more exten- 
sive sense it means the statutes given by Moses to the 
children of Israel, is evident from the particular statutes in 
Leviticus being so called ; as for instance : “ This is the law of 
the trespass-offering” (Levit. vii. 1) ; “ This is the law of the 
sacrifice of peace-offerings” (vii. 11); “This is the law of the 
meat-offering” (vi. 14, Ac.) ; “This is the law of the burnt-offering, 
of the meat-offering, of the sin-offering, and of the trespass- 
offering, and of the consecrations” (vii. 37) ; “ This is the law of 
the beasts and of the fowls” (xi. 46); “This is the law for her 
that hath borne a son or a daughter” (xii. 7) ; “This is the law 
of the leprosy” (xiii. 59 ; xiv. 2, 32, 54, 57) ; “ This is the law 
317 


288—290 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


of him that hath an issue” (xv. 32) ; “ This is the law of jealousy” 
(Numb. v. 29) ; “This is the law of the Nazarite” (vi. 13, 21) ; 
“ This is the law when a man clieth in a tent” (xix. 14) ; u This 
is the law concerning a red heifer” (xix. 2) ; “ The law for a king” 
(Deut. xvii. 15 — 19). Yea, the whole book of Moses is called 
the law (Deut. xxxi. 9, 11, 12, 26); as also in the New Testa- 
ment (Luke ii. 22; xxiv. 44; John i. 45; vii. 23; viii. 5), and 
in other places. That those statutes were meant by the works 
of the law mentioned by Paul, where he says, that a man is 
justified without the works of the law (Rom. iii. 28), is very evi- 
dent from what follows these words, and also from his words to 
Peter, whom he blames for Judaizing, where he says three times 
in one verse, “that no man is justified by the works of the law” 
(Gal. ii. 16). That the law, in its most extensive sense, 
means the whole Word, is plain from these passages: “Jesus 
said, Is it not written in your law , Ye are gods?” (John x. 34) ; 
this is written in Psalm lxxxii. 6 : “The people answered him, 
We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever” (John 
xii. 34) ; this is in Psalm Ixxxix. 29 ; cx. 4 ; Dan. vii. 14 : “That 
the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law , They 
hated me without a cause” (John xv. 25) ; this is in Psalm xxxv. 
19 : “ Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on him ? but 
these people, who know not the law, are cursed” (John vii. 48, 
49) : “ It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than one 
tittle of the law to fail” (Luke xvi. 17). In these passages the 
whole sacred scripture is meant by the law, as may be seen in 
numerous places in the Psalms of David. 

289. The decalogue, in its spiritual and celestial senses, con- 
tains universally all precepts of doctrine and life, thus all things 
relating to faith and charity; because the Word, in all and 
every part of its literal sense, that is, both generally and par- 
ticularly, contains two interior senses, one called spiritual, and 
the other celestial, and because in these senses divine truth is in 
its light, and divine good in its heat. Now, since the Word, 
both as to the whole and every particular part, is of such a 
nature, it must of necessity follow that the ten commandments 
of the decalogue should be explained according to the three 
senses, called natural, spiritual, and celestial. That such is the 
nature of the Word, appears from what has been already proved 
in the chapter concerning the Holy Scripture or the Word, n. 
193—208. . 

290. It is impossible for any one, who is unacquainted with 
the nature and quality of the Word, by any stretch of thought 
to discover that in each several part there is an infinity, that is, 
that each contains innumerable things which the angels them- 
selves cannot exhaust. Every single word of it may be com- 
pared to a seed, which has a capacity, if it be sown in the ground, 
of growing up into a great tree, and producing abundance of 

318 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


290, 291 

other seeds, from which again similar trees may he produced, of 
these a garden formed, and from its seeds other gardens, and 
so on to infinity. Such is the Word of the Lord in all its parts, 
and particularly in the decalogue, which, as it teaches love to 
God and love towards our neighbor, is a brief complex of the 
whole Word. That the Word is of such a nature the Lord also 
shows in the following similitude : “ The kingdom of God is like 
unto a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in 
his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is 
grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so 
that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof” 
(Matt. xiii. 31, 32; Mark iv. 31, 32; Luke xiii. 18, 19). Com- 
pare also Ezek. xvii. 2 — 8. That such is the infinity of spiritual 
seeds, or of truths in the Word, is evident from the wisdom of 
angels, which is all derived from the Word, and which increases 
in them to eternity ; and they, in proportion as they grow wiser, 
see more clearly that no limit can be set to wisdom, and that 
they themselves are but in its outer court, and can never, in 
the smallest particular, attain to the divine wisdom of the Lord, 
which they call an abyss. Now, since the Word is derived from 
this abyss, in consequence of coming from the Lord, it is plain 
that there is in all its contents a kind of infinity. 

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 

THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME. 

291. These are the words of the first commandment (Exod. 
xx. 3 ; Deut. v. 7 ) : in the natural sense, which is that of the 
letter, they first of all signify that idols ought not to be wor- 
shipped ; for it follows, “ Thoft shalt not make to thyself any 
graven image, or the likeness of any thing that is in the heavens 
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters 
under the earth ; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor 
worship them ; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God ” (Exod. 
xx. 3 — 6). The reason why this commandment means, in the 
first place, that idols ought not to be worshipped, was, because 
before the time of giving the law, and after it, even till the 
coming of the Lord, the worship of idols prevailed in most of 
the kingdoms of Asia ; which worship originated in this circum- 
stance, that all the churches before the Lord’s coming were 
representative and typical, and the types and \representations 
were such, that divine things were exhibited under various 
figures and sculptures, which the vulgar, losing sight of their 
significations, began to worship as gods. That such worship 
prevailed among the people of Israel, during their sojourning in 
Egypt, is evident from the golden calf which they worshipped 
in the wilderness instead of Jehovah, and from their continual 
319 


291—294 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


relapses into such worship, as appears from both the historical 
and the prophetical parts of the Word. 

292. This commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods be- 
fore me, in a natural sense, also signifies that no man, whether 
dead or alive, ought to be worshipped as a god, which was a 
practice very common in Asia and the neighboring countries. 
Hence came many of the gods of the Gentiles, as Baal, Ashta- 
roth, Chemosh, Milkom, Beelzebub ; and amongst the Greeks 
and Romans, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Pallas, 
<fcc. Some of these they at first worshipped as saints, afterwards 
as subordinate deities ( numina ), and lastly as gods. That they 
also worshipped living men as gods, is evident from the decree 
of Darius the Mede, that no one, for the space of thirty days, 
should offer any petition to God, but to the king alone, on pain 
of being cast into the den of lions (Dan. vi. 7 to the end). 

293. In the natural sense, which is that of the letter, this 
commandment also signifies that no one, except God, and noth- 
ing except what proceeds from God, is to be loved with the chief 
and governing love, according to the Lord’s words (Matt. xxii. 
35, 36, 37 ; Luke x. 25 — 28) ; for that person or thing which is 
loved with the chief and governing love, is to the lover a god, 
and is divine ; thus where a man’s chief and governing love is 
centred in himself or the world, there self or the world is his 
god ; and the consequence is that in his heart he does not ac- 
knowledge any other god, and is therefore in conjunction with 
his like in hell, where all are gathered who have loved them- 
selves and the. world with their chief and governing love. 

294. The spiritual sense of this commandment is, that no 

other god is to be worshipped than the Lord Jesus Christ ; for 
he is Jehovaji, who came into the world and accomplished the 
work of redemption, without which neither man nor angel could 
have been saved. That there is no other god besides him, is 
evident from these passages in the Word : “It shall be said in 
that day, Lo ! this is our God, whom we have waited for to 
deliver us ; this is Jehovah, whom we have waited for ; let us 
exult and be glad in his salvation” (Isaiah xxv. 9). “ The voice 

of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Je- 
hovah ; make straight in the desert a highway for our God ; for 
the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it 
together. Behold, the Lord Jehovah cometh in strength ; he 
shall feed his flock like a shepherd” (xl. 3, 5, 10, 11). “Surely 
God is in thee, and there is no God else : verily thou art a God 
that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour ” (xlv. 14, 15). 
“Am not I Jehovah? and there is no God beside me; a just 
God and a Saviour ; theye is none beside me” (xlv. 21). “ I am 
Jehovah, and beside me there is no Saviour ” (xliii. 11 ; Hos. 
xiii. 4). “And all flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy 
Saviour and thy Redeemer ” (Isaiah xlix. 26 ; lx. 16). “ As for 

320 


DECALOGUE X PLAINED. 


294—296 


ow Aedt&n&i Jehovah Zebaoth is his name” (xlvii. 4; Jer. 1. 
34). “ Jehovah is my rock and my Redeemer ” (Psalm xix. 14). 

“ Thus saitli 3 ehovah thy Redeemer , the Holy One of Israel, I 
Jehovah am thy God” (Isaiah xlviii. 17 ; xliii. 14 ; xlix. 7). 
“ Thus saith Jehovah thy Redeemer , I am Jehovah that make 
all things, and alone by myself’ (xliv. 24). “ Thus saith Je- 

hovah the King of Israel, and his Redeemer , Jehovah Zebaoth, 
I am the First and I am the Last, and beside me there is no 
God” (xliv. 6). “ Jehovah of Hosts is his name, and thy Re- 

deemer the Holy One of Israel ; the God of the whole earth 
shall he be called” (liv. 5). “ Though Abraham be ignorant of 

us, and Israel acknowledge us not, thou, Jehovah, art our 
Father, our Redeemer ; thy name is from everlasting” (lxiii. 16). 
“ Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and his name 
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, the Father of 
Eternity , the Prince of Peace” (ix. 6). “Behold, the days come 
that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, who shall reign 
as a king : and this is his name whereby he shall be called, 
Jehovah our righteousness ” (Jer. xxiii. 6, 6). “ Philip said unto 
Jesus, Show us the Father. Jesus said unto him, He that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father: believest thou not that I am in 
the Father and the Father in me?” (John xiv. 8 — 10). “In 
Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” 
(Coloss ii. 9). “We are in the truth, in his Son Jesus Christ. 
This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep 
yourselves from idols” (1 John v. 20, 21). From these passages 
it clearly appears, that the Lord our Saviour is Jehovah himself, 
who is at once the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Regenerator. 
This is the spiritual sense of this commandment. 

295. The celestial sense of this commandment is, that 
Jehovah the Lord is infinite, immense, and eternal ; that he is 
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent; that he is the first 
and the last, the beginning and the end, who was, is, and will 
be; that he is love itself and wisdom itself, or good itself and 
truth itself, consequently life itself ; and thus the one only Being 
from whom are all things. 

296. All who acknowledge and worship any other God than 
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah God himself 
in a human form, otfend against this first commandment ; and 
so also do those who persuade themselves into the belief of three 
divine persons actually existing from eternity. These latter, in 
proportion as they confirm themselves in this error, become 
more and more natural and corporeal, in which case they have 
no capacity inwardly to comprehend any divine truth ; and if 
they hear and receive it, still they defile it and involve it in fal- 
lacies. They may therefore be compared with those who dwell 
in the lowest story of a house, or in the rooms under ground, 
who on that account hear nothing of the conversation which 

321 Y 


206 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


passes in the second or third stories, because the ceiling above 
prevents the sound from descending to them. The human mind 
is like a house consisting of three stories, in the lowest of which 
are those w 7 ho have confirmed themselves in favor of three gods 
existing from eternity, while in the second and third stories are 
those who acknowledge and believe in one God, under a visible 
human form, and the Lord God the Saviour to be that God. 
The sensual and corporeal man, since he is merely natural, is 
nothing more, considered in himself, than an animal, and differs 
from brute animals only in bein'g able to speak and reason : 
hence he is like one that lives in a den full of all kinds of wild 
beasts, where he sometimes plays the lion, sometimes the bear, 
the tiger, the leopard, or the wolf; yea, he can also at. times 
play the sheep, but then in his heart he ridicules such an inno- 
cent character. The merely natural man forms all his concep- 
tions of divine truths from mundane objects only, thus from 
the fallacies of the senses, above which he cannot raise his men- 
tal powers ; so that the doctrine of his faith may be compared to 
pottage made of chaff, on which he feeds as a dainty, or to the 
food prescribed to Ezekiel the prophet, when he was commanded 
to mix wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, and spelt, with the dung of 
a man or of an ox, and make himself bread and cakes, in order 
that he might represent the church according to its quality 
among the people of Israel, chap iv. 9. Similar to this is the 
doctrine of the church, which is founded and built on three 
divine persons existing from eternity, each of which is of him- 
self a distinct god. AVho would not see the enormity of such 
a faith were it represented before his eyes, according to its inte- 
rior form and quality, in a picture where three persons should 
be standing in order beside each other, the first distinguished 
with a sceptre and crown, the second holding in his right hand 
a book, which is the Word, and in his left hand a cross of geld 
sprinkled with blood, and a third, furnished wfith wings, standing 
on one foot, ready to fly and execute the commands of the other 
two, wfith this inscription over all, These three persons, who 
are so many distinct gods, are one God ? What wise man, 
at the sight of such a picture, could forbear exclaiming, What 
a phantasy is here ! But he would have other sentiments, and 
exclaim in other language, at the sight of a picture representing 
one Divine Person, with a glory of heavenly light about his 
head, and with this superscription, This is our God, at once the 
Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, consequently the Sa- 
viour. Would not that vfise man kiss such a picture as this, and 
carry it home in his bosom, and by the sight of it make giad 
both his own mind, and the minds of his wife, children, and 
servants ? 


322 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


297, 298 


% 

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 

Tnocr shalt not take the name of jehoyah thy god in vain ; 

FOR JEHOYAH WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT TAKETH HIS 
NAME IN YAIN. 

297. In the natural sense, which is that of the letter, to 
take the name of Jehovah God in vain, signifies the name itself, 
and the abuse of it in common discourse, especially in support- 
ing falsehoods or lies, and in unnecessary oaths, or in impre- 
cating curses on one’s self with a view to exculpation from the 
imputation of any bad design, or in the practice of witchcraft 
and incantations. But to swear by God and his holiness, or by 
the Word and Gospel, in the case of admission to any office, as 
at the coronation of a king, the inauguration of a priest, or an 
appointment to any place of trust, this is not to take the name 
of God in vain, unless he who swears afterwards make light of 
his engagements. The name of God being holy itself, must 
necessarily be in constant use in the holy offices of the church, 
as in prayers, psalms, and in all divine worship, also in preach- 
ing, and in writing on religious subjects ; for God is in all things 
that regard religion, and when he is properly invoked by his 
name, he is present, and hears ; and on such occasions the name 
of God is hallowed. That the name of Jehovah God is in itself 
holy, is evident from this circumstance, that the Jews, from the 
first time that name was used, never durst, and still dare not, 
pronounce it ; and that, on their account, neither the evange- 
lists nor the apostles chose to mention it : therefore, instead of 
the name of Jehovah, they adojited that of Lord, as appears 
from various passages transcribed out of the Old Testament into 
the New, where instead of Jehovah, the Lord is named, as in 
Matt. xxii. 37 ; Luke x. 27, compared with Deut. vi. 5 ; and in 
other places. That the name of Jesus is in like manner holy, 
is Lnown from the declaration of the apostle, where he says, 
that at that name every knee shall bow, both in heaven and in 
earth ; and its holiness is also manifest from this circumstance, 
that no devil in hell has power to pronounce it. There are 
several names of God which are not to be taken in vain, as 
Jehovah, Jehovah God, Jehovah Zebaoth, the Holy One of 
Israel, Jesus and Christ, and the Holy Spirit. 

298. In the spiritual sense, the name of God means all 
that which the church teaches from the Word, and by which 
the Lord is invoked and worshipped : all those things are the 
name of God in the complex ; so that to take the name of God 
in vain, means to take any thing thence, and use it in vain dis- 
courses, false assertions, lies, execrations, witchcrafts, and in- 
cantations ; for this is also to revile and blaspheme God, ajid 
consequently his name. That the Word, and whatever the 

323 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


298, 299 

church thence possesses, and. thus all worship, is the name of 
God, may be seen from these passages : “ The desire of our soul 
is to thy name” (Isaiah xxvi. 8, 13). “ From the rising of the 

sun, even to the going down of the same, my name shall be 
great among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense shall be 
offered unto my name. Ye profane my name, in that ye say the 
table of Jehovah is polluted ; and ye snuff at my name when ye 
bring the torn, the lame, and the sick” (Malachi i. 11 — 13). 
“All people walk every one in the name of his God, and we will 
walk in the name of Jehovah our God” (Micah iv. 5). “ They 

shall worship Jehovah in one place where he shall place his 
name” (Dent. xii. 5,11, 13, 18; xvi. 2, 6, 11, 15, 16); that 
is, where he shall appoint his worship. “ Jesus said, Where 
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in 
the midst of them” (Matt, xviii. 20). “But as many as re- 
ceived him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, 
even to them that believe in his name” (John i. 12). “ He 

that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not be- 
lieved in the name of the only-begotten Son of God” (iii. 18). 
“ I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it” 
(xvii. 26). “And that believing ye might have life in his name” 
(xx. 31). “ The Lord said, I have a few names in Sardis” (Bev. 

iii. 4); and in many other passages: in all which, as in the 
foregoing, the name of God means the divine which proceeds 
from God, and by which he is worshipped. The name “ Jesus 
Christ” signifies the all of redemption, and the all of his 
doctrine, and thus the all of salvation ; Jesus, the all of sal- 
vation by redemption, and Christ, the all of salvation by his 
doctrine. 

299. In the celestial sense, the same is signified by taking 
the name of God in vain, as the Lord said to the Pharisees : 
“ All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, 
but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven” 
(Matt. xii. 31). Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, means 
blasphemy against the Divinity of the Lord’s Humanity, and 
against the holiness of the Word. That the divine human of the 
Lord is meant by the name of Jehovah God in its celestial or 
supreme sense, is evident from these passages : “ Jesus said, 

Father , glorify thy name ; and there came a voice from heaven, 
saying, I both have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 
xii. 28). “ Whatever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it, that 

the Father may be glorified in the Son : if ye shall ask any thing 
in my name, I will do it” (xiv. 13, 14). In the Lord’s Prayer, 
according to its celestial sense, the same is signified by this pe- 
tition, Hallowed be thy name; and also by name in Exod. xxiii 
21 ; Isaiah lxiii. 16. Since blasphemy against the Holy Spirit 
is never remitted, according to the Lord’s words (Matt. xii. 31) * 
and as this blasphemy is meant in the celestial sense of this com 
324 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


299 — 30.1 


mandment, therefore this denunciation is annexed, because Jeho - 
call will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 

300. That the name .of any person does not meau his name 
only, but likewise all his characteristic quality, is»evident from 
names in the spiritual world, where no man retains that which 
he received at his baptism and derived from his father and pro- 
genitors ; but every one is named according to his characteristic 
quality : thus the angels are named according to their moral and 
spiritual life ; and these also are those who are understood by 
these words of the Lord : “ He that eutereth in by the door is 
the shepherd of the sheep. The sheep hear his voice, and he 
calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. I am 
the good Shepherd” (John x. 2, 3, 11). “I have a few names 
in Sardis which have not defiled their garments. Him that 
overcometh, I will write upon him the name of the city Hew 
Jerusalem, and my new name” (Rev. iii. 4, 12).% Gabriel and 
Michael are not the names of two persons in heaven ; but those 
names signify all those in heaven who are in the enjoyment of 
wisdom concerning the Lord, and who worship him. The names 
also of persons and places mentioned in. the Word, do not mean 
persons and places, but things relating to the church. In the 
natural world, likewise, the term “ name” does not mean name 
alone, but at the same time the quality and nature of the person 
to whom the name belongs, because these are annexed to his 
name : it is therefore usual in common discourse to say of a man 
that he does this or that, for the sake of his name, or to acquire 
a good name ; and of another, that he has a great name, which 
signifies that he is distinguished for some interior qualities, as 
his ingenuity, erudition, merits, and the like. Who is not 
aware that to revile and calumniate any one as to his name, is 
to revile and calumniate the actions of his life, since they are 
united in idea, and must consequently both suffer together? In 
like manner, whoever makes opprobrious mention of the name 
of a king, a prince, or any great personage, must of necessity 
at the same time taint the reputation of their majesty and high 
station j so also to utter a person’s name with a contemptuous 
tone of voice is a kind of slight shown towards his actions and 
character ; and it is therefore a general law in all nations not 
to admit that any scandal or abuse be offered to a person’s 
name, because his quality and reputation must necessarily suffer 
with it. 


THE THIRD COMMAHDMEHT. 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy : six days shalt 

THOU LABOR AND DO ALL THY WORK ; BUT THE SEVENTH DAY 
IS THE SABBATH TO JEHOVAH THY GOD. 

301. In the natural sense, which is that of the letter, 
325 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


301, 302 

this commandment signifies that six days are for man and his 
labors, and the seventh for the Lord and for man’s rest in depen- 
dence on him ; for the word sabbath in the original tongue sig- 
nifies rest. * Jhe sabbath among the children of Israel was the 
sanctity of sanctities, because it represented the Lord ; the six 
days being significative of his labors and combats with the hells, 
and the seventh of his victory over them, and of the rest which 
he thereby attained ; and because that day represented the close 
and period of the whole work of redemption accomplished by the 
Lord, it was esteemed holiness itself. But when the Lord came 
into the world, and in consequence made all representations of 
himself to cease, that day was then made a day for instruction 
in divine subjects, and thus also a day of rest from labors, and 
of meditation on matters that concern salvation and eternal life, 
and also a day for the exercise of love towards our neighbor. 
That it was m^de a day for instruction in divine subjects, is evi- 
dent from this circumstance, that the Lord on that day taught 
in the temple and the synagogues (Mark vi. 2 ; Luke iv. 16, 31, 
32 ; xiii. 10) ; and that he said to the man who was healed, 
“Take up thy bed and walk;” and to the Pharisees, that it 
was lawful for his disciples on the sabbath day to gather the 
ears of corn and eat (Matt. xii. 1 — 9 ; Mark ii. 23 to the end ; 
Luke vi. 1 — 6 ; John v. 9 — 19) ; which particulars signify, in 
the spiritual sense, to be instructed in doctrinals. That that 
day was also made a day for the exercise of love towards our 
neighbor, is evident from what the Lord both did and taught 
on the sabbath day (Matt. xii. 10 — 14 ; Mark iii. 1 — 9 ; Luke 
vi. 6 — 12 ; xiii. 10 — 18 ; xiv. 1 — 7 ; John v. 9 — 19 ; vii. 22, 23; 
ix. 14 — 16). From these and the foregoing passages, it ap- 
pears why the Lord said that he is Lord also of the sabbath 
(Matt. xii. 8 ; Mark ii. 28 ; Luke vi. 5) ; and from his making 
this declaration it follows, that the sabbath day was representa- 
tive of him. 

302. This commandment, in the spiritual sense, signifies 
the reformation and regeneration of man by the Lord : six days 
of labor signify man’s combats against the flesh and its lusts, 
and at the same time against the evils and falses which are in- 
fused into him from hell ; and the seventh day signifies his con- 
junction with the Lord, and consequent regeneration. That 
during such combat, man undergoes spiritual labor, but enters 
into rest when he is regenerate, will appear from what will here- 
after be said in the chapter concerning reformation and regen- 
eration, particularly under these articles : I. The work of 
regeneration is successive , answering in its several stages to man's 
conception , his formation in the womb y his birth , and his educa- 
tion. II. The first act of the new birth is called reformation , 
which has reference to the understanding ; and the second is called 
rcaeneration , which has reference to the will , and to the under 
326 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


302, 303 

standing in subordination to the will. III. The internal man is 
first to be reformed , and by this the external. 1Y. A combat 
then commences between the internal and external man , and 
whichever conquers has dominion over the other. Y. The regen- 
erate man has a new will and a new understanding , dec. The 
reason why the reformation and regeneration of man are signi- 
fied in the spiritual sense by this commandment, is, because 
they coincide with the labors and combats of the Lord against 
the hells, and with his victory over them, and the rest into 
which he then entered ; for the Lord reforms and regenerates 
man, and makes him spiritual, after the same method as that 
by which he glorified his humanity and made it divine : this is 
what is meant by man’s being commanded to follow him. 
That the Lord had his combats, and that they are called labors, 
appears from Isaiah liii. and lxiii., and that a similar description 
is given of man’s labors may be seen (lxv. 23 ; Rev. ii. 2, 3). 

303. In the celestial sense, this commandment means 
conjunction with the Lord and that attendant peace which is the 
effect of protection from hell ; for the Sabbath signifies rest, and 
in this highest sense, peace; on which account the Lord is 
called the Prince of Peace, and styles himself Peace in the ab- 
stract, as is evident from the following passages : “ Unto us a 
Child is born, unto us a Son is given ; and the government shall 
be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
Counsellor, God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of 
Peace: of the increase of his government peace there shall 
be no end” (Isaiah ix. 6, 7). “ Jesus said, Peace I leave with 

you; my peace I give unto you” (John xiv. 27). “Jesus said, 
These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have 
peace ” (xvi. 33). “How beautiful upon the mountains are the 
feet of him that bringeth good tidings , that publisheth peace , 
that saith, Thy God reigneth” (Isaiah lii. 7). “Jehovah shall 
redeem my soul in peace ” (Psalm lv. 18). “ The work of Je- 

hovah is peace , the labor of righteousness, rest and security to 
eternity, that they may dwell in the habitation of peace, and in 
the tents of security , and in tranquil resting-places” (Isaiah 
xxxii. 17, 18). “ Jesus said unto the seventy, Into whatsoever 

house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house ; and if the Son 
of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it” (Luke x. 5, 
6; Matt. x. 12 — 11). “Jehovah will speak peace unto his 

people ; righteousness and peace shall kiss each other” (Psalm 
Ixxxv. 8, 10). When the Lord himself appeared to his disciples, 
he said, “ Peace be unto you” (John xx 19 — 21). Moreover, 
concerning the state of peace into which the regenerate are to 
be admitted by the Lord, Isaiah treats, chap. lv. and lvi. and in 
other places : into this state are to come those who are received 
into the new church which is now establishing by the Lord. 
The nature and essence of that peace which the angels of heaven 
327 


303—305 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


and those who are in the Lord enjoy, may be seen in the trea- 
tise concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 284 — 290. From these 
considerations it also appears why the Lord styles himself Lord 
of the Sabbath, that is, of rest and peace. 

304. Celestial peace, which consists in security against the 
hells, and the prevention of assault from the evils and falses 
thence arising, may be compared, in many respects, with a state 
of natural peace ; as when men, after the horrors of war, come 
to live in safety and protection from their enemies, and in the 
secure enjoyment of their own cities, houses, farms, and gardens ; 
or, as the prophet expresses it, in speaking of celestial peace 
under natural images, when “ they shall sit every man under 
his vine, and under his fig-tree ; and none shall make them 
afraid” (Micah iv. 4; Isaiah lxv. 21 — 23). It may be com- 
pared also with recreation of mind, and rest after extraordinary 
fatigues ; and with the consolations which a mother experiences 
after the time of her delivery, when her tender love towards her 
child begins to manifest its sweetnesses. It may be compared 
further with the serenity that succeeds stormy weather, which 
had been attended with dark clouds and thunder ; and likewise 
with the appearance of spring after a severe winter, when the 
lands seem to express their joy in the fresh springing herbage, 
and the gardens, fields, and woods, in their buds and blossoms. 
It may be compared, lastly, with the state of mind of those 
who, after escaping a variety of storms and dangers at sea, 
reach the haven, and are landed in the wished-for country. 

THE FOUKTH COMMANDMENT. 

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be 

LONG IN THE LAND WHICH JEHOVAH THY GOD GIVETH THEE. 

305. By honoring father and mother, in the natural sense, 
which is that of the letter, is meant that children should honor 
their parents, should obey them, should be attentive to them, 
and grateful for benefits received from them, remembering with 
all thankfulness that they have been fed and clothed by them, 
and introduced into the world to act in a civil and moral char- 
acter, and likewise into heaven, by the religious advice and 
counsels which they have received from them. Thus parents 
provide for the temporal prosperity, and also for the eternal hap- 
piness, of their children, all which they do under the impulse 
of that parental affeetion implanted in them by the Lord, in 
whose place they stand. In a respective sense, this command- 
ment implies the honor due from wards to their guardians, in 
case they have lost their parents. In a more extensive sense, 
this precept enjoins the honor due to a king and public magis- 
trates, since they too provide every thing that is necessary foi 

328 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


305—307 


the good of the community, -as parents do for the private good 
of their particular families. In the most extensive natural sense, 
this commandment implies that men should love their country, 
since it is this which nourishes and protects them ; and there- 
fore, in the Latin tongue, country is expressed by the word 
vatria , evidently derived from pater, which signifies father. 
But parents themselves are equally bound to show honor in the 
two last cases, and to teach their children to do the same. 

306. In the spiritual sense, by honoring father and mother 
is meant to revere and love God and the church. In this sense, 
by father is meant God, who is the Father of all, and by mother 
the church. Infants and angels in heaven know of no other 
father or mother, since they are there born anew of the Lord 
by the church : the Lord therefore says, u Call no man your 
father on earth ; for one is your Father who is in heaven” (Matt, 
xxiii. 9) ; which was spoken for angels and infants in heaven, 
but not for infants and men on earth. The Lord teaches the 
same thing in the common prayer of all Christian churches, Our 
Father, who art in the heavens, hallowed be thy name. The 
reason why, in a spiritual sense, mother means the church, is, 
because as a natural mother nourishes her children with natural 
food, so the church nourishes her children with spiritual food ; 
in the Word, therefore, the church is everywhere called mother; 
as in Hosea : u Plead with your mother ; for she is not my wife, 
neither am I her husband” (ii. 2) ; and in Isaiah : “ Where is 
the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away?” 
(1. 1) ; and in Ezek. xvi. 45, xix. 10, and in the Evangelists : 
u Jesus, stretching out his hands towards his disciples, said, My 
mother and my brethren are those who hear the Word of God, 
and do it” (Matt. xii. 46, 49 ; Mark iii. 33 — 35 ; Luke viii. 21 ; 
John xix. 25 — 27). 

307. In the celestial sense, by father is meant our Lord 

Jesus Christ, and by mother the communion of saints, in other 
words, his church dispersed throughout the whole world. That 
the Lord is the Father, is evident from these passages : “Unto 
us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, whose name shall be 
called God, Hero, the Father of eternity, the Prince of peace” 
(Isaiah ix. 6). “ Thou art our Father, though Abraham be 

ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not : thou art our 
Father, our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting” (lxiii. 16). 
“Philip said, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us; Jesus 
saith unto him, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father ; 
how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believe me, that 
I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (John xiv. 8 — 11, 
xii. 45). That the church of the Lord is meant by mother in 
this sense, is evident from these passages : “ I saw the holy city, 
the New Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus- 
band ” (Ilev. xxi. 2). “The angel said to John, Come hither, 

329 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


307, 308 

I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife / and he showed mo 
that great city, the holy Jerusalem” (xxi. 9, 10). “ The mar- 

riage of the Lamb is come , and his wife hath made herself 
ready” (xix. 7) ; see also Matt. ix. 15 ; Mark ii. 19, 20 ; Luke v. 
34, 35 ; John iii. 29. That the Hfew Jerusalem means a new 
church, which is at this day establishing by the Lord, may be 
seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 880, 881 : this church, and 
not the former, is the wife and mother in this sense. The spir- 
itual offspring, which are the fruits of this marriage, are the 
goods of charity and the truths of faith ; and those who are prin- 
cipled in these from the Lord are called the children of the mar- 
riage, the children of God, and bom of God. 

308. It is a great truth, which should never be forgotten, 
that there is continually proceeding from the Lord a divine 
sphere of celestial love towards all those who embrace the doc- 
trine of his church, and who, like children in regard to their 
natural parents, obey him, apply themselves to him, and desire 
to be nourished, that is, to be instructed by him. From this 
celestial sphere originates a natural sphere, which is that of love 
towards infants and children, and which is most universal, affect- 
ing not only men, but likewise birds and beasts, and even ser- 
pents, and not only animate, but also inanimate things. For 
the purpose, however, of operating on the inanimate parts of 
creation, as he operates on the spiritual parts, the Lord formed 
the sun, to be in the natural world as a father, while the earth 
supplies the place of a mother ; for the sun is like a common 
father, and the earth like a common mother, from whose mar- 
riage-union all the vegetables which adorn the face of the globe 
are brought forth into being. The influx of that celestial sphere 
into the natural world gives birth to all the wonderful progres- 
sions of vegetation, from the seed to the fruit, and from thence 
to new seeds. Hence also it is that there are many kinds of 
shrubs, which in the daytime turn, as it were, their faces 
towards the sun, and turn them away again when the sun goes 
down ; and hence also some flowers open and expand at sunrise, 
and close again at his setting : hence too the nightingales sing 
most sweetly about the early dawn of morning, and in like 
manner when they have been fed by their mother earth : thus 
both animals and vegetables honor their father and mother, and 
are all so many standing evidences that the Lord, by means of 
the sun and the earth in the natural world, provides for all the 
wants and necessities of both animate and inanimate creation. 
It is therefore said in David, “Praise Jehovah from the heavens; 
praise him, sun and moon ; praise him from the earth, ye whales 
and all deeps ; praise him, ye fruitful trees and all cedars, beasts 
and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowls, kings of the 
earth and all people, young men and maidens” (Psalm cxisiii. 1 
— 12) ; and in Job : “ But ask now the beasts, and they shall 
330 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


308—310 


teach thee, and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee ; or 
the shrub of the earth, and it shall instruct thee; and the fishes 
of the sea shall declare unto thee : who knoweth not from all 
these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?” (xii. 7 — 9). 
Ask, and they shall teach, signifies look at, attend to, and judge 
from them that the Lord Jehovah has created them. 

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 

THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT MURDER. 

309. This commandment, Thou shalt not commit murder , in 
the natural sense, signifies not to take away a man’s life, or to 
give any blow or wound which may be the occasion ofihis death, 
or even to maim or mutilate his body : it also implies that no 
deadly injury should be done to the good name or character of 
any person ; for a fair character is .held by many in equal esti- 
mation with life ^itself. In a more extensive natural sense, 
murder signifies enmity, hatred, and revenge, which may be 
called death-breathing passions, because murder lies concealed 
in them, just as fire does in wood embers. The fire of hell, in 
fact, consists of nothing else, and therefore we talk of being 
inflamed with hatred, and burning with revenge. These pas- 
sions are murder in intention, though not in act, from which 
open manifestation of themselves they are prevented merely by 
fear of the law and penal retaliation, especially where treachery 
and ferocity dwell in the intention. That hatred is murder, is 
evident from these words of the Lord, “ Ye have heard that it 
was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever 
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; but I say unto 
you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, 
shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matt. v. 21, 22). The rea- 
son of this is, because whatever is of the intention, is also of the 
will, and is thus in its essence the act itself. 

310. In the spiritual sense, murders signify all methods 
of killing and destroying the souls of men, which are various 
and manifold ; as, for example, by turning them away from God, 
from religion, and from divine worship, by insinuating objec- 
tions against them, and raising such scandalous suggestions, as 
may beget aversion from them, and even loathing. Such mur- 
derers are all the devils and satans in hell, with whom are con- 
joined those in this world who violate and prostitute the sancti- 
ties of the church. Those who destroy souls by means of falses, 
are understood by the king of the bottomless pit, called Abaddon 
or Apollyon, that is, the destroyer, in the Revelation, chap. ix. 
11 ; and in the prophetic Word they are described under the 
name of the slain ; as in these passages: “Thussaith Jehovah 
my God, Feed the flock of the slaughter, whose possessors sla;y 

331 


SxO— 312 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED, 


them” (Zech. xi. 4, 5). “ For thy sake are we slain all the day 

long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Psalm xliv. 
22). “ Jacob shall cause them that shall come to take root: is 

he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by 
him ?” (Isaiah xxvii. 6, 7). “ The thief cometh not but to steal, 

and to kill, and to destroy : I am come that they might have 
life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John x. 10) ; 
besides in other places, as in Isaiah xiv. 21 ; xxvi. 21 ; Jer. iv. 
31 ; xii. 3 ; Eev. ix. 4 ; xi. 7. Hence it is that the devil is called 
“a murderer from the beginning” (John viii. 44). 

311. In the celestial sense, to commit murder, signifies to 
iidulge hasty resentment against the Lord, to bear hatred to- 
wards him, and to be desirous to blot out his name. Such per- 
sons as do so are said to crucify him afresh ; which also they 
would actually do, as the Jews did formerly, where he to come 
again into the world. This is signified by “ a Lamb standing as 
it were slain” (Rev. v. 6 ; xiii. 8) ; and by “ Him that was cru- 
cified” (Rev. xi. 8 ; Heb. vi. 6 ; Gal. iii. i). J 

312. The nature and quality of man’s internal, unless it be 
reformed by the Lord, was made manifest to me from the nature 
and quality of the devils and satans in hell : these are possessed 
by a constant desire and intention of killing the Lord ; and be- 
cause they cannot effect that purpose, they attempt to kill all 
those who are devoted to his service ; but as they cannot do this 
actually, as men in the world can, they exert all their endeav- 
ors to destroy their souls, that is, to destroy in them every prin- 
ciple of faith and charity. The hatred and revenge that influ- 
ence them appear like dusky and pale fires, the hatred like 
dusky fire and the revenge like pale fire ; nevertheless they are 
not fires, but only appearances of fire. The rage and cruelty of 
their hearts also are sometimes figured visibly over their heads, 
in the likeness of. combats with the angels, and the slaughter 
and overthrow of the latter : it is their animosity and hatred 
against heaven which give birth to such dreadful imagery. 
Moreover, they themselves appear at a distance like wild beasts 
of all sorts, as tigers, leopards, wolves, foxes, dogs, crocodiles, 
and also 1’ke every kind of serpents ; and when they see gentle 
and harmless beasts in their representative forms, they are in- 
stantly urged, in phantasy, to attempt their destruction. There 
were once presented to my view, as it were, dragons, standing 
near some women, who had infants attending them, whom the 
dragons endeavored, as it were, to devour, according to what is 
related in the Revelation, chap. xii. ; which appearance was only 
a representation of their hatred against the Lord and his new 
church. That men here on earth, who wish to destroy the Lord’s 
church, are of a similar nature and form w'th those infernal spir- 
its, is not indeed apparent to those among whom they now live, 
because their bodies, which serve them for the outward exercise 

332 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


312 — 314 


of social duties here below, absorb and conceal the true forms 
of their spirits; but nevertheless, in the sight of angels, who 
behold their spirits and not their bodies, they appear in forms 
similar to those of the devils above described. This is indeed 
wonderful, and could never possibly have been discovered to be 
so, unless the Lord had opened the spiritual sight of some per- 
son or other, and thus enabled him to look into the spiritual 
world, and explore what must otherwise, with a variety of othei 
most important information, have remained hidden from mankind 
to all eternity. 

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 

Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

313. In the natural sense, this commandment signifies 
not only the committing of adultery, but also the cherishing of 
filthy and obscene desires, and giving them veiit in wanton 
thoughts, words, and actions. That mere lust constitutes adul- 
tery, is evident from these words of the Lord : “Ye have heard 
that it was said by those of old time, Thou shalt not commit 
adultery : but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a wo- 
man to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already 
in his heart” (Matt. v. 27, 28). The reason of this is because 
lust, when it is in the will, acquires the nature of an act ; for 
the understanding is only receptive of the allurement of sin, 
but the will is receptive of the intention, and the intention of 
lust has the nature of an act. More, however, may be seen on 
this subject in the Treatise on Conjugial love and on scor- 
tatory love, published at Amsterdam in the year 1768, where 
the following subjects are discussed : The opposition between 
Conjugial and Scortatory Love , n. 423 — 443 : Fornication , n. 
444—460 : The several hinds and degrees of Adultery, n. 478 — 
499 : The Lust of deflowering Virgins , n. 501 — 505 : The Lust 
of indulging in Varieties , n. 506 — 510 : The Lust of Violation , 
i). 511, 512 : The Lust of seducing innocence , n. 513, 514: The 
Imputation of Love, both Scortatory and Conjugial, n. 523 — 531. 
All these things are meant by this commandment in its natural 
sense. 

314. In the spiritual sense, to commit adultery signifies 
to adulterate the goods of the Word, and to falsity its truths. 
It has been heretofore unknown to mankind that this too is 
meant by committing adultery, because the spiritual sense of 
the Word has heretofore remained undiscovered ; but that this 
is signified in the Word by committing whoredoms, adulteries, 
and scortations, is very evident from these passages : “ Hun ye tc 
and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and seek if ye can find 
a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeheth the 
truth : when I had fed them to the full then they committed adul 

333 


314—316 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


terry ” (Jer. v. 1, 7). “ I have seen also in the prophets of J erusalem 
a horrible obstinacy ; they commit adultery , and walk in lies ” 
(xxiii. 14). “ They have committed folly in Israel, they have 

committed adultery , and have spoken lying words in my name ” 
(xxix. 23). u They committed whoredom , because they have 
forsaken Jehovah” (Hosea iv. 10). “ The soul that turneth 

after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a 
whoring after them , him will I cut off from among his people” 
(Lev. xx. 6). “Let them not make a covenant with the inhab- 
itants of the land, lest they go a whoring after their gods ” 
(Exod. xxxiv. 15). Because Babylon, above all others, adulter- 
ates and falsifies the Word, she is therefore called the great 
whore, and it is said of her in the Revelation, “Babylon hath 
made all nations drink of the wine of the anger of her whoredom ” 
(Rev. xiv. 8). “ The angel said, I will show thee the judgment 

of the great whore , with whom the kings of the earth have com- 
mitted whoredom ” (xvii. 1, 2). “ He hath judged the great whore 
which did corrupt the earth with her whoredom ” (xix. 2). For- 
asmuch as the Jewish nation had falsified the Word, it is there- 
fore called by the Lord u An adulterous generation ” (Matt. xii. 
39 ; xvi. 4 ; Mark viii. 38) ; and “ the seed of the adulterer ” 
(Isaiah lvii. 3) ; not to mention other places in the Word, where 
by adulteries and whoredoms are understood adulterations and 
falsifications of the Word, as in Jerern. iii. 6, 8; xiii. 27 ; Ezek. 
xvi. 15, 16, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33; xxiii. 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 14, 16, 17; 
Hos. v. 3 ; vi. 10 ; Nahum iii. 4. 

315. In the celestial sense, to commit adultery signifies to 
deny the holiness of the Word, and to profane it. That this is 
meant in the celestial sense of this commandment is a conse- 
quence of the foregoing spiritual sense, which is to adulterate 
the goods of the Word, and to falsity its truths. All those deny 
the holiness of the Word and profane it, who in their hearts 
make a mockery of whatever relates to the church and religion ; 
for all things relating to the church and religion among Chris- 
tians are derived from the Word. 

316. Yarious causes conspire to give a man the appearance 
of being chaste, both in the eyes of others and also in his own, 
when yet he may be altogether unchaste ; for he is not aware 
that when lust is in the will, it is equivalent to the act, and that 
it cannot be removed but by the Lord after repentance. Absti- 
nence from act does not constitute a man chaste, but abstinence 
from will, where the act is possible; and where a man abstains 
in consideration of the sinfulness of indulgence, this constitutes 
true chastity. But if a man abstains from adulteries and whore- 
doms, only through fear of the civil law and its penalties ; through 
fear of suffering in his honor or reputation; through fear ol 
diseases which may be contracted, through fear of domestic 
quarrels with his wife, and the unquiet state of life which might 

334 


TIIE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


316—318 


ensue ; through fear of vengeance from the husband and relations 
of the party seduced ; or from motives of avarice ; from bodily 
weakness, arising either from disease, abuse, or age, or from any 
other cause of impotence ; yea, if he abstain from a principle of 
obedience to some natural or civil law, yet unconnected with 
any regard to spiritual law, — such a one is still in his inner man 
an adulterer and whoremonger; for he is still in a belief that 
adultery and whoredom are not sins, in consequence of which 
belief he never condemns them in his spirit before God, and 
therefore in spirit he commits them, however innocent he may 
appear in body before men ; and when he becomes a spirit after 
death, he declares openly in their favor. Adulterers may be 
compared with the violators of treaties, who break through all 
compacts and engagements ; and also with the satyrs and rriapi 
of the ancients, who were feigned to wander about in forests, 
crying out for virgins, brides, and married women to come and 
sport with them : adulterers also in the spiritual world actually 
appear like satyrs and Priapi. They may further be compared 
to rank goats, and likewise to dogs that run about the streets, 
hunting after a female to satisfy their lusts. The power of en 
joy men t possessed by such persons when they enter the married 
state, may be compared with the blossoming of tulips in the 
spring, which in a few weeks drop their flowers and wither away. 

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

Thou shalt not steal. 

317 In the natural sense, this commandment signifies, 
according to the letter, not to steal or plunder, or to play the 
pirate in time of peace ; and in general, never to deprive another 
of his property under any pretence whatever. In this sense it 
extends also to all impositions, and unlawful methods of gain, 
usury, and exactions ; likewise to all fraudulent practices fci the 
payment of duties and taxes, and in the discharge of debts. 
Workmen offend against this commandment who do their work 
in any unjust manner by practising deceit ; traders offend against 
it, who in their trading endeavor to impose, either in regard to 
the quality of their goods, or in weight, in measure, or in mak- 
ing out their accounts ; commanders offend against it, when 
they would deprive the soldiers under their command of their 
just wages ; judges offend against it, who are influenced in their 
judgments by friendship, bribes, relationship, or any other con- 
siderations, to the perverting of law and equity, and the depriv- 
ing of others, in consequence, of Mieir just claims and possessions. 

318. In the spiritual sense, to steal means to deprive 
others of the truths which they embrace in faith, which is done 
by means of false and heretical opinions. Priests, who do the 
335 


318—320 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


work of their ministry from no higher motives than those of gam 
and worldly honor, and who teach such doctrines as they see by 
the Word, or may see, are not true, are spiritual thieves ; for 
they rob the people of the means of salvation, which are the 
truths of faith. They are also called thieves in the following 
passages of the Word : “ lie that entereth not by the door into 
the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a 
thief and a robber. The thief cometh not but to steal, and to 
kill, and to destroy” (John x. 1, 10). “ Lay not up for your- 

selves treasures on earth, but in heaven, where thieves do not 
break through and steal” (Matt. vi. 19, 20). “If thieves come 
to thee, robbers by night, how art thou cut off! will they not 
steal till they have enough ?” (Obad. ver. 5). “They shall run 
to and fro in the city ; they shall run upon the wall ; they shall 
climb up into the houses ; they shall enter in at the windows 
like a thief” (Joel ii. 9). “ They have made a lie, and the thiet 

cometh in, and the troop spreadeth itself without” (ILos. vii. 1). 

319. In the celestial sense, thieves signify those who take 
away divine power from the Lord ; and also those who arrogate 
to themselves his merit and righteousness. All such, notwith- 
standing their seeming adoration of God, do not trust in him, 
but in themselves, and likewise do not believe in God, but in 
themselves. 

320. Those who teach false and heretical opinions, and en- 
deavor to persuade the vulgar that they are true and orthodox, 
and yet read the Word, from whence they might learn what is 
true and what is false ; and those also who confirm the falses of 
religion by fallacies, to the misleading of others, are guilty of 
theft spiritually understood, and may be compared with impos- 
ters and impositions of every kind ; as with those who coin 
false money, which they gild over, or by other means give it 
the color of gold, and pass it as such ; and also with those who 
have the art of cutting and polishing crystal stones, and harden- 
ing them, in so dexterous a manner as to make them pass for 
diamonds ; and likewise with those who carry sphinxes or apes, 
clothed like men, with their faces covered, .on horseback through 
a city, and proclaim as they go that they are noblemen of -an- 
cient and honorable extraction. They are also like those who 
conceal their living and true faces under painted masks, thereby 
hiding all their beauty ; and like those who dispose of selenites 
and sparkling stones, which shine like gold and silver, calling 
them stones of a high price and value. They may also be conn 
pared with those who, by means of theatrical exhibitions, divert 
people from the true worship of God, and draw them away from 
the church to the play-house. # Those who, without any regard 
to truth, confirm falses of every kind, and who discharge the duty 
of priests merely with a view to worldly gain or reputation, and 
are thus spiritual thieves, may be compared with those thieves 

336 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


320 — 322 


who are in possession of keys for opening the doors of any house ; 
they may also be compared with leopards and eagles, who are 
quick and sharp-sighted wherever an abundance of prey may be 
discovered. 


THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 

321. To bear false witness, in the natural sense nearest 
to the letter, signifies to bear false witness either before a judge, 
or, in cases not relating to civil judicature, before other people, 
against any person accused on a groundless charge ; and to cor- 
roborate such evidence by the name of God, or by an appeal to 
any thing else that is holy, or by the respect due to the witness’s 
own character and reputation. In a more extensive natural 
sense, this commandment forbids all kinds of lies and hypo- 
critical artifices, forged with a bad design ; and also all ways of 
traducing or defaming our neighbor to the injury of his honor, 
fame, and reputation, on which his whole character depends. 
In the most extensive natural sense, this commandment forbids 
all cunning devices, stratagems, and evil purposes, contrived 
against 'any person, and originating in enmity, hatred, revenge, 
envy, rivalship, and the like ; for all such evil dispositions have 
the sin of false witness deeply hidden and rooted in them. 

322. In the spiritual sense, to bear false witness signifies 

to endeavor to persuade people that the false of faith is the 
truth of faith, and that the evil of life is the good of life, and 
contrariwise ; but to constitute this false witness, it must be 
done intentionally, and not in ignorance, consequently after a 
man has been informed respecting the nature of good and truth ; 
for the Lord says, “ If ye were blind, ye would have no sin ; 
but now ye say, We see, therefore your sin remaineth” (John 
ix. 41). This kind of the false is signified in the Word by a lie, 
and the intentional purpose to propagate it, by deceit, in the 
following passages : “We have made a covenant with death, and 
wfith hell have we made a vision ; in a lie have we placed our 
trust, and in falsehood have we hid ourselves” (Isaiah xxviii. 
15). “ This is a rebellious people, lying children, children that 

will not hear the law of Jehovah” (xxx. 9). “ From the prophet 
even to the priest, every one maketh a lie” (Jer. viii.10). “The 
inhabitants thereof have spoken a lie ; and as for their tongue, 
deceit is in their mouths” (Micah vi. 12). “Thou shalt destroy 
them that speak a lie ; the Lord will abhor the man of deceit” 
(Psalm v. 6.) “ They have taught their tongues to speak a lie; 

their habitation is in the midst of deceit” (Jer. ix. 5, 6). Since 
the false is signified by a lie, therefore the Lord says, “ the 
devil, when he speaketh a lie, speaketh from his own” (John 
viii. 44). A lie also signifies the false, and speaking falsely, in 

337 z 


322—325 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


these passages : Jer. xxiii. 14, 32 ; Ezek. xiii. 15 — 19 ; xxi. 29 ; 
Hos. vii. 1 ; xii. 1 ; Nah. iii. 1 ; Psalm cxx. 2, 3. 

323. In the celestial sense, to bear false witness signifies 
to blaspheme the Lord and the Word, and thus to expel truth, 
itself from the church ; for the Lord is truth itself, and so is the 
Word. On the other hand, in this sense, to bear witness signi- 
fies to speak the truth, and testimony signifies the truth itself: 
on this ground it is the decalogue is called the testimony (Exod. 
xxv. 16, 21, 22 ; xxx. 6, 26 : xxxii. 15 ; xl. 20 ; Levit. xvi. 13). 
And whereas the Lord is the truth itself, he says of himself that 
he testifieth : that the Lord is the truth, may be seen John xiv. 
6 ; Rev. iii. 7. And that he testifieth and beareth witness of him- 
self, may be seen, John iii. 11 ; viii. 13 — 19 ; xv. 26 ; xviii. 37, 38. 

324. Those who speak falses from deceit or on purpose, and 
utter them in a tone of voice that seems to proceed from spiritual 
affection, and particularly if they intermix them with truths 
taken from the Word, which thus become falsified, were by the 
ancients called enchanters ; respecting whom more may be seen 
in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 462 : they were also called 
Pythons, and serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil. Such false speakers, liars, and deceivers, may be likened 
to those who converse with their enemies in a courteous and 
friendly manner, and during their conversation hold a dagger 
behind them to take away their lives. They may also be likened 
to those who dip their swords in poison, and in this manner 
attack their enemies ; and to those who mix hemlock with water, 
and poison with sweetmeats. They may further be compared 
with handsome and alluring harlots, infected with the foul dis- 
ease ; and likewise with twigs full of prickles, which when applied 
to the nose, wound the minute nerves of smell. They are lastly 
like sweetened poison, or like dung, which, when dry in the 
time of autumn, emits a fragrant odor. , Such persons are 
described in the Word under the character of leopards, as may 
be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 572. 

THE NINTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS. 

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house ; thou siialt not 

COVET THY neighbor’s WIFE, OR IIIS SERVANT, OR HIS MAID, OR 
HIS OX, OR HIS ASS, OR ANY THING THAT IS THY NEIGHBOR’S. 

325. In the catechism which is at this day made use of,* 
these words are divided into two commandments, one of which, 
being the ninth, is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house ; 

* This alludes to the catechism used by the Roman Catholics, and also, we 
believe, by the Lutherans ; but in the catechism of the church of England, and 
other Protestants, these two commandments are united as one, and the first com 
mandment is divided into two 

338 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


325, 326 

and the other, or the tenth is, Thou slxalt not covet thy neigh- 
bor's wife , or his servant , or his maid , or his ox, or his ass, 
or any thing that is thy neighbor's. As these two command- 
ments constitute one thing, and in Exodus xx. 17, and Deu- 
teronomy y. 21, form one verse, I shall here treat of them both 
at the same time, not through any desire that they may be con- 
joined into one commandment, but that they may be distinguished 
into two as before ; for the commandments are called the Ten 
Words (Exod. xxxiv. 28 ; Deut. iv. 13 ; x. 4). 

326. These two commandments relate to all the preceding 
commandments, teaching and enjoining that evils are not to be 
done, or even lusted after, consequently that they are to be 
rejected, not only from the external man, but also from the 
internal ; for the lust of evil, notwithstanding a forbearance from 
the outward commission, constitutes an act ; for the Lord says, 
“ Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath com- 
mitted adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt. v. 27, 28) ; 
and the external man is never rendered internal, or reduced to 
a conformity of action with the internal, until lusts are removed. 
This also the Lord teaches when he says, “ Woe unto you, Scribes 
and Pharisees ! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and the 
platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess, thou 
blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and 
the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matt, 
xxiii. 25, 26) ; and his instructions throughout the whole chapter, 
from beginning to end, are to the same purport. The internal 
evils which he charges upon the Pharisees, are the lusts of those 
things which are forbidden in the first, second, fifth, sixth, 
seventh, and eighth commandments. It is "well known that the 
Lord while in the world instructed mankind in the internals 
of the church, which internals consist in abstaining from the 
lusts of evil ; thus he taught that the internal and external man 
must be united, and act in unity, which is to be born again ; 
the necessity of which the Lord insisted on in his discourse with 
Nicodemus (John iii.) ; and none can be born anew, or b# regen- 
erated, consequently none -can be rendered internal, but by the 
Lord. In order that these two commandments might have 
respect to all the preceding commandments, and show that the 
evils forbidden by them should not even be lusted after, there- 
fore mention is made, first of a house, then of a wife, and after- 
wards of a servant, a maid, an ox, and an ass, and lastly of all 
that is our neighbor’s : for the word “ house” includes in it 
all that follows, as containing the husband, the wife, the servant, 
the maid, the ox, and the ass. The word wife, which is next 
mentioned, includes in it all the subsequent terms ; for she is 
mistress, as the husband is master, in the house, and they both 
have authority over the servant and maid, as these again have 
over the oxen and asses, after which succeed all things that are 
339 


326—328 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED 


below or without, which are expressed by whatever is thy neigh- 
bor’s : from whence it is evident that all the foregoing com- 
mandments are regarded in these two commandments, both in 

f eneral and in particular, both in an extensive and in a con- 
ned sense. 

327. In the spiritual sense, by these commandments all 
lusts are forbidden which are contrary to the spirit, consequently, 
which are contrary to the spiritual principles of the church, 
which chiefly relate to faith and charity ; for unless lusts are 
subdued, the flesh, according to the liberty afforded it, will rush 
into the commission of all wickedness and outrage ; for Paul 
informs us, “ that the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the 
spirit against the flesh” (Galat. v. 17) ; and James says, “ Every 
man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and 
enticed : then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; 
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (i. 14, 15); 
and Peter, c< The Lord reserveth the unjust unto the day of 
judgment to be punished, but chiefly them that walk after the 
flesh in the lust of uncleanness” (2 Epist. ii. 9, 10). In fine, 
these two commandments, according to their spiritual sense, 
have respect to whatever is contained in the spiritual sense of all 
the other commandments, prohibiting the lust of the evils for- 
bidden by them ; in like manner they have respect to whatever 
is contained in their celestial sense; but to repeat the particu- 
lars of those two senses is needless. 

328. The lusts of the flesh, of the eyes, and of the other 
senses, when separated from the lusts, that is, from the affec- 
tions, desires, and delights of the spirit, are altogether similar 
to the lusts of brute creatures, and consequently in themselves 
are bestial ; but the affections of the spirit are such as prevail in 
the angels, and may therefore be called truly human. Hence it 
follows, that in proportion as any one indulges in the lusts of 
the flesh, he becomes a brute and a wild beast ; but in propor- 
tion as he delights in the desires of the spirit, he becomes a man 
and an angel. The lusts of the flesh may be compared with 
parched and withered grapes, and also with wild grapes ; but the 
affections of the spirit may be compared wdth juicy and well- 
flavored grapes, and also with the flavor of the wine pressed from 
them. The lusts of the flesh may be compared with stables con - 
taining asses, goats, and hogs : but the affections of the spirit 
may be compared with stables containing high-bred horses, and 
also sheep and lambs : they differ also from each other as an ass 
differs from a horse, or a goat from a sheep, or as a hog from a 
lamb ; and in general as dross differs from gold, a calx from sil- 
ver, coral from a ruby, &c. Lust and act cohere together like 
blood and flesh, or iike flame and oil ; for lust is in the act, 
as the air is in the lungs during respiration or discourse, 
as the wind in the sails of a ship while it is sailing:, and as the 
340 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 328, 319 

water in a wheel, which communicates motion and action to a 
machine. 

That the ten commandments of the decalogue contain all 

THINGS WHICH RELATE TO LOVE TO GOD, AND ALL THINGS WHICH 

RELATE TO LOVE TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOR. 

329. In eight commandments of the decalogue, the first, the 
second, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, 
and the tenth, nothing is said relating to love to God and love 
towards our neighbor ; for it is not said that God is to be loved, 
or that the name of God is to be hallowed, or that our neigh- 
bor is to be loved, and consequently nothing is said of sincere 
and upright dealing with our neighbor, but only, “ Thou shalt 
have no other gods but me ; thou shalt not take the name of 
God in vain ; thou shaft do no murder ; thou shaft not commit 
adultery ; thou shaft not steal ; thou shaft not bear false witness ; 
thou shaft not covet what is thy neighbor’s.” Thus it is said 
in general that evil, either against God or our neighbor, is not 
to be willed, thought, or done. Now the true reason why there 
is no direct injunction of the duties of love and charity, but only 
a prohibition of the opposite vices, is, because in proportion as a 
man shuns evils as sins, his will is influenced by the goods of 
love and charity. The first principle of love to God, and of love 
towards our neighbor, is to do no evil, and the second is to do 
good, as will be seen in the chapter concerning charity. There 
are two kinds of love in opposition to each other, the love of 
willing and doing good, and the love of willing and doing 
evil: the latter love is infernal, and the former is heavenly; 
for all hell is influenced by the love of doing evil, and all 
heaven by the love of doing good. Now as a man is bora 
into evils of every kind, and consequently from his birth in- 
clines to such things as belong to hell, and as he cannot be ad- 
mitted into heaven unless he be born again, that is, regenerated, 
it is necessary, in the first place, that evils, which are of hell, 
be removed, before good inclinations, which are of heaven, can 
be implanted; for no one can be adopted by the Lord before he 
is separated from the devil. But in what manner evils are re- 
moved, and man is led on to good, will be shown in the two 
chapters on repentance and reformation. That evils must first 
be removed, before the good which a man does becomes good 
in the sight of God, is thus taught by the Lord in Isaiah: 
“ Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings 
from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil, learn to do good ; then, 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; 
though they be red like purple, they shall be as wool” (i. 16 — 
18). Agreeably to this are the words in Jeremiah : “ Stand in 
the gate of Jehovah’s house, and proclaim there this word : 
thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel : Amend your 
341 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


329, 330 

ways and your doings ; trust ye not in lying words, saying, the 
temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jeho- 
vah ( that is , the church) is here : will ye steal, murder, and 
commit adultery, and swear falsely, and come and stand before 
me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are 
delivered, while ye do all these abominations ? Is this house, 
which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your 
eyes? Behold, I have seen it, saith Jehovah” (vii. 2 — 4, 9 — 
11). That prayer to God is not attended to before the soul is 
washed and purified from its evils, is also taught in Isaiah : “Ah, 
sinful nation ! a people laden with iniquity ; they are gone away 
backward ; when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine 
eyes from you ; yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear” 
(i. 4, 15). That love and charity follow of course, when a 
man keeps the commandments of the decalogue, by shunning 
evils, is evident from these words of the Lord in John : “ Jesus 
said, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it 
is that loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be. loved of my 
Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him, 
and we will make our abode with him” (John xiv. 21, 23). By 
commandments in this place are meant, in particular, the com- 
mandments of the decalogue, wdiich insist that evils are neither 
to be done nor lusted after ; and that thus the love of man to 
God and the love of God towards man, follow of course, as good 
does after the removal of evil. 

330. It was observed, that so far as a man shuns evils, his 
will is influenced by good, because evils and goods are opposites ; 
for evils are from hell, and goods are from heaven ; therefore so 
tar as hell, that is, evil, is removed, heaven is approached, and 
man regards what is good. That this is the case evidently ap- 
pears from the eight commandments above-mentioned, viewed 
under this aspect ; as lor example : 1. So far as any one does 
not worship other gods, he worships the true God. 2. So far 
as any one does not take the name of God in vain, he loves 
whatever is from God. 3. So far as any one is unwilling to 
commit murder, and to indulge hatred and revenge, he bears 
good will to his neighbor. 4. So far as any one has no inclina- 
tion to commit adultery, he wishes to live in chastity with his 
wife. 5. So far as any one has no inclination to steal, he lives 
according to the law of sincerity. 6. So far as any one has 
no inclination to bear false witness, he is disposed to think and 
speak the truth. 7. and 8. So far as any one does not 
covet what is his neighbor’s, he wishes his neighbor happy in 
the enj-oyment of his possessions. Hence it appears that the 
commandments of the decalogue contain all things relating to 
love to God and love towards our neighbor; therefore Paul 
says, “ He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law : for this, 
Thou shalt not commit adultery ; thou shalt not kill ; thou shalt 
342 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


330, 331 


not steal ; thou shalt not bear false witness ; thou sha t not 
covet ; and if tnere be any other commandment, it is briefly 
comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself. Love [or charity] worketh no ill to iiis neighbor ; 
therefore love [or charity] is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 
xiii. 8 — 10). To the above are to be added these two canons, for 
the service of the New Church : 1. No one can shun evils as 
sins, and do good which may be good in the sight of God, of 
himself; but so far as any one shuns evils as sins, he does what 
is good, not of himself, but from the Lord. 2. A man ought to 
shun evils as sins, and to fight against them as of himself; and 
if he shuns evils from any other motive than because they are 
sins, he does not shun them, but only prevents them from ap- 
pearing in the sight of the world. 

331. Evil and good cannot abide together, and in proportion 
as evil is removed good is regarded and felt, because in the spir 
itual world there exhales from 6very one the sphere of his par- 
ticular love, which diffuses itself, and gives forth its influences 
all around, causing sympathies and antipathies ; by means of 
such spheres the good are separated from the evil. That evil 
must be removed before good can be known, perceived, and 
loved, may be illustrated by many comparisons borrowed from 
circumstances in the natural world ; as, for example, no one can 
approach another who keeps a leopard and a panther in his cham- 
ber, and who lives secure from their attacks in consequence of 
giving them food, unless he first remove those fierce creatures. 
Who that is invited to the table of a king and a queen, does not 
wash his face and hands before he approaches the royal presence ? 
Who ever enters into the bridechamber with the bride, after the 
marriage ceremony, before he has washed himself thoroughly, 
and put on a wedding garment? Who does not purify metallic 
ores in the fire, and separate them from dirt and dross, before he 
can procure pure gold and silver? What husbandman does not 
separate his wheat from weeds and tares, before he stores it up 
in his barn? And who does not thrash his barley, to separate 
the grain from the prickly ears, before he lays it up in his gran- 
ary ? Who does not boil his meat, and thus remove its impuri- 
ties and rawness, before it is brought to his table and considered 
fit to be eaten ? Who does not shake the trees of his garden, 
and clear them from grubs and insects, in order to save the 
leaves from being devoured, and the fruit from being spoiled? 
Who does not dislike to see his house or hall dirty, and does 
not set about making them clean, particularly when he expects 
a visit from a prince, or is preparing to receive his bride, the 
daughter of a prince? Who can be in love with a virgin, and 
make her offers of marriage, whom be knows to be infected with 
malignant distempers, or covered with pimples and spreading 
sores, however she may paint her face, bedeck herself with orna, 
343 


331, 332 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


ments of dress, and study to attract admiration by tlie blan- 
dishments of sj)eeeh and manner ? A man ought to purity 
himself from evils, and not to wait for the Lord to purify him 
by an immediate act of his power ; for in this case he would be 
like a servant, who, with his face and clothes all bedaubed with 
soot and filth, should go to his master, and say, “ Master, wash 
me:” would not his master say to him, u You foolish servant, 
what do you mean ? See, there are water, soap, and a towel ; 
have you not hands of your own, and power to use them ? Go, 
and wash yourself.” And the Lord God will say to his servant, 
“ The means of purification are provided by me, and from me 
also thou hast thy will and thy power; therefore use these my 
gifts and talents as thine own, and thou wilt be purified :” and 
so in other instances. That the external man is to be purified, 
but by means of the internal, is taught by the Lord in the 23d 
chapter of Matthew, from the beginning to the end. 


332. To the above shall be added four memorable rela- 
tions. — First. I once heard several loud exclamations issuing 
from below, with a gurgling sound, like that of bubbles as they 
rise in water ; one towards the left hand, O how just ! another 
towards the right, O how learned ! and a third from behind, 
O how wise ! Now, as the doubt instantly arose in my mind 
whether there could be in hell any persons of justice, learning, 
and wisdom, I was strongly impressed with a desire of seeing 
into the truth of the matter. A voice from heaven then said to 
me, “ You shall see and hear ;” so I went out in the spirit, and 
saw before me an opening, which I approached and looked down ; 
and lo ! there was a ladder at the entrance, by which I de- 
scended ; and when I had got down, I observed a champaign 
country, with shrubs growing here and there, intermixed with 
thorns and nettles ; and I inquired whether this was hell, and 
was told that it was the lower earth, which is immediately above 
hell. Then I continued my course in the direction of the ex- 
clamations ; and when I came to the piace from whence the 
first sound issued, O how just ! I found an assembly of persons 
who in the world had been judges, and had been influenced in 
their decisions by friendship and bribes. I next noticed those 
who uttered the second cry, O how learned ! which I found 
proceeded from an assembly of persons who in the world had 
been reasoners. I then remarked the third cry, O how wise ! 
which was vociferated by an assembly of persons who in the 
world had been confirmers. I left, however, the two latter 
assemblies, and went to the first, consisting of judges influenced 
by friendship and bribes, who had been proclaimed just ; and 1 
saw on one side, as it were, an amphitheatre, built of brick, and 
covered with black tiles; and I was told that this was their 
344 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


332 


tribunal. There were three entrances into it on the north 
side, and three on the west, but none on the south and east, 
which was a token that their decisions were not those of justice, 
but were arbitrary and partial. In the midst of the amphi- 
theatre there appeared a lighted fire, into which the servants 
who attended cast torches made of sulphur and bitumen, the 
light of which, by its vibrations on the rough- casted walls, pic- 
tured various representations of birds of the evening and night ; 
but both the fire and the vibrations of light thence issuing, and 
producing the forms of those images, were representations of 
their judgments and decisions, in that they had the talent to 
color over the facts connected with the question at issue, and 
give them whatever appearance was most agreeable to their own 
prepossessions. * In about half an hour I saw several persons, 
iDOth old and young, enter the amphitheatre, clothed in gowns 
and robes, who, laying aside their caps, took their seats at the 
tables, in order to proceed to the hearing of causes ; and I heard 
and perceived with what dexterity and ingenuity, under the in- 
fluence of favor towards their friends, they could warp and per- 
vert the right side of the question, with an appearance of justice, 
till by attempting to deceive others they so far deluded them- 
selves that injustice appeared to them as justice, and justice as 
injustice : their persuasions to this effect were apparent from 
their countenances and the sound of their voices. I was then 
favored with illustration from heaven, which enabled me to per- 
ceive all the particulars of the cause in question, in regard both 
to right and wrong; and I observed with what caution they 
concealed the wrong, and gave it the appearance of right, and 
selected some particular statute which favored their own side, 
and upon which they rested the matter in question, while by 
their artful reasonings they contrived to keep all other statutes 
which made against them out of sight. After judgment was 
given, the decrees were conveyed to their clients, friends, and 
favorers, who, in return for the favor shown them, uttered, as 
they passed along, this exclamation, O how just ! O how just ! 
After this I had soifie conversation with the angels of heaven 
concerning these judges, and related to them some of the cir- 
cumstances which I had seen and heard ; upon which the angels 
said, “Such judges, though they appear to others as if they 
w r ere endowed with a singular acuteness of intellect, have not 
the least perception of what is just and equitable; for if you 
remove from them motives of friendship to others, they sit in 
judgment like so many statues, and say nothing, but — C I ac- 
quiesce and agree entirely with you in opinion.’ The reason of 
this is, because all their decisions are founded in prejudice, and 
prejudice with partiality attends the investigation of the cause 
from beginning to end : hence their eyes are open only to their 
friend’s interest, and whatever is contrary to this thev regard 
345 


332, 333 THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 

only with a side glance ; and if they take it under consideration, 
they involve it in the intricacies of argument as a spider wraps 
up her prey in a web, and so get rid of it ; the consequence is, 
that unless they follow the w r eb of their partiality and preju- 
dice, they can s6e nothing of legal right. They had been ex- 
amined wdiether they were able to see it, and it was discovered 
that they were not able. At this the inhabitants of the world 
where you live will doubtless wonder ; but tell them that this 
is a truth w T hich the angels of heaven have fully searched out. 
As such judges have no discernment of justice, we in heaven 
regard them not as men, but as monstrous images of men, whose 
heads constitute whatever. belongs to friendship, their breasts, 
whatever belongs to injustice, their hands and feet, whatever 
belongs to confirmation, and the soles of their feet, whatever be- 
longs to justice and equity, which, in case they are unfavorable 
to the interest of a friend, they supplant and trample under foot. 
But you will soon see their real nature and figure when viewed 
according to their true state ; for their end is near at hand.” 
At that instant, behold, the ground suddenly opened, and the 
tables fell one upon another, arid they were swallowed up, to- 
gether with the whole amphitheatre, and cast into caverns and 
imprisoned. The angels then asked me whether I wished to 
see them in their present state ; and lo ! their faces appeared 
like polished steel, their bodies, from the neck down to the loins, 
like graven images clothed with leopard skins, and their feet 
like serpents ; I also saw their law-books, which were piled up 
on the tables, changed into packs of cards ; and now, instead of 
sitting in judgment, their office was to prepare vermilion, and 
mix it up into a paint, to bedaub the faces of harlots, and give 
them the outward appearance of beauty. After seeing the end 
of this assembly, I was desirous to go to the other two, one of 
which consisted of mere reasoners and the other of mere con- 
firmers ; but a voice said unto me, “ Stop a while, and you shall 
be favored with attendant angels belonging to the society imme- 
diately above them, by whose means you will receive light from 
the Lord, and see things that will surprise you.” 

333. The second memorable relation.^- After some time 
I heard again, from the lower earth, the same exclamations as 
before, O how learned ! O how learned ! and I looked 
around to see who were near me, and lo ! there were several 
angels belonging to the heaven which was immediately above 
those who uttered the exclamation ; and on my inquiring into 
the cause of such exclamation the angels said 'to me, “ Those 
called learned are such as only reason whether a thing be, 
or be not, and seldom think that it is so. They are therefore 
like gusts of wind which blow and pass away ; and like bark 
about trees which are without pith ; and like the outward shells 
of an almond without the kernel ; or like the rind of fruit with 
346 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


333 


out any pulp ; for their minds are void of interior judgment, 
and attached only to the senses of the body, so that where the 
matter is beyond the reach of the senses they can come to no 
conclusions ; in short, they are mere sensualists, and we call 
them reasoners. We call them reasoners, because they nevei 
come to any certain determination, but make whatever they 
hear a matter of argument, disputing whether there be any such 
thing, which they perpetually contradict. Their chief pleasure 
is to attack truths, and to pull them in pieces by debating about 
them ; yet these are they who in the world lay claim to tiie title i 
of learned, above all other men.” On receiving this- informa- 
tion, I requested the angels to conduct me to them ; so they led 
me to a cave, through which, by a flight of steps, we descended 
to the lower earth, where we followed the sound of the excla- 
mation, O how learned ! and lo ! there were several hundred 
persons standing together in one place, beating the ground. 
Being surprised at this sight, I inquired the reason of their 
standing in that manner, beating the ground with their feet ; 
adding, that they would soon beat the ground into a hollow by 
their trampling. At this the angel smiled, and said, “ They 
appear to stand in that posture, because they never think on any 
subject that it is so , but ow\y whether it be so , and dispute about 
it ; and in such cases, where the thought proceeds no farther 
than this, they appear to tread and trample upon a single spot 
of ground only, without advancing a step forwards.” The angels 
further said, “ Such persons, when they come from the natural 
world into this, and are informed that they are in another world, 
gather themselves together into companies, in various places, 
and inquire whereabout heaven and hell are, and also where God 
dwells ; and when they receive information on these points, still 
they begin to reason, to dispute, and cavil about whether 
there be a God. The reason of this is, because there are now 
in the natural world so many favorers of nature, who in all com- 
panies, when the discourse turns upon religion, make the ex- 
istence of God a matter of debate, and seldom close the proposed 
inquiry in the affirmative of faith ; the consequence is, that they 
eonsociate themselves more and more with evil spirits, for no 
one can do any good from the love of good, except from God.” 

1 was then conducted to the assembly, and lo ! they appeared to 
me like men, not unhandsome in the face, and decently attired ; 
and the angels said, “ This is their appearance when viewed in 
their own light ; but if the light of heaven be let in upon them, 
both their countenances and their clothes- are instantly changed.” 
The experiment was accordingly made, and then their counte- 
nances appeared of a dusky hue, and they seemed to be clothed 
in black sacks ; but on the removal of the heavenly light they 
resumed their former appearance. I soon entered into discourse 
with some of the congregation, and said, “I heard from the 
347 


333 THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 

multitude that surrounds your assembly an exclamation of, 0 
how learned ! permit me then, I pray, to converse with you on 
a few subjects of the deepest learning.” They replied, u Mention 
any subject, and we will endeavor to give you satisfaction.” I 
then asked, “ What must be the nature of that religion by which 
a man is saved?” To this they replied, “ We must divide this 
question into several others, and we cannot answer it until we 
have formed conclusions on its subdivisions ; therefore our in- 
quiry must be arranged under the following heads : — 1. Wheth- 
er religion have any real existence ; 2. Whether there be any 
such thing as salvation, or not ; 3. Whether one religion be of 
more efficiency than another ; 4. Whether there be any such 
places as heaven and hell ; 5. Whether men live eternally after 
death with many other such like questions. Then I desired 
to know their opinion on the first article of inquiry, ^Whether 
religion have any real existence? They accordingly began to 
discuss the subject with abundance of arguments ; and I desired 
them to refer it to the assembly at large for their opinion : they 
did so, and the general answer was, that it was a point which 
required so much investigation that it would not be finished by 
the evening. I then asked whether a year would be sufficient ; 
and one of them replied, that a hundred years would not suffice ; 
to this I rejoined, In the mean time you are without religion ; 
and since salvation depends upon religion, you are without any 
idea, faith, and hope of salvation.” He replied, “ Ought it not 
first to be proved whether there be such a thing as religion, and 
what it is, and whether in fact it be any thing real ? for if there 
be such a thing, it must concern even the wise ; if there be no 
such thing, it is then only for the vulgar. We all allow that 
religion is called a bond, but for whom ? If it is only for the 
vulgar, in itself it is nothing ; but if it be for the wise, it must 
then be something of consequence and reality.” On hearing 
these arguments I replied, “ There is no character you deserve 
less than that of being accounted learned, because all your con- 
ceptions are entangled in doubts about things, whether they 
exist or not, and you cannot extend your thoughts beyond the 
investigation of the two sides of this question ; and who can 
have any pretensions to learning, unless he know something of 
a certainty, and advance into it step by step, as a man advances 
in walking, till he arrives by degrees at wisdom? If this be 
not your rule of proceeding, you cannot so much as touch truth 
with your finger nail, but you remove her further and further 
from your view. To reason only whether a thing be or not, is 
like reasoning about a cap or a shoe, whether they fit or not, 
without ever putting them on ; and what must be the conse- 
quence of such reasoning, but that you will remain in doubt 
whether any thing really exist, and whether all be not ideal, and 
thus whether there be such a thing as salvation and a life aftei 
348 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


333, 334 

death, whether one religion be better than another, and whether 
there be such places as heaven and hell ? On these subjects 
you cannot possibly form any conceptions, so long as you halt 
at the first step, and stand there beating- the sand, and do not 
set one foot before the other in order to advance forwards. Take 
heed, however, to yourselves, lest your minds, while they stop 
without in such a state of indetermination, should inwardly 
harden, and become statues of salt.” With these remarks I lefi 

them, and they, in the violence of their passion, threw stones 
after me ; and then they appeared to me like graven images, in 
which there is no spark of human reason. Afterwards I inquired 
of the angels concerning their final lot ; and they told me that 
the lowest of them are let down into the deep, and are there 
driven into a wilderness, and compelled to carry burdens ; and 

then, because they are no longer capable of holding any rational 
conversation, they give themselves up to all kinds of idle dis- 
course, and appear at a distance like asses carrying burdens. 

334. The third memorable relation. — After this, one of 
the angels said to me, “Follow me to the place from whence 
issues the last exclamation, O how wise !” and he added, “ You 
shall see prodigies of men ; you shall see faces and bodies, such 
as belong to men, and yet they are not men.” I inquired, “ Are 
they then beasts ?” and he answered, “ No ; they are not beasts, 
but men-beasts ; for they are such as cannot discern whether 
truth be truth or not ; and yet they can give whatever they please 
the appearance of truth : such persons we call confirmers.” 
So we followed the exclamation, and came to a place where there 
was an assembly of men, and round about the assembly a crowd 
of people, and in the crowd some of noble blood, who, on hearing 
whatever they themselves advanced confirmed by the assembly, 
and their opinions, whatever they might be, so openly assented 
to, turned about and cried, O how wise ! But the angel said to 
me, “ Let us not go near them, but let us call one from the com- 
pany to come to us ;” so we called one, and taking him aside,, 
we talked with him on various subjects, and he confirmed what- 
ever was said, so as to give it completely the appearance of truth. 
We then asked him whether he could in like manner confirm 
the contrary side of the question. He said he could as easily as 
the other side. He then declared to us the real sentiments of 
his heart, saying, “ What is truth? Is any thing in the nature 
of things true, but what a man makes true ? Advance any pro- 
position you please, and I will make it true.” I then said, 
“ Make this proposition true, that faith is the all of the church 
and he did it in so artful and dexterous a manner, that some 
learned bystanders were amazed, and greatly applauded him. 
I then desired him to make this proposition true, that charity is 
the all of the church ; and he did so; and afterwards, that char- 
ity has nothing to do with the church ; and he so clothed and 
349 


334 THE DECALOOUE EXPLAINED. 

tricked up both sides of the question with appearances,, that the 
bystanders looked at one another and said, “Is not this a wise 
man?” I then'said, “Do you not know that charity consists in 
living well, and that faith consists in believing well ? Does not 
he who lives well, also believe well? and consequently does not 
faith belong to charity, and charity to faith? Do you not see 
that this proposition is true?” He replied, “I will make it true, 
and then I shall see it;” and having done so, he said, “How I 
see it to be true :” and soon after he made the contrary proposi- 
tion true, and then said, “ I see that this also is true.” Hereat 
we smiled and said, “Are they not contrary propositions ? How 
then can they both be true?” To this he replied with warmth, 
“ You are mistaken ; both propositions are true; for nothing is 
true but what a man makes so.” There was a certain person 
standing near, who during his abode on earth had been an am- 
bassador of the first rank; he was surprised at this assertion, 
and said, “ I acknowledge that on earth something like this 
method of reasoning prevails ; but still it will not prove you to 
be in your right senses. Make this true if you can, that light is 
darkness, and darkness light.” He immediately replied, “ I can 
do this with ease ; for what are light and darkness but states of 
the eye? Is not light changed into shade when the eye has 
been long used to sunshine, or when a man has kept his eyes 
fixed for any time on the sun ? How plain is it to see, that the 
state of the eye is then changed, and that, -consequently, light 
then appears like shade, and on the other hand, when the eye 
recovers its former state, that shade appears like light ! Does 
not the darkness of night appear to an owl like the light of day, 
and the light of day like the darkness of night, and the sun 
itself like an opake and dusky orb ? If a man had eyes like an 
owl’s, which would he call light and which darkness ? Wha«t 
then is light but a state of the eye ? and if it be only a state of 
the eye, is not light darkness, and darkness light? therefore 
both the one and the other proposition are true.” But, because 
this confirmation puzzled some that were present, I said, “ I 
perceive that this confirmer is not aware that there is such a 
thing as true light, and such a thing as false light ( lux fatud ), 
and that both those kinds appear like light, when yet the 
false light in its real nature is not light, but in respect to the 
true is darkness. How an owl is in false light ; for there 
is within its eyes the lust of pursuing and devouring birds, 
and this light causes its eyes to see in the night time, just as 
cats see, whose eyes when they are on the watch for prey in 
dark places appear like lighted candles, in consequence of the 
false light arising from the lust of pursuing and devouring mice, 
which lies within and so affects their eyes. Hence it is evident 
that the light of the sun is true light, and the light of lust is 
false light’” After this the ambassador desired the confirmer to 
350 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


334 


make this proposition true, “That a crow is not black, hut white,” 
He thereupon replied, “ I will do this too with great ease and 
said, “ Take a needle, or a sharp knife, and lay open the quills 
and feathers of a crow ; remove also the quills and feathers, and 
look at the crow’s skin, and is it not white? What then is the 
blackness surrounding it but a shade, which by no means deter- 
mines the true color of the crow? That black is but a kind oi 
shade, I appeal to the “writers on the science of optics, who will 
tell you that if you pound a black stone or a piece of black glass 
into a line powder, it will be white.” But the ambassador re- 
plied, “Does not a crow appear black to the eye?” The con- 
firmer answered, “Will you, who are a man of sense, be deter- 
mined in your judgment by appearance? You may speak indeed 
according to appearance, and say that a crow is black ; but- you 
cannot imagine that to be really the case : as for example, you 
may speak according to appearance, and say that the sun rises and 
♦ sets ; but, as a man of sense, you cannot imagine that it really 
does so, because the sun remains motionless, and the earth alone 
changes its situation : the case is the same with a crow. Appear- 
ance is but appearance ; and, say what you please, a crow is 
altogether and entirely white, and it also does become white with 
age, as I have seen with my own eyes.” When he had done 
speaking, the bystanders looked at me : I said therefore, “ It is 
true that the quills and feathers of a crow are within of a whitish 
cast, as is also the skin ; but this is the case not only with crows, 
but likewise with all birds in the universe ; yet every man dis- 
tinguishes birds by the appearance of their colors, and if they 
were not to be so distinguished, we might say of every bird that 
it is white, which would be altogether absurd and ridiculous.” 
The ambassador then put this question to him, “ Can you make 
it true that you are out of your senses ?” to which he replied, 
“ I could, but I do not choose : who is not out of his senses ?” 
Afterwards they requested him to tell them sincerely, whether 
he was in joke, or whether he really believed that nothing is 
true but what a man makes true; and he replied, “I positively 
believe it in earnest.” The conversation being here closed, this 
universal confirmer was sent to the angels to be examined as to 
his true quality ; and' the report they mad.e after examination 
was, that he did not possess a single grain of understanding, as 
all that region was closed in him which is above the rational 
sphere, and that sphere only was open which is below it. Spir- 
itual light is above the rational sphere, and natural light below 
it, and this latter light is of such a nature that it can confirm 
whatever it pleases ; but in case there is no influx of spiritual 
light into that which is natural, a man can neither discern 
whether any truth be true, nor consequently whether any false 
be false ; for such discernment results solely from the existence 
of spiritual light in natural light, and spiritual light comes from 
351 


834, 335 THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 

the God of heaven, who is the Lord ; therefore that universal 
confirmer is neither a man nor a beast, but he is a beast-man. 
I then questioned the angels in relation to the final lot of such 
persons, whethei they can associate with such as are alive,' since 
a man lives and has understanding only by virtue of spiritual 
light. To this they replied, that such persons, when they are 
alone, are incapable of any thought, and consequently cannot 
sj)eak, but stand like mute automata, and as if they were in 
a deep sleep ; but that their attention is awakened as soon as 
any sound strikes their ears ; and they added that this was a 
consequence of their being inwardly evil, for evil is not recep- 
tive of the influx of spiritual light from above, but only of a 
kind of spiritual principle through the world, whence they de- 
rive the faculty of confirmation. As they said this, I heard a 
voice from the examining angels, saying, “Form a general con- 
clusion from what you have now heard.” I accordingly formed 
this : It is no mark of a man's intelligence to be able to confirm 
whatever he pleases ; but to be able to discern that to be true which 
is true , and that to be false which is false, is the mark and char- 
acter of intelligence. After this I looked towards the assembly 
where the confirmers were standing, and the crowd about them 
exclaiming, O how wise ! and behold ! a dusky cloud covered 
them, and in the cloud were seen owls and bats on the wing ; 
and it was granted me to understand that the owls and bats fly- 
ing in that cloud were correspondences, and consequent appear- 
ances of the thoughts of those confirmers ; for confirmations of 
falsities, so as to give them the appearance of truths, are repre- 
sented in the spiritual world under the forms of birds of night, 
whose eyes are illuminated within by a false light, enabling them 
to see objects in the dark as if they were in the light. Such a 
false spiritual light have those who confirm falses so as to give 
them the semblance of truths, and afterwards embrace them as 
truths. All such are intellectually in what may be called back- 
ward sight , and not in any kind of front-sight. 

335. The fourth memorable relation. — Awaking one morn- 
ing out of sleep, I saw, as it were, several apparitions tyarvce) 
in various forms, floating before my eyes ; and presently, as the 
morning advanced, I observed false lights (luces fatuce) in dif- 
ferent forms, some like sheets of paper written all over, which, 
being folded over and over, at last appeared like falling stars, 
which in their descent through the atmosphere vanished ; and 
others again like open books, some of which shown like little 
moons, while some flamed like lighted candles. Among the 
latter were some books which were carried up aloft, and lost 
when they arrived at their highest altitude, and others which 
fell down to the ground, and were there reduced to dust. From 
these appearances I conjectured, that in the region below these 
meteors, there were some spirits disputing on matters of specu- 
352 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 335 

lation, which they reckoned of great importance ; for in the 
3piritual world such phenomena appear in the atmospheres, in 
consequence of the reasonings of those who are beneath. Pres- 
ently my spiritual sight was opened, and I observed a number 
of spirits whose heads were encompassed with leaves of laurel, 
and who were clothed in flowered robes, which indicated that 
they were spirits who in the natural world had been distin- 
guished for their great learning ; and as I was in the spirit, I ap- 
proached and joined their company. I then found that they were 
disputing sharply and warmly with each other about connate 
ideas, whether meii receive any at their birth as the beasts do. 
Those who maintained the negative side of the question turned 
away from those who maintained the afflrmative, and at length 
they formed two separate parties, like the ranks of two armies 
going to engage sword in hand ; but having no swords, they 
carried on the battle with sharp-pointed words and arguments. 
At that instant a certain angelic spirit presented himself in the 
midst of the assembly, and crying with a loud voice, said, “ I 
have overheard you at a little distance disputing vehemently 
about connate ideas, whether men have them as well as beasts ; 
but I tell you, That neither men nor beasts have any connate 
ideas. You are disputing about nothing, or, according to 
the common expression, you are contending about straws and 
the merest absurdities.” On hearing this declaration, they all 
exd limed in great anger, “Away with him, turn him out; he 
cout -adicts all common sense ;” but as they were attempting to 
turn him out, they perceived he was encompassed with a circle 
of heavenly light, which they could not break through, for he 
was an angelic spirit ; then they retired and removed to a little 
distance from him. But when the heavenly light was indrawn, 
he said to them, “ Why are you so angry? Hear me first, and 
attend to the reasons which 1 have to offer in support of what I 
advance, and then form a conclusion from those reasons ; and I 
foresee that such of you as have any solid judgment will accede 
to my opinion, and will calm the storm of anger rising in their 
minds.” To this they replied, yet in an indignant tone of voice, 
“ Speak then, and we will hear what you have to say.” Then 
he began as follows : “ You are of opinion that beasts have con- 
nate ideas, and you ground your opinion on this circumstance, 
that their actions appear to be the result of thought ; and yet 
they are not possessed of any thought, and consequently not of 
any ideas, which can only be predicated of the result of thought ; 
and the true test of thought is to act in such and such a manner, 
for such and such a purpose. Consider, now, whether a spider, 
in the curious act of weaving its web, ever thinks in its little 
head, and says, 4 1 will extend my threads in this order, and 
connect and tie them together with transverse threads, to secure 
my web against the rude vibrations of the air; and in the first 
353 a a 


335 


THE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


terminations of the threads, which constitute the central point 
of the web, I will provide myself a seat, where I may discover 
whatever happens, and may be ready to run to the spot and 
immediately seize and envelop every intruding fly that is caught 
in my trap.’ Or do you fancy that the little bee reasons with 
itself, and says, 4 1 will take my flight to such a field, where I 
know there is plenty of flowers, and I will gather wax and honey 
from them, and of the wax I will build contiguous cells in an 
orderly arrangement, and disposed in such a manner that I and 
my companions may have free ingress and egress as through the 
street of a city, and in process of time may lay up a large stock 
of honey, sufficient for our necessities during the approaching 
winter, that we may not perish not to mention other wonder- 
ful circumstances, in which they discover a degree of political 
and economical prudence, equal at least, but in some cases supe- 
rior to that of men ? [See above, n. 11.] Can you suppose again, 
that the larger wild bee thinks in its diminutive head, and says, 
4 1 and my companions will build ourselves a small habitation of 
a thin paper-like substance, whose walls we will contrive after 
the manner of a labyrinth, and in its inmost recess we will 
construct a sort of forum, so as to have free ingress and egress, yet 
of such cunning architecture that no other living creature but 
one of our own family will be able to find its way to our secret 
place of assembly V Do you suppose, further, that the silk-worm, 
while it is yet in its caterpillar state, thinks with itself, and says, 

4 Now is the time to prepare myself tor the spinning of silk, to 
the intent that, when I have done spinning, I may fly abroad, 
and sport with my companions in the air, into which I shall not 
be able to ascend before, and may there provide for myself a 
future progeny V In like manner, can you fancy that other 
caterpillars think to themselves, while they are creeping along 
a wall in quest of a convenient place in which to undergo these 
transformations into nymphs, aurelias, chrysalises, and at last 
into butterflies ? The case is the same with the larger animals, 
as with birds and winged fowls of every kind, in their pairing, 
building their nests, laying their eggs, sitting on them, hatching 
their young, providing them food, watching over them with care 
till they are able to fly, and then driving them away from the 
nest as if they were no longer their offspring, besides innumer- 
able other particulars. The case is the same also with the 
beasts of the earth, with serpents, and with fish. Which of you 
cannot see, from what has been said, that the spontaneous acts 
of such creatures do not flow from any thought, of which alone 
an idea can be predicable ? The error of supposing beasts to 
have ideas is grounded solely in a persuasion that they have 
thoughts as well as men, and that speech alone is the distin- 
guishing characteristic between them.” Having thus spoken, 
the angelic spirit looked around, and seeing them still in doubt 
35T 


TOE DECALOGUE EXPLAINED. 


335 


whether beasts are possessed of thought or not, he continued his 
discourse, and said, u I perceive that, from a similarity in the 
actions of brute and human creatures, you still entertain an 
imaginary idea that brutes think ; therefore I will inform you 
whence their actions proceed. Every beast, bird, fish, reptile, 
and insect, has its peculiar natural, sensual, and corporeal love, 
whose habitation is the head, and the brains within the head : 
by means of the brain the spiritual world has an immediate 
influx into their bodily senses, and thus determines their actions, 
which is the reason why their bodily senses are far more exquisite 
than those of men. This influx from the spiritual world is what 
is called instinct, and it is so called because it exists without 
the medium of thought. There are also some peculiarities, which 
may be called accessory to instinct, derived from habit. But 
the peculiar love by which each is governed, and by means of 
which they are determined to action by an influx from the spir- 
itual world, is solely a love for nutrition and propagation, and 
not for any science, intelligence, and wisdom, by means of which 
his peculiar love is successively implanted in man. 

“ That man also has no connate ideas, must appear evident 
from the circumstance that he has no connate thought ; and 
where there is no thought, there is no idea, for they have a 
mutual relation to each other. This may be confirmed by the 
case of new-born infants, whose powers are confined to suction 
and respiration, and their power of suction is not derived from 
any thing connate, but from their constant exercise thereof in 
the mother’s womb ; and their power of respiration is a conse- 
quence of their having life, respiration being a universal of life. 
Their bodily senses also are in a state of the greatest imperfec- 
tion and obscurity, out of which they successively emerge, by 
means of the objects on which they are exercised, as their 
motions are acquired by repeated habits ; and as they learn by 
degrees to lisp out vocal sounds, at first without ideas, there 
arises a certain obscurity of phantasy, which, as it becomes clearer 
and more distinct, gives birth to the obscurity of imagination, 
and thence of thought. In proportion as they advance in the 
formation of this state, ideas begin to exist ; and ideas, as was 
observed above, are one with the thought, and thought grows 
and increases from its state of nothingness by instruction : there- 
fore men have ideas, yet not connate, but acquired and formed, 
and from those ideas their speech and actions flow.” [That 
nothing is connate in man, except the faculty of acquiring 
science, intelligence, and wisdom, also an inclination to love, 
not only those, but likewise his neighbor and God, may b6 
seen above in the memorable relation, n. 48, and also in an 
other memorable relation below.] After this discourse I looked 
around, and saw, at a little distance from me, Leibnitz and 
Wolfius, who were both very attentive to the arguments pro- 
355 


OF FAITH. 


335, 336 

ducecl by the angelic spirit. Xeibnitz immediately approached, 
and declared himself convinced; but Wolfius walked off, both 
denying and affirming, for he had not the same strength of inte 
rior judgment as Leibnitz. 


CHAPTER YI. 

FAITH. 

336. It was a received tenet of the wisdom of the ancients, 
that the universe, both in general and in particular, has relation 
to good and truth, and consequently that all things belonging 
to the church have relation to love, or charity and faith ; for all 
that which flows from love or charity is called good, and all that 
which flows from faith is called true. How since charity and 
faith are distinctly two, and yet must be united in man, so as to 
become a one, that he may be a member of the church, or in 
other words, that the church may be in him, it was therefore a 
matter of controversy and dispute among the ancients which of 
the two was the first or chief constituent of the. church, and thus 
which had a claim to the title of first-born. Some insisted that 
truth, and, consequently, faith had the better claim, and some 
that the preference was due to good, and, consequently, to char- 
it}^. The former indeed observed that a man, immediately after 
his birth, learns to speak and think, and by these becomes per- 
fected in understanding, -which is effected by sciences : thus he 
learns and understands what is true, and by these means, in 
process of time, learns and understands what is good ; conse- 
quently, that he first learns what faith is, and afterwards what 
charity is. Those who considered the matter according to this 
idea supposed the truth of faith to be the first-born, and the good 
of charity to be the younger ; they attributed therefore to faith 
the honor and prerogative of primogeniture. These, however, so 
bewildered their understandings with arguments in favor of faith, 
that they could not perceive that faith is not faith unless it be 
conjoined with charity, and that charity, in like manner, is not 
charity unless it be conjoined with faith, and thus that they in fact 
become a one, and that if they are not so, neither the one nor the 
other is any constituent of the church. That charity and faith are 
absolutely a one, will be proved in the following pages. In the 
mean time, by way of preface, I will explain how or in what man- 
ner they are a one, this being of importance to be understood, in 
order to throw light on what is to follow. Faith, then, which also 
means truth, is first in respect to time ; but charity, which also 
means good, is first in respect to end; and that’ which is first in 
respect to end is actually the first, because it is the primary con- 
356 


OF FAITH. 


336 


stituent of the church, and consequently the first-born ; whereas 
'hat which is first in respect to time is not actually the first, but 
only apparently so. But for the better elucidation of this sub- 
ject, it shall be illustrated by comparisons, as by the building 
of a temple and a house, the laying out of a garden, and the 
cultivation of land. With regard to the building of a temple, 
the first thing in respect to time is to lay the foundation, to 
erect the walls, to cover it with a roof, and afterwards to pro- 
vide an altar and raise a pulpit ; but the first thing in respect to 
the end is the worship of God therein, for the sake of which all 
those constructions are made. So with regard to the building of 
a house, the first thing in respect to time is to build its exterior 
parts, and to provide it with all conveniences within ; but the first 
thing in respect to the end is a commodious dwelling for the mas- 
ter and his family. So again with regard to the laying out of 
a garden, the first thing in respect to time is to level the ground, 
to prepare the soil, to plant trees, and to sow such seeds as may 
conduce to use ; but the first thing in respect to the end is the 
enjoyment of the fruits to be produced. So lastly, with regard 
to the culture of land, the first thing in respect to time is to 
make the ground level, to plough and manure it, and afterwards 
to sow it with seeds; but the first thing in respect to the end is 
a plentiful harvest, and consequently the use to be derived from 
it. From these comparisons it is in every one’s power to deter- 
mine what in reality is the first object of consideration ; for in 
building a tempi e or a house, and in the preparation of a garden 
and the culture of land, who does not regard use in the first 
place, and keep that ever uppermost in his mind, while he pro- 
vides the means necessary for its promotion? We conclude 
therefore that the truth of faith is first in respect to time, but 
that the good of charity is first in respect to end, and con- 
sequently that this, being the primary object of regard, is actu- 
ally the first-born in the mind. But it is necessary to ascertain 
w’hat faith and charity are, each in its respective essence, and 
this can only be done by an orderly arrangement of both under 
particular heads or articles. We will begin with the articles of 
faith, which are as follows : I. That a saving faith is a faith in 
the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. II. That faith in gen- 
eral consists in a belief , that the Lord will save all who live a good 
life and believe aright. III. That a man receives faith in com 
sequence of approaching the Lord , learning truths from the Word , 
and living in conformity with them. IY. That an abundance of 
truths , cohering as in a fascicle or bundle , exalts and perfects faith. 
Y. That faith without charity is not faith, and charity without 
faith is not charity , and neither faith nor charity has any lift 
in it but from the Lord. YI. That the Lord , charity , and faith 
constitute a one , like life , will, and understanding in man ; and 
in case they are divided , each perishes like a pearl bruised to 
357 


OF FAITH 


336, 337 

jpowder. VII. That the Lord is charity and faith in man , and 
man is charity and faith in the Lord. VIII. That charity and 
faith are together in good works. IX. That there are a true 
faith , a spurious faith, and a, hypocritical faith. X. That the 
wicked have no faith. We will now proceed to a particular ex- 
plication of each article. 

I. That a saying faith is a faith in the lord god the sa- 
viour JESUS CHRIST. 

337. The reason why saving faith is a faith in God the Sa- 
viour is, because he is God and Man, and he is in the Father, and 
the Father in him, and thus one ; therefore all who approach 
him approach the Father also at the same time, and thus approach 
the one and only God ; and no faith can be saving that is directed 
towards any other. That we ought to believe or to have faith in 
the Son of God, the Redeemer and Saviour, conceived of Je- 
hovah, and born of the Virgin Mary, called Jesus Christ, is 
evident from the injunctions so frequently repeated by him, 
and afterwards by his apostles. That he himself enjoined faith 
in himself is evident from the following passages : “Jesus said, 
This is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth 
the Son and helieveth on him , may have everlasting life ; and I 
will raise him up at the last day” (John vi. 40). “ He that be- 

lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not 
on the Son, will not see life, but the anger of God abideth on 
him” (iii. 36). u That whosoever helieveth on him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life : for God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever helieveth on 
him should not perish, but should have everlasting life” (iii. 15, 
16). “ Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life : he that 

helieveth on me shall not die to eternity” (xi. 25, 26). “ Verily, 

verily, I say unto you, he that helieveth on me hath everlasting 
life. I am the Bread of Life” (vi. 47, 48). “ I am the Bread 

of Life ; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that 
helieveth on me shall never thirst” (vi. 35). “ Jesus cried, say- 

ing, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink ; he 
that helieveth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly 
shall flow rivers of living water” (vii. 37, 38). “They said unto 
Jesus, What shall we do that we may work the works of God \ 
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, 
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent v (vi. 28, 29). “ While 
ye have the light, believe on the light, that ye may be the chil- 
dren of the light” (xii. 36). “ He that helieveth on the Son of 

God is not condemned ; but he that helieveth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed on the name of tne only- 
begotten Son of God” (iii. 18). “ These things are written, 

that ye may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that believ- 
ing ye may have life in his name” (xx. 31). If ye believe not 
358 


OF FAITH. 


337, 33S 

that lam , ye will die in your sins” (viii. 21). “ Jesus said, W hen 
the Comforter is come, he will reprove the world of sin, of right- 
eousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on 
me ” (xvi. 8). 

338. That the faith of the apostles was no other than a faith 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, is evident from many passages in their 
epistles, of which I will only adduce the following : “ Neverthe- 
less I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life 
which I now live in the flesh, 1 live by faith in the Son of God ” 
(Gal . ii. 20). “ Paul testified to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, 

repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ” 
(Acts xx. 21). “ And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what 

must I do to be saved ? and they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ , and thou wilt be saved, and thy house” (xvi. 30, 31). 
“ He that hath the Son , hath life ; but he that hath not the Son 
of God , hath not life. These things have I written unto you 
that believe on the name of the Son of God , that ye may know 
that ye liave eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of 
the Son of God ” (1 John v. 12, 13). u We who are Jews by 
nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is 
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus 
Christ , even we have believed on Jesus Christ ” (Gal. ii. 15, 16). 
As their faith was directed towards Jesus Christ, and as. such 
faith is also derived from him, therefore they call it the faith 
of Jesus Christ, as above, Gal. ii. 16 ; as well as in the following 
passages : “The righteousness of God, which is b y faith of Jesus 
Christ , unto and upon all them that believe ; that he might be 
the justifier of him who believeth on Jesus ” (Rom. iii. 22, 26). 
“ But having the righteousness which is through the faith of 
Christ , even the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil, 
iii. 9). “These are they that keep the commandments of God, 
and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. xiv. 12). “ Through faith, which is 
in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. iii. 15). '“In Jesus Christ is faith 
which worheth by love” (Gal. v. 6). Hence it may appear what 
is meant by faith in that passage of Paul, so often repeated in 
the church at this time. “ Therefore we conclude that a man is 
justified by faith without the deeds of the law ” (Rom. iii. 28) ; 
that it is not a faith in God the Father, but in his Son ; still 
less is it a faith in three gods in succession ; as in one from 
whom comes salvation, in another, for the sake of whom salva- 
tion is granted, and in a third, by whom its effects are wrought 
in the believer. It is believed in the church that its tri-personal 
faith is meant by Paul in that passage, because the church for 
centuries past, since the Council of Nice, has acknowledged 
no other faith, and consequently has been acquainted with no 
other, believing that it was the only true faith, and that there 
could not be any other ; sc that in whatever part of the New 
Testament the word faith is mentioned, it is believed to have 
359 


338, 339 


OF FAITH. 


this meaning of a tri-personai faith, and to this faith they ap- 
plied all that is there written. The consequence is, that the 
only saving faith, which is a faith in God the Saviour, has 
perished ; and hence likewise so many fallacies, and so many 
paradoxes contradictory to common sense and reason, have crept 
into their doctrines; for all the doctrine of the church which 
ought to teach and point out the way to heaven, or to salva- 
tion, depends on its faith ; and because so many fallacies and 
paradoxes have crept into faith, as was just observed, it v r as 
therefore necessary to establish this tenet, that the understand- 
ing is to be kept bound under obedience to faith. Now since by 
faith in the forementioned saying of Paul (Pom. iii. 28) is meant 
faith, not towards God the Father, but towards his Son, and 
by the works of the law are meant, not the works of the law of 
the decalogue, but those of the Mosaic law intended for the Jews, 
as appears from the subsequent part of that epistle, and also from 
similar passages in the epistle to the Galatians (chap. ii. 14, 15), 
the foundation-stone of the faith of the present day, together 
with all its supposed sacred superstructure, gives way, like a 
nouse sinking down into the earth, the top of whose roof alone 
is seen above the surface. 

339. The reason why it is requisite to believe, that is, to 
have faith in God the Saviour Jesus Christ, is, because such 
faith is directed towards a visible God in whom is the invisible, 
and faith towards a visible God, who is at the same time Man 
and God, gains admission into man ; for faith in its essence is 
spiritual, but in its form natural, therefore in man it becomes 
spiritual-natural ; for whatever is spiritual is received in that 
which is natural, that man may possess it as a something real. 
Bare and naked spirituality enters indeed into man, but then it 
is not received by him, being like ether, which flows in and 
out, without affecting him in any perceptible manner ; for that 
it may affect him, it must be attended with perception, and con- 
sequently with reception in his mind ; and this is not granted 
to man, except in his natural principle. But on the other 
hand, a faith which is merely natural, or which is deprived of 
its spiritual essence, is not faith, but only a kind of persuasion 
or science, having an appearance of faith in its externals, but 
with nothing in it of a saving nature, being destitute of any 
spiritual principle in its internals : such is the faith of all those 
who deny the Divinity of the Lord’s Humanity ; such was the 
faith of Arius, and such also is the Socinian faith, because each 
has rejected the Divinity of the Lord. For what is faith without 
a term or limit of direction, but like an unbounded view, ex- 
tending through the universe, where the sight of the eye, fall- 
ing as it were into an empty void, is lost '{ Such a faith top 
may be compared to a bird flying above the atmosphere into the 
purer regions of ether, when it expires as in a vacuum. The 
360 " 


OF FAITK. 


339 


habitation of such u faith in the human mind may be compared 
to the habitation of the winds in the wings of ^Eolus, and to 
the habitation of light in a falling star; for although it arises 
like a comet with a long tail, yet like a comet also it passes 
away and disappears. In short, faith directed towards an in- 
visible God is actually blind, because the human mind does not 
see its God ; and the light of such a faith, since it is not spir- 
itual-natural, is a false light ; and this light is like that which 
shines in the tail of a glow-w^orm ; or like the light which is 
seen in marshy ground, or over sulphureous earth, in the night- 
time; or like the light in decayed wood. Whatever is seen by 
this light is merely visionary, and the mind is deceived by a 
semblance of existences which are without truth or foundation. 
Such is the light of faith wFeu directed towards an invisible God, 
particularly when God is conceived to be spirit, and spirit is 
conceived to be like ether : for what must be the consequence of 
such a conception, but that a man will look upon God as he 
looks upon ether, and will thus seek him in the universe, and 
not finding him there, will fancy nature to be the God of the 
universe ? This is the source of the prevailing naturalism of 
the present times. Has not the Lord declared, that no one 
hath ever heard the voice of the Father, or seen his shape (John 
v. 37) ; and also, “ Ho one hath seen God at any time ; the 
only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath 
declared him” (i. 18). “ Hot that any one hath seen the Father, 
save he who is of God : he hath seen the father” (vi. 46). Like- 
wise : “Ho man cometh to the Father, but by me” (xiv. 6). 
And again : That whosoever seeth and knoweth him, seeth and 
knoweth the Father (xiv. 7 — 9). But very different from the 
above is a faith directed towards the Lord God the Saviour, who 
by reason of his being God and Man may be both approached 
and seen in thought. Such a faith is not indeterminate, but 
has a term from which it originates, and to which it is directed 
back again, and being once received, it remains; as when a 
person has once seen an emperor or a king, whenever he recol- 
lects him at a future period, his distinct image recurs to his 
mind. The sight afforded by this faith is as when one looks on 
a bright cloud, and sees an angel in the midst of it, inviting 
him to come 1 6 him, in order that he may raise him into heaven : 
in such a manner the Lord appears to those wdio have faith in 
him ; and he also draws near to every particular man, in pro- 
portion as the man knows and acknowledges him, which is in 
proportion as he knows and does his commandments, that is, as 
he shuns evils, and does good ; and at length he comes into his 
house, and makes his abode with him, together with the Father, 
who is in him, according to these words in John : “ Jesus said, 
He that hath my commandments and doeth them, he it is that 
loveth me : and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 
361 


339, 340 


OF FAITH. 


and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him ; and we 
will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John xiv. 
21, 23). These statements were written in the presence of the 
Lord’s twelve apostles, who, while I was writing them, were 
sent to me by the Lord. 

II. That faith in general consists in a belief, that the 

LORD WILL SAVE ALL WHO LIVE A GOOD LIFE AND BELIEVE ARIGHT. 

340. That man is created to inherit eternal life, and that 
every man may inherit it provided only that he live according 
to the means of salvation prescribed in the Word is a truth to 
which every Christian, and even every heathen who has any re- 
ligion and sound reason, assents. The means of salvation, how- 
ever, are manifold, and yet they all and every one of them have 
relation to living well and believing aright, consequently to 
charity and faith ; for charity consists in living well, and faith 
in believing aright. These two general means of salvation are 
not only prescribed to man in the Word, but are also com- 
manded ; and since they are commanded, it follows of conse- 
quence, that man -b} 7 those means must have the power given 
and communicated to him by God of providing for his eternal 
life, and that so far as he uses this power, and at the same time 
looks to God, so far God confirms and strengthens it, till natural 
charity and its fruits become spiritual charity and its fruits, and 
natural faith and its fruits become spiritual faith and its fruits ; 
thus charity and faith, and at the same time the man, which 
were dead, are made alive by God. There are two things which 
must be united before it can be said that a man lives well and 
believes aright : these two things are called, in the church, the 
internal man and the external man. When the internal man 
wills what is good, and the external does what is good, then 
both become a one, the external subsisting and acting from the 
internal, and the internal by the external ; thus the man sub- 
sists and acts from God, and God acts by the man. But on 
the other hand, if the internal man wills what is evil, and still 
the external does what is good, they are both notwithstanding 
under the influence of hell, because the will is from thence, arid 
the deeds are hypocritical ; and in every hypocritical deed, the 
will, which is infernal, lurks within, like a snake in the grass, 
or a worm in a flower. He that is not only acquainted with the 
existence of the internal and external man, but also knows 
what they are, and that they have a capacity of acting in real 
unity, and likewise in apparent unity, and moreover that the 
internal man lives after death, and the external is buried, such 
a person possesses within his reach arcana of heaven, and also 
of the world, in great abundance ; and he that conjoins in him- 
self those two men for the practice of good, becomes happy to 
eternity ; but he that separates them, and, above all, he that 
^conjoins them for an evil purpose, becomes wretched to eternity 
302 


OF FAITH. 


341, 342 

341. To believe that the man who lives well and believes 
aright, will not be saved, and that God of his free-will and 
pleasure can save and condemn whomsoever he pleases, is to 
charge God with unmercifulness and severity towards those that 
perish, and even with cruelty ; yea, it is denying God to be God : 
it is saying further, that God in his word has spoken without 
meaning, and has prescribed duties which are trivial and of no 
signification ; and it is accusing him of violating the covenant 
which he ratified on Mount Sinai, and inscribed with his own 
finger on two tables. That God cannot do otherwise than save 
those who live according to his commandments, and have faith 
in him, is evident from the words of the Lord in John xiv. 21 — 

% 24 ; and every one who has any religion and sound reason, may 
also confirm himself in the same truth, while he considers that 
God, who is continually with man, and gives him life, together 
with the faculties of understanding and loving, must needs love, 
and by love conjoin himself with, the man who lives well and 
believes aright. And is not this inscribed by God on every man 
and on every creature ? Can .a father or mother reject their 
children, a bird its young, or a beast its cubs ? Even tigers, 
leopards, and serpents, are incapable of such conduct ; and to 
do this would be contrary to the order in which God is, and 
according to which he acts, and likewise contrary to the order 
into which he has created mankind. Now as it is impossible for 
God to condemn any one who lives well and believes aright, so 
is it alike impossible for him to save any one who lives an evil 
life, and in consequence is in the belief of falses ; for this again 
is contrary to order, and of course contrary to his own omnipo- 
tence, which can only proceed in the way of justice: the laws 
of justice are truths, which cannot be changed; for the Lord 
says, u It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle 
of the law to fail” (Luke xvi. 17). Every one who is at all 
acquainted with the essence of God and with man’s free-will, 
may be fully convinced of this ; as for example : Adam was at 
liberty to eat of the tree of life, and also of the tree of the know- 
ledge of good and evil. If he had eaten only of the tree or trees 
of life, would it have been possible for God in this case to have 
driven him out of the garden ? It is my belief that it would 
not. But after he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil, would it have been possible for God to keep him 
any longer in the garden ? In this case also it is my belief that 
it would not. In like manner, it is not to be believed that God 
can cast into hell any angel that has been received into heaven, 
or can introduce into heaven any devil condemned to hell : that 
he cannot from his divine omnipotence do either oJf these, may 
be seen above, in the section on the Divine C ^ipotenoe, 

49 — 70. 

342. In the preceding article, from n. 337 339, it was 

363 


342 


OF FAITH. 


shown that a saving faith is a faith directed towards the Lord 
God the Saviour Jesus Christ. But it may be asked, What is 
the first requisite of a faith directed towards Jesus Christ ? I 
answer, it is , an acknowledgment that he is the Son of God. 
This first requisite of faith was that which the Lord, when ho 
came into the world, revealed and announced ; for unless man- 
kind had first acknowledged that he was the Son of God, and 
thus God of God, in vain would he himself, and his apostles 
after him, have preached faith in him. Now the case being sim- 
ilar at this day, so that those who think from their own selfhood, 
that is, from the external or natural man only, say with them- 
selves, “ How can Jehovah God conceive a Son, and how can 
man be God ?” it is necessary that this first requisite of faith 
be confirmed and established from the Word; therefore we wili 
here adduce the following passages : — “ The angel said unto 
Mary, Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, 
and shalt call his name Jesus: he shall be great, and shall be 
called the Son of the Most High . And Mary said unto the 
angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man ? And the 
angel answered, and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come 
upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow 
thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of 
thee shall be called the Son of God ” (Luke i. 31, 32, 34, 35). 
“ When Jesus was baptized there came a voice from heaven, say- 
ing, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt, 
iii. 16, 17 ; Mark i. 10, 11 ; Luke iii. 21, 22). So again, when 
Jesus was transfigured, a voice also came from heaven, saying, 
“ This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him” 
(Matt. xvii. 5 ; Markix.7; Lukeix.35). “ Jesus asked his disciples, 
Who do men say that I am ? Peter answered, Thou art the Christ , 
the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, Blessed art thou, 
Simon, son of Jonah : I say unto thee, Upon this rock will I build 
my church” (Matt. xvi. 13, 16 — 18). The Lord said that upon 
this rock he would build his church, namely, on the truth and 
confession that he is the Son of God ; for rock signifies truth, 
and likewise the Lord with respect to divine truth. In whom- 
soever then there does not abide the confession of this truth, 
that he is the Son of God, there neither does the church abide ; 
and for this reason it was said above that this is the first requisite 
of a faith in Jesus Christ, consequently faith in its origin. John 
the Baptist saw and testified that u this is .the Son of God ” (John 
i. 34). Nathaniel the disciple said unto Jesus, “ Thou art the 
Son of God ; thou art the King of Israel ” (John L 49). The 
twelve disciples said, We believe that thou art the Christ , the 
Son of the living God (John vi. 69). He is called the only leg ot- 
tm of the Father , and the only-begotten Son of God , who is in 
the bosom of the Father (John i. 14, 18; iii. 16). Jesus himsell 
confessed before the high-priest that he was the Son of God , 
364 


OF FAITH. 


342 


(Matt. xxvi. 63, 64 ; xxvii. 43 ; Mark xiv. 61, 62 ; Luke xxii. 70). 
Those who were in the ship came and worshipped Jesus, saying, 
“ Of a truth thou art the Son of God ” (Matt. xiv. 33). The 
eunuch who desired to be baptized, said to Philip, “I believe that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God ” (Acts viii. 37). Paul, after his 
conversion, straightway preached Jesus, that he was the Son of 
God (Acts ix. 20). “ Jesus said, The hour is coming when the 

dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear 
shall live” (John v. 25). “ He that believeth not is condemned 

already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only- 
begotten Son of God ” (iii. 18). “These things are written that 
ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ , the Son of God, and that 
believing ye may have life 'through his name” (xx. 31). “These 
things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son 
of God , that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye 
may believe on the name of the Son of God ” (1 John v. 13). “We 
know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an under- 
standing, that we may know him that is true ; and we are in 
him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ: this is the true God 
and eternal life” (v. 20). “ Whoever shall confess that Jesus 

is the Son of God , God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (iv. 
15). See also other places, as Matt. viii. 29 ; xxvii. 40, 43, 54 ; 
Mark i. 1 ; iii. 11 ; xv. 39 ; Luke viii. 28 ; John ix. 35 ; x. 36 ; 
xi. 4, 27 ; xix. 7; Rom. i. 4 ; 2 Cor. i. 19 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; Eph. 
iv. 13 ; Heb. iv. 14 ; vi. 6 ; vii. 3 ; x. 29 ; 1 John iii. 8 ; v. 10 ; 
Rev. ii. 18 ; and likewise many other passages, where Jehovah 
calls him Son, and where he himself calls Jehovah his Father, 
as in the following : “Whatsoever the Father doeth, that doeth 
the Son : as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, so 
doth the Son : as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he 
given to the Son to have life in himself, that all should honor 
the Son as they honor the Father ” (John v. 19 — 27) ; and in 
several other places, as in David : “ I will preach the law, whereof 
Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son ; this day have I 
begotten thee. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in 
the way ; if his anger be kindled, yea but a little : blessed are 
all they that put their trust in him ” (Psalm ii. 7, 12). From 
these passages, then, we may come to this conclusion, that 
every one who desires to be a true Christian ought to believe 
that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. He that does not so 
believe, but only that he is the son of Mary, implants in his 
mind various ideas concerning him which are hurtful and de- 
structive of salvation, as may be seen above, n. 92, 94, 102. Of 
such persons it may be said, that they do again what the Jews 
did of old: they put on his head a crown of thorns, instead of a 
royal crown, and they give him vinegar to drink, and cry, “ If 
thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross ;” or, as the 
tempter, the devil, said, “ If thou art the Son of God, command 
365 


342—344. 


OF FAITH. 


that these stones be made bread or, “ If thou art the Son oi 
God, cast thyself down” (Matt. iv. 3, 6). Such persons profane 
his church and temple, and make it a den of thieves. These are 
those who make the worship of Christ like that of Mahomet, 
and make no distinction between true Christianity, which is the 
worship of the Lord, and naturalism. They may therefore be com- 
pared to those who are carried in a chariot or sledge over smooth 
thin ice, which breaks under them, so that they sink, and they, 
their horses, and chariots, are covered with the freezing water. 
They may also be compared to those w'ho make a little boat of 
reeds and canes, which they stick together with pitch, and then 
put out in it to sea, where, the pitchy cement being dissolved, 
they are swallowed up by the waters of the ocean, and drowned 
and make their graves at the bottom of the waters. 

III. That a man receives faith in consequence of approach- 
ing THE LORD, LEARNING TRUTHS FROM THE WORD, AND LIVING 
A LIFE IN CONFORMITY WITH THEM. 

343. Before I enter on an explanation of the Origin of 
Faith, which consists in approaching the Lord, learning truths 
from the Word, and living a life in conformity with them, it 
will be necessary to premise a summary of the chief constituents 
of faith, from whence some general notion may be formed in 
regard to its particular parts ; for the reader will thus be enabled 
to comprehend more clearly not only what is said in this chapter 
concerning faith, but also what is said in the following chapters 
on the subjects of charity, free-will, repentance, reformation 
an-d regeneration, and imputation ; for faith enters into all and 
every particular part of the theological system as the blood does 
into the members of the body, and gives them life. The doctrine 
of the present church, in relation to faith, is generally known 
throughout the Christian world, and particularly among those of 
the ecclesiastic order ; for the libraries of that order are filled 
with books, written solely on the subject of faith, and of faith 
alone, scarcely any thing at this day being considered as having 
any proper relation to theology except faith. But before we take 
into consideration and examination the doctrines of the present 
church respecting faith, which is intended to be done in an ap- 
pendix, >ve will adduce the following general propositions which 
the New Church teaches respecting her faith : 

344. The Esse of the faith of the New Church is, 1. 
Confidence in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. 2. A 
trust that whoever lives a good life, and believes aright, will be 
saved by him. The Essence of the Faith of the New Church 
is, Truth derived from the Word. The Existence of the 
Faith of the New Church is, 1. Spiritual sight. 2. An har- 
monious agreement of truths. 3. Conviction. 4. Acknowledg- 
ment inscribed on the mind. States of the Faith of the 
New Church are, 1. Infant faith, adolescent or youthful faith, 

366 


OF FAITH. 


344—346 


adult faith. 2. Faith of genuine truth, and faith of the appear- 
ances of truth. 3. Faith of memory, faith of reason, faith of 
light. 4. Natural faith, spiritual faith, celestial faith. 5. Liv- 
ing faith, and miraculous faith. 6. Free faith, and constrained 
faith. The Form itself of the Faith of the New Church, in 
both its universal and its particular idea, may be seen above, 
n. 2 and 3. 

# 345. As we have given a general view of the constituents of 
spiritual faith, we will also give a general view of the constituents 
of a merely natural faith, which in itself is a persuasion that as- 
sumes a semblance of faith, is a persuasion of what is false, and 
is called heretical faith. Its denominations are, 1. Spurious 
faith, wherein falses are mixed with truths. 2. Harlot faith, 
derived from truths falsified, and adulterous faith, from goods 
adulterated. 3. Faith closed up, or blind, which is a faith in 
things mystical, that are believed without any discernment 
whether they are true or false, or whether they are above reason 
or contrary to it. 4. Erratic or wandering faith, which is a faith 
in several gods. 5. Purblind faith, which is a faith in some 
other than the true God, and among Christians a faith not direct- 
ed to the Lord God the Saviour. 6. Hypocritical or pharisaical 
faith, which is that of the lips, and not of the heart. 7. Vision- 
ary and preposterous faith, which is an appearance of the false 
as if it were truth, arising from some ingenious confirmation. 

346. It was observed above that faith, with respect to its 
existence in man, is spiritual sight : now since spiritual sight, 
which is that of the understanding, and consequently of the 
mind, and natural sight, which is that of the eye, and conse- 
quently of the body, have a mutual correspondence with each 
other, therefore every state of faith may be compared with some 
state of the eye and its sight, — a state of the faith of the truth, 
with some sound and perfect state of eyesight, and a state of 
the faith of the false, with some wrong and perverted state of 
eyesight. But we will point out the correspondences between 
these two kinds of sight, the mental and the bodily, so far as 
they relate to the perverted state of each. Spurious faith, in 
which falses are mixed with truths, may be compared with the 
imperfection in the eye, and consequently in the sight, arising 
from a white spot upon the cornea, rendering the sight obscure. 
Harlot faith, arising from truths falsified, and adulterous 
faith, from goods adulterated, may be compared with the dis- 
order in the eye, and consequently in the sight, called a glau- 
coma, which consists in a drying up and hardening of the 
crystalline humor.* Faith closed up, or blind, which is a 
faith in things mystical, without any discernment whether they 

* The author here speaks strictly according to the nosology of the ancients* 
but modern writers have applied to the same affection the term cataract, and hav« 
given that of glaucoma to a disease of the vitreous humor. 

367 


346, 347 


OF FAITH. 


are true or false, or whether they are above reason or contrary 
to it, may be compared with the disorder in the eye called the 
gutta serena , and amaurosis , which is the loss of sight arising 
from an obstruction of the optic nerve, notwithstanding which, 
the eye appears as if it saw clearly.* Erratic or wandering 
faith, which is a faith in several gods, may be compared with 
the disorder of the eye called a cataract , which is a loss of sight 
arising from an obstruction between the sclerotic coat and the 
uvea.f Purblind faith, which is a faith in some other than 
the true God, and among Christians, a faith not directed to- 
wards the Lord God the Saviour, may. be compared with the 
disorder of the eye called strabismus , or squinting. Hypo- 
critical or Pharisaical faith, which is that of the lips, and not 
of the heart, may be compared with an atrophy of the eye, and 
the consequent loss of sight. Visionary and preposterous 
faith, which is an appearance of the false as if it were truth, 
arising from ingenious confirmation, may be compared wdth the 
disorder of the eye called nyctalopia, which is vision in the dark, 
arising from false light. 

347. With regard to the formation of faith, this is effected 
by man’s approaching the Lord, learning truths from the Word, 
and living in conformity to them. First, Faith is formed by 
man's approaching the Lord ; because faith, properly so called, 
that is, faith profitable to salvation, is derived from the Lord, 
and directed towards him. That it is derived from the Lord, is 
evident from his w T ords to his disciples : u Abide in me, and I in 
you ; for without me ye can do nothing” (John xv. 4, 5) ; and 
that it must be directed towards the Lord, is evident from the 
many passages quoted above, n. 337., 338, teaching that it is 
requisite to believe in the Son. Kow, since faith is derived from 
the Lord, and is to be directed towards him, it may be said that 
the Lord is faith itself; for its life and essence are in the Lord, 
and consequently from him. Secondly, Faith is formed by 
man's learning truths from the Word ; because faith in its essence 
is truth ; for all things that enter into the composition of faith 
are truths : faith therefore is nothing but a complex of truths 

* Amaurosis has been thought, by recent authors, to arise Irom inflammation 
of the choroides ; yet the above definition is perfectly correct ; for in many cases 
no disease of structure can be detected, and in others a paralysis of the optic nerve 
seems to be produced by the enlargement and consequent pressure of the arteries 
within the head. 

f This is the true cataract of the ancients, being an effusion of coagulable lymph 
into the aqueous humor, thus producing an obstruction : modern writers simply 
term it effusion arising from previous inflammation. 

It may be necessary to observe further, that the signification of the terms 
sclerotic coat and uvea has been so restricted by modern writers, that they no longer 
denote those parts of the eye which the author has in view above. Formerlv 
the term sclerotic coat implied the whole of the external coat of the eye, including 
the transparent part of it, to which the term cornea is now confined, which is the 
part here specifically intended by the author ; and the term uvea included the 
iris, which it is here used to denote. 

368 


OF FAI1H. 


347, 348 

shining in the human mind ; for truths teach not only that it is 
requisite to believe, but also in whom we are to believe, and 
what we are to believe. The reason why truths must be taken 
from the Word, is, because all truths conducive to salvation are 
contained therein, and are efficacious because they are given by 
the Lord, and thence inscribed on the whole angelic heaven ; so 
that when a man learns truths from the Word, he enters into 
communion and consociation with angels, notwithstanding his 
ignorance of such a connection. Faith without truths is like 
seed deprived of its medullary substance, which, when ground, 
yields nothing but chaff; whereas faith formed of truths is like 
the good seed of corn, which, when ground, yields flour. In a 
word, truths are the essentials of faith, and if they be wanting 
•n its composition, faith is a mere empty, hissing sound ; but if 
Miey enter into its composition, it is then like a voice of joy and 
glad tidings. Thirdly, Faith is formed by man's living in con- 
formity to truths ; because spiritual life is a life agreeable to 
truths, and truths do not begin really to live till they are in 
actions. Truths abstracted from acts abide only in the thought; 
and if they do not also abide in the will, they are not within the 
man, but stand without at the threshold ; for the will is the real 
man ; and thought is so much and in such sort the man, in pro- 
portion to the quantity and quality of will joined to it. He that 
learns truths, and does not practise them, is like one that scat- 
ters seed over his ground, and does not harrow it in ; the con- 
sequencer of which is, that the seeds are swollen with the rain, 
and lose all their vegetative life ; but he that learns truths, and 
practises them, is like a wise husbandman, who sows his ground 
with seed, and harrows it in when sown ; in consequence whereof 
the seeds begin to vegetate after rain, and yield a good crop of 
corn for the husbandman’s use. The Lord says, “If ye know 
these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John xiii. 17) ; and 
in another place, u That which was sown in good ground is he 
that heareth the Word, and attendeth to it; who also beareth 
fruit, and doett” (Matt. xiii. 23); and again, “Every one that 
heareth my words, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise 
man, that built his house upon a rock ; but every one that 
heareth my words, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a 
foolish man, that built his house upon the sand” (Matt. vii. 24, 
26). All the Lord’s words are truths. 

348. From what has been said above, it is evident that there 
are three means for the formation of faith in man : the first is, 
approaching the Lord; the second, learning truths from the 
Word ; and the third, living in conformity to them. How these 
three means being each distinct from the other, it follows that 
they may be separated ; as for instance, a person may approach 
the Lord, and yet be acquainted with no truths concerning God 
and the Lord, except such as are historical ; so another may be 
369 b b 


OF FAITH. 


34:8, 349 

acquainted with abundance of truths derived from the Word, 
and yet not live in conformity to them ; but in such cases, where 
the three means are separated, that is, where one is without the 
other, there can be no faith profitable to salvation ; but this 
faith arises when those three means are conjoined, and it takes 
its quality from the quality of that conjunction. Where those 
three means are separated, there faith is like barren seed, which 
being sown in the earth, moulders into dust; but where they 
are conjoined, there faith is like good seed in the ground, which 
grows up and becomes a tree, yielding fruit in proportion to the 
conjunction Again, where those three means are separated, 
faith is like an egg, in which no prolific principle is contained ; 
but where they are conjoined, faith is like a prolific egg, giving 
birth to a beautiful bird. Faith, in such as have separated those 
three means, may be likened to the eye of a fish, or a crab, when 
it is boiled ; but faith, in such as have conjoined those three 
means, may be likened to an eye perfectly transparent, from the 
crystalline humor even to the uvea of the pupil, and through it. 
Faith, in such a state of separation, is like a picture of dusky 
colors, drawn on a black stone; but faith in such a state of 
conjunction is like a picture of beautiful colors drawn on 
pellucid crystal. The light of faith, in such a state of separa- 
tion, may be compared with the light of a firebrand carried 
by a traveller in a dark night ; but the light of faith in such 
a state of conjunction may be compared with the light of a 
flambeau, which enlightens clearly every step of the way. Faith 
without truths is like a vine that bears wild grapes ; but faith 
formed of truths is like a vine that bears grapes productive of 
generous wune. Faith in the Lord, unattended with truths, 
may be computed with a new star appearing in the expanse of 
heaven, which, in process of time, is obscured; but faith in the 
Lord, attended with truths, may be compared with a fixed star, 
which remains perpetually. Truth is the essence of faith, there- 
fore the quality of faith must ever be according to that of truth ; 
and without truths laith is vague and wavering, but with them 
it is steady and fixed : faith also that is formed of truths shines 
in heaven like a star. 

IV, That a number of truths, cohering as in a fascicle or 

BUNDLE, EXALTS AND PERFECTS FAITH. 

349. By the perception which men have at this day in rela- 
tion to faith, it is impossible to discover that, considered at 
large, it is a complex of truths, and still less that a man may 
contribute something towards its attainment; when nevertheless 
faith in its essence is truth, for it is truth in its light, and con- 
sequently as truth may be procured, so also may faith ; for who,- 
if he is so disposed, cannot approach the Lord? and who again, 
if he is so disposed, cannot collect truths from the Word ? and 
every truth in and from the Word affords light, and truth in 
370 


OF FAITH. 


349, 356 

the light is faith. The Lord, who is light itself, enters by influx 
into every man, and in whomsoever he finds truths collected 
from the Word, he enlightens those truths so that they become 
constituents of faith : this is what the Lord says in John, “That 
they should abide in the Lord, and his words should abide in 
them” (xv. 7). The words of the Lord are truths. But in order 
to comprehend aright how a number of truths, cohering as in a 
fascicle or bundle, exalts and perfects faith, it will be expedient 
to arrange and discuss the subject under the following general 
heads : 1. That the truths of faith are capable of being multiplied 
to infinity. 2. That they have an arrangement into orderly series, 
and thus as it were into fascicles or bundles. 3. That faith is per- 
fected in proportion to their number and coherence. 4. That 
truths, however numerous they may be, and however different 
they may appear, yet make a one, and are united by and from 
the Lord, who is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, the 
God of all flesh, the God of the vineyard or church, the God of 
faith, and the essential Light, Truth, and eternal Life. 

350. 1. That the truths of faith are capable of being multi- 
plied to infinity , may appear evident from the wisdom of the 
angels of heaven, which goes on increasing to all eternity. It is 
also a received tenet among the angels, that wisdom has no end or 
limit ; and wisdom is derived solely from divine truths, analyt- 
ically arranged into forms by the influx of light from the Lord. 
Human intelligence also, so far as it deserves the name, is from 
the same source. Divine truth has the capacity inherent in it 
of being multiplied to infinity, because the Lord is essential 
divine truth, or truth in its infinity, and he draws-.all towards 
himself ; but men and angels, being finite, can only follow the 
vein of his attraction, according to their measures and capa- 
cities, the tendency of attraction towards the infinite still re- 
maining. The Word of the Lord is an abyss of truths, from 
which all the wisdom of angels is derived, although to a person 
unacquainted with its spiritual and celestial senses, it may 
appear but as the. water in a bucket. The multiplication of the 
truths of faith to infinity may be compared with the prolific 
principle in men, from one of whom a family may be propagated 
to endless generations. The prolification of the truths of faith' 
may also be compared with the prolification of seeds in a field 
or garden, which may be propagated beyond the limit of num- 
bers, time without end. Moreover, in the Word, seed signifies 
truth ; a field, doctrine ; and a garden, wisdom. The human 
mind is like ground, wherein spiritual and natural truths, like so 
many seeds, are sown, and may be multiplied without end ; and 
this faculty is derived from the infinity of God, who is contin- 
ually present in man, with his light and heat, and with his powef 
of generation. 

371 


851 


OF FAITH. 


351. 2. That the truths of faith are arranged into orderly 
semes , and thus , as it were , into fascicles or bundles. 

This fact relative to the truths of faith is at this day unknown, 
because spiritual truths, of which the whole Word is composed, 
in consequence of the mystical and enigmatical faith which con- 
stitutes the sum and substance of modern theology, could not 
heretofore appear, but, like repositories of hidden treasures, have 
been sunk deep under ground. In order to explain what is 
meant by series, and by fascicles or bundles, we will assist the 
reader’s conception by the following example : The first chapter 
of this book, which treats of God the Creator, is divided into 
series; the first of these treats of the unity of God, the second 
of the esse of God, or Jehovah, the third of the infinity of God, 
the fourth of the essence of God, which is divine love and divine 
Tvisdom, the fifth of the omnipotence of God, and the sixth of 
creation : nowit is the connection between each subject, by which 
they are articulated together, which forms them into series, and 
binds together the contents as into bands. These series, in 
general and in particular, or conjointly and apart, contain truths, 
which in proportion to their number and coherence exalt and 
perfect faith. He that does not know that the human mind is 
organized, or that it is a spiritual organism bounded or closed 
by a natural organism, in and according to which the mind pro- 
duces its ideas, or thinks, must needs imagine that perceptions, 
thoughts, and ideas, are only so many radiations and variations 
of light entering by influx into the head, and presenting forms, 
which a man sees and acknowledges as reasons and arguments : 
but this is an idle imagination ; for it is universally acknowledged 
that the human head is filled with brains, that the brains are 
organized substances, that the mind has its abode in them, and 
that its ideas are therein fixed, and become permanent according 
to their reception £^nd confirmation. You will ask, possibly, 
What is the nature of that organization ? I answer, It is an 
arrangement of the whole into series, as into fascicles or bun- 
dles ; and the truths of faith have such an arrangement in 
the human mind. That this is the case may be illustrated by 
the following considerations : The brain consists of two substances, 
one of which is glandular, and is called the cortical and cineri- 
tious substance, and the other is fibrillary, and is called the 
medullary substance : the first substance, which is glandular, is 
arranged into bunches or clusters, like grapes on a vine, which 
bunches or clusters are its series ; the other substance, which 
is called the medullary, consists of perpetual confasciculations 
of small fibres proceeding from the little glands of thte former 
substance, which confasciculations are its series. All the nerves 
which proceed thence, and descend into the body to perform 
their different offices, are merely bands and fascicles of fibres. 
372 


OF FAITH. 


351- -353 


iike all the muscles, and in general al. the viscera and organs 
of the body. All these substances are of such a nature, and 
possess such properties, by reason of the correspondence which 
they bear with the series into which the organism of the mind 
is arranged. Moreover, throughout all nature, there is not a 
single existence which is not confasciculated into series : every 
tree, shrub, herb, and plant, yea every ear of corn and blade 
of grass, in general and in particular, is so composed. The 
universal cause of this is, because divine truths have such a con- 
formation ; for it is written that all things were created by the 
Word, that is, by Divine Truth, and that the world also was 
made by it (John i. 1, &c.) Hence then it may appear, that 
unless there was such an arrangement of substances in the human 
mind, no man could be in possession of the analytical faculty of 
reason, which every one enjoys in proportion to the arrangement, 
consequently in proportion to the number of truths cohering 
together, as in a fascicle or bundle ; and such arrangement is 
effected according to the use of reason in a state of freedom. 

352. 3. That faith is perfected in proportion to the number 
a/nd coherence of truths. 

This is a consequence of what was said above, and must be 
obvious to every one who takes a rational view of the subject, 
mid considers the effect of multiplied series, when they cohere 
together as a one ; for in such a case one particular strengthens 
and confirms another, and all together they constitute a form, 
which when in auction acts in unity, or as a one. How since 
faith in its essence is truth, it follows that faith becomes more 
and more perfectly spiritual in proportion to the number and 
coherence of truths, and consequently less and less sensual- 
natural ; for it is thus exalted into a higher region of the mind, 
from whence it views below it in the natural world numberless 
circumstances and proofs that tend to confirm it. True faith, 
by means of such a number of truths cohering, as in a fascicle or 
bundle, becomes also more illustrated, more perceptible, more 
evident, and more clear ; it acquires also a greater capacity of 
being conjoined with the goods of charity, and hence of being 
in a state of greater alienation from evils; and it becomes by 
degrees more and more removed from the allurements of the eye 
and the lusts of tne flesh, and consequently is rendered happier 
in itself : it becomes particularly more powerful against evils and 
lalses, and thence more and more a living and a saving faith. 

353. It was observed above, that every truth in heaven is 
lucent, and consequently that lucent truth is faith in its essence; 
so that the beauty and gracefulness of faith, arising from such 
lucidity, when the truths which compose it are multiplied, may 
be compared wdth various forms, objects, and pictures, composed 
of different colors, and arranged together according to their agree- 
ments. Thus they may be compared with the precious stones of 

373 


353, 354 


OF FAITH. 


various colors in Aaron’s breast-plate, which all together were 
called Urim and Thummim ; in like manner, with the precious 
stones of which the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem 
are to be built, as mentioned in the Revelation, chap. xxi. They 
may likewise be compared with the precious stones of different 
colors in a royal crown ; for precious stones signify the truths of 
faith. We may compare too the beauty of such faith with the 
beauty of a rainbow, or with the beauty of a flowery field, or a 
garden in blossom, at the commencement of spring. The light 
and glory of faith may, from the number of the truths which 
compose and adorn it, be compared with the illumination of tem- 
ples, houses, and streets, by multiplied candelabras, candle- 
sticks, and lamps. The exaltation of faith, by means of a num- 
ber of truths, may be illustrated by a comparison with the 
exaltation of sound, and at the same time an exaltation of melody 
into harmony, from the union of several musical instruments ; 
and likewise with the exaltation of fragrance from the mixture of 
sweet-smelling flowers in a nosegay ; ,and so in other instances. 
The power of faith, derived from a plurality of truths, set in array 
against falses and eyils, may be compared with the firmness of a 
temple, in consequence of the stones being well cemented to- 
gether, and of the walls being strengthened by pilasters, and 
tlie roof supported by pillars. It may be compared also with an 
army of soldiers drawn up in the form of a square, in which case 
the men stand side to side, and thereby form one body, and 
exert their united force as one man. It may likewise be com- 
pared with the muscles of which the human body is composed, 
which, notwithstanding their great number and distant situa- 
tions, still perform their/ actions as one power, and thus with 
aggregated strength. 

354. 4. That the truths of faith, however numerous they 
may he, and however different they may appear, yet make a one, 
and are united hy and from the Lord, who is the Word, the God 
of heaven and ^ earth, the God of all flesh, the God of the vine- 
yard or church, the God of faith, and the essential Light, Truth, 
and eternal Life. 

The truths of faith are various, and appear in man’s sight to 
be different ; as for example, some relate to God the Creator, 
some to the Lord the Redeemer, some to the Holy Spirit and 
the Divine Operation, some to faith and charity, and some to 
free-will, repentance, reformation and regeneration, imputation, 
and other subjects ; yet nevertheless they make a one in the 
Lord, and with man from the Lord, like the many branches in 
one vine (John xv. 1, &c.); for the Lord joins together into one 
form, as it were, several scattered and divided truths, in which 
form they appear under a single view, and act in unity. This 
may be illustrated by comparison with the members, viscera, 
and organs in one body, which, notwithstanding their variety 
374 


OF FAITH. 


354 


and apparent diversity, are yet perceived but as a one by man, 
who is their common form, and who, in the exertion of all to- 
gether, seems to use but a single effort. The case is the same 
with heaven, which, although it is distinguished into innu- 
merable societies, yet appears before the Lord as a single 
heaven, and, as has been* shown above, as one mai;. The case 
is the same too with every particular kingdom on earth, which, 
although it be divided into several governments, provinces, 
and cities, is yet a one, when under the power of a king who 
governs from principles of justice and judgment. The true 
ground of the similarity between these cases and that of the 
truths of faith, by virtue of which a church is a church from the 
Lord, is, because he is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, 
the God of all flesh, the God of the vineyard or church, the God 
of faith, and the real essential Light, Truth, and eternal Life. 
The Lord is the Word, and consequently all the truth of heaven 
and the church, as is plain from this passage in John: “The 
Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word 
was made flesh” (i. 1, IT). The Lord is the God of heaven and 
earth, as is evident from this passage in Matthew : “ Jesus said, 
All power is given to me in heaven and in earth” (xxviii. 18). 
The Lord is the God of all flesh, as is shown in John: “The 
Father hath given the Son power over ail flesh” (xvii. 2). The 
Lord is the God of the vineyard or church, as is shown in Isaiah : 
“My beloved had a vineyard,” &c. (v. 1, 2); and in John: “I 
am the vine, ye are the branches” (xv. 5). The Lord is the God 
of faith, as is plain from Paul : “ Having the righteousness which 
is through the faith of Christ, who is the God of faith” (Philip, 
iii. 9). The Lord is the Light itself, as is plain from John : 
“This was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that 
cometh into the world” (i. 9); and in another place: “Jesus 
said, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth 
in me should not abide in darkness” (xii. 46). The Lord is the 
Truth itself, as is also shown in John : “ Jesus said, I am the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life” (xiv. 6). The Lord is life eter- 
nal, as is declared by John : “We know that the Son of God is 
come, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him 
that is true, even in Jesus Christ : this is the true God and eter- 
nal life” (1 Epist. v. 20). It is here to be noted that a man, by 
reason of his necessary engagements in the world, can store his 
mind with but few truths of faith ; nevertheless, if he approaches 
the Lord, and worships him alone, he acquires a capacity of 
knowing all truths, so that every true worshipper of the Lord, as 
soon as he hears any truth of faith with which he was before 
unacquainted, instantly sees, acknowledges, and receives it ; 
because the Lord is in him, and he is in the Lord, consequently 
the light of truth is in him, and he is in the light of truth ; for, 
as was said above, the Lord is Light itself and Truth itself. The 
375 


354 — 356 


OF FAITH 


certainty of this has been proved to me by experience. There 
was shown me a certain spirit who, in company with others, 
appeared to be a person of much simplicity, in consequence of 
his acknowledging the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and 
earth, and confirming this faith by some truths from the Word. 
He was taken up into heaven among the wiser angels, and I was 
told that he was there as wise as they ; yea, that he uttered an 
abundance of truths entirely as of himself, with which he was 
before utterly unacquainted. Those who shall come into the 
Lord’s New Church will be in a similar state with this spirit, 
which state is thus described in Jeremiah : u This shall be the 
covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those 
days, saith the Lord ; I will put my law into their inward parts 
and write it in their hearts : and they shall teach no more every 
man his companion, and every man his brother, saying, Know 
the Lord ; for they shall all know me, from the least of them 
unto the greatest of them” (xxxi. 33, 34). The state will be such 
also as this described by Isaiah : “ There shall go forth a rod 
out of the stem of Jesse, and truth shall be the girdle of his reins. 
Then the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
lie down with the kid ; the sucking child shall play on the hole 
of the viper, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the den 
of the basilisk ; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge ol 
Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. * In that day there shall be 
a root of J esse ; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall 
be glorious” (xi. 1 — 10). 

Y. That faith without charity is not faith, and charity with- 
out FAITH IS NOT CHARITY, AND NEITHER FAITH NOR CHARITY HAS 
ANY LIFE IN IT BUT FROM THE LORD. ' 

355. The doctrine of the present church in separating faith 
from charity, and asserting that faith alone justifies and saves 
without the works of the law, and thus that charity cannot be 
conjoined with faith, because the latter is from God, and charity, 
so far as it is actually operative in works, is from man, is a doc- 
trine that never entered the mind of any apostle, as appears 
manifest from their epistles ; but this separation and division 
was introduced into the Christian church when they divided God 
into three persons, and ascribed to each equal divinity. But 
there cannot be faith without charity, or charity ^without faith, 
and neither has any life but from the Lord, as will be clearly 
shown in the next article: in the mean time, as a preparatory 
step, we will prove, 1. That a man has power to procure faith 
for himself. 2. And also to procure charity. 3. And further, 
to procure the life of both. 4. But that nothing of faith, of 
charity and of the life of each, is from the man, but from the 
Lord alone. 

356. 1. That a man has power to procure faith for himself. 
This was shown in the third article above, from n. 343 to 348, from 

376 


OF FAITH. 


356 


these considerations, that faith in its essence is truth, and that 
it is in every one’s power to procure truths from the Word ; 
and as he procures them for himself, and loves them, in the 
same proportion he forms in himself the initiaments of faith. To 
these considerations we may further add, that unless a man had 
power to procure faith for himself, all the precepts in the Word 
which relate to faith would be given in vain ; for it is written 
therein, that it is the will of the Father that men should believe 
on the Son, and that whoever believeth on him hath eternal life, 
and whoever doth not believe shall not see life. We read again, 
that Jesus would send the Comforter, who should “ reprove the 
world of sin, because they believe not on me with many other 
passages of the like import, adduced above, n. 337, 338. To 
which may be added this consideration, that all the apostles 
preached faith, and taught that it should be directed towards the 
Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. But what would all such 
preaching and precepts avail if a man were to stand with his 
hands hanging down before him, like a carved image with mov- 
able joints, waiting for influx, by which his limbs, without being 
able to do any thing to prepare for the reception of such influx, 
were to be put in motion, and excited to embrace an imaginary 
something destitute of the properties of true faith % Yet this is 
the doctrine of modern orthodoxy, which prevails throughout 
the whole Christian world that has separated from the Homan 
Catholics, teaching that man is altogether corrupt and dead to 
what is good, so that in the nature of man since the fall, before 
regeneration, there remains or is left not a single spark of spirit- 
ual strength whereby he is capable, of and by himself, of being 
prepared to receive the grace of God, of apprehending it when 
offered him, or of retaining it when infused ; and that neither is 
he in himself able, in spiritual things, to understand, believe, 
embrace, think, will, begin, finish, act, co-operate, or apply, or 
accommodate himself to grace, or contribute any thing towards 
conversion, either wholly, or by halves, or in the smallest degree. 
And further, that a man, in respect to spiritual things, which 
regard the salvation of the soul, is like the statue of salt into 
which Lot’s wife was turned, and like a stock or stone, without 
life, which has not the use of eyes, mouth, or any of the senses ; 
yet still that he is possessed of a locomotive power, or the power 
of directing his bodily members, of coming to public assemblies, 
and of hearing the Word and the gospel. This is the faith of 
the Evangelical Protestants, as expressed in the book entitled 
Formula Concordle, pp. 656, 658, 661 — 663, 671—673, ac- 
cording to the Leipsic edition, published in 1756, to which book, 
and consequently to which faith, their priests subscribe and 
take oath at their inauguration. The reformed churches also 
profess the same faith. But what man of reason and religion 
can hell) exploding such opinions as absurd and ridiculous? foi 
377 


356—358 


OF FAITH 


he must say within himself, “If the case is so, of what use are the 
Word, and religion, the priesthood and preaching, but to make an 
idle show and an empty sound ?” Tell a judicious pagan, whom 
you wish to convert, that he is in such circumstances with 
respect to conversion and faith, and must he not regard Chris- 
tianity as a man would regard an empty vessel? for if you take 
away from a man all power of believing, as of himself, what then 
do you leave him but mere emptiness ? This subject, however, 
will be set in a clearer light in the chapter on free determination. 

357. 2. That a man lias power to procure charity for himself. 

With regard to charity, the case is the same as with faith ; 

for what does the Word teach but faith and charity, since these 
are the two essentials of salvation ? for it is written, “ Thou 
shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. xxii. 37 — 39). And Jesus 
said, “ A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one 
another : by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 
ye love one another” (John xiii. 34, 35) ; and again to the same 
purport, xv. 9 ; xvi. 27. It is also said that a man ought to 
bear good fruit, like a good tree, and that he that does good 
shall be recompensed at the resurrection ; with many other expres- 
sions of a like import. But what end would such precepts answer, 
unless a man had power of himself to exercise charity, and in 
some way to procure it for himself? Has not a man power to 
give alms, to relieve the needy, and to do good in his house and 
vocation ? Has he not power to live according to the command- 
ments of the decalogue ? Has he not a soul by which he is able 
to practise them, and also a rational mind, by which he is able 
to bring himself to practise them for certain ends ? Is he not 
able to think with himself that he will do certain things because 
they are commanded in the Word, and consequently are from 
God ? There is no man that does not possess this power, because 
God imparts it to every one, and he imparts it as every man’s 
own possession ; for who has any other consciousness, when he 
performs an act of charity, but that he does it of himself? 

358. 3. That a man has power also to procure for himself 
the life of faith and charity. 

In this respect likewise the case is still the same ; for a man 
procures for himself the life of charity and faith as he approaches 
the Lord, who is Life itself ; and so far from any man being pre- 
vented from approaching him, he is continually inviting every 
one to come to him, saying, “ He that cometh to me shall never 
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst ; and him 
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John vi. 35, 37). 
“ Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come to me 
and drink” (vii. 37). “ The kingdom of heaven is like unto a 

certain king, who made a marriage for his son, and sent his 
servants to call them that were bidden, and at last said. Go ve 
378 


OF FAITH. 


358, 359 

therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bid to 
the marriage” (Matt. xxii. 2 — 9). How plain is it to see that 
the invitation or call is universal, and also the grace of reception ! 
The reason why a man procures life by approaching the Lord, is, 
because the Lord is life itself, not only the life of faith, but also 
the life of charity. The Lord is life, and man receives life from 
him, as is evident from the following passages: “In the begin- 
ning was the Word : in him was life, and the life was the light 
of men” (John i. 1, 4). “ As the Father raiseth the dead and 

quickeneth them, even so the Son quicheneth whom he will” (v. 
21). “ As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to 

the Son to have life in himself ” (v. 20). “ The bread of God is 

he who came down from heaven, and giveth life to the world” 
(vi. 33). “ The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit 

and lif (vi. 63). “ Jesus said, ILe that followeth me shall have 
the light of life” (viii. 12). “I am come that they may have life , 
and that they may have it more abundantly” (x. 10). “ He that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ” (xi. 25). 
“ I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life ” (xiv. 6). “ Because I 
live , ye shall live also ” (xiv. 19). “These things are written 
that ye may have life in his name ” (xx. 31). lie is “ eternal 
life ” (1 John v. 20). By life in faith and charity is meant spiritual 
life, w’hiclx is given by the Lord to man in his natural life. 

359. 4. That nevertheless nothing of faith, of charity, and of 
the life of each is from the man, but from the Lord alone. 

It is written, “ A man can receive nothing, except it be 
given him from above” (John iii. 27) ; and Jesus said, “ He 
that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
fruit ; for without me ye can do nothing” (xv. 5). But these 
passages are to be understood in this sense, that a man of him- 
self can procure for himself no other faith than such as is natural, 
which is a persuasion that a thing is true, because some person 
of authority has affirmed it; and no other than natural charity, 
which is an endeavor to merit favor for the sake of some recom- 
pense, in which faith and charity there is the man’s selfhood, or 
proprium, but not as yet life from the Lord. Nevertheless, by 
such natural faith and charity, a man prepares himself to be- 
come a receptacle of the Lord, and according to the manner 
and measure of such preparation, the Lord enters and causes 
natural faith to become spiritual faith, and his natural char- 
ity to become spiritual charity, and thus makes both alive. 
These effects are produced while the man approaches the Lord 
as the God of heaven and earth. Man, in consequence of being 
created an image of God, was created a habitation of God ; 
therefore the Lord says, “ He that hath my commandments, 
and doeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and I will love him, and 
will come unto him, and make my abode with him” (John xiv 
21, 23); and again: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. 
379 


359, 360 


OF FAITH. 


if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to 
him, and sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. iii. 20). Hence 
results this conclusion, that as a man prepares himself, in a 
natural way, to receive the Lord, so the Lord enters, and makes 
all things within him spiritual, and thus alive. On the other 
hand, in proportion as a man does not so prepare himself, he 
removes the Lord from himself, and does all things himself of 
himself ; and whatever a man does of himself has not the least 
principle of life in it. But this subject cannot be set in its full 
light till the nature of charity and free-determination has been 
explained, after which more will be seen on the subject in the 
chapter on reformation and regeneration. 

360. It was observed above that faith, in its beginning with 
man, is natural, and that it is rendered spiritual as man ap- 
proaches the Lord ; and the like observation was made of charity ; 
but as no one heretofore has known the difference between nat- 
ural faith and charity, and spiritual, therefore this great arca- 
num shall be discovered. There are two worlds, the natural and 
the spiritual, and in each world there is a sun, and from the sun 
in each world there proceed heat and light ; but the heat and 
light proceeding from the sun of the spiritual world have in 
themselves life, which they receive from the Lord, who is in the 
midst of that sun : whereas the heat and light proceeding from 
the sun of the natural world have in themselves nothing of life, 
but serve the heat and light of the spiritual sun as receptacles, 
just as instrumental causes serve their principals, in order to 
promote their approach to men. It is to be observed, therefore, 
that the heat and light proceeding from the sun of the spiritual 
world, and which give birth to all spiritual things, are them- 
selves spiritual, because spirit and life are in them ; but the 
heat and light proceeding from the sun of the natural world are 
what give birth to all natural things, which, considered in them- 
selves, are without spirit and life. How since faith has relation 
to light, and charity to heat, it is evident that so far as a man 
is in the light and heat proceeding from the sun of the spiritual 
world, he is in spiritual faith and charity ; but that so far as he 
is in the light and heat proceeding from the sun of the natural 
world, he is in natural faith and charity. Hence it appears, 
that as spiritual light is within natural light, as in its receptacle 
or repository, and in like manner spiritual heat within natural 
heat, so also spiritual faith is within natural faith, and in like 
manner, spiritual charity within natural charity ; and this is 
effected according to the degree of the man’s advancement out 
of the natural world into the spiritual world; and this advance- 
ment is effected as he believes on the Lord, who, as he himself 
teaches, is the essential Light, the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life. This being so, it is evident that when a man is in spiritual 
faith, then also he is in natural faith ; for, as was observed, spir 
380 


OF FAITH. 


360, 361 


itual faith, is within natural faith ; and since faith has relation 
to light, it follows that by that insertion of spiritual faith into 
natural, the man’s natural principle is rendered as it were trans- 
parent, and that according to the quality of the conjunction ol 
faith with charity, it acquires a beautiful tint or coloring : the 
reason of this is, because charity as to color is red, and faith as 
to color is bright white, charity deriving its redness from the 
flame of spiritual fire, and faith its brightness from the splendor 
of the light thence issuing. The very reverse takes place where 
a spiritual principle is not within the natural, but a natural prin- 
ciple within the spiritual, as is the case with those who reject 
faith and charity : in such the internal of the mind, in which 
they are when they are left to their own private reflections, is 
infernal, and their thoughts, although they are ignorant of it, 
originate in hell ; but the external of their minds, from which 
they talk and converse with their associates in the world, appears 
as if it were spiritual, although it is filled with the same filth 
and uncleanness as abound in hell ; therefore these latter, being 
in an inverted state with respect to the former, are in hell. 

361. When therefore it is known that a spiritual principle is 
within the natural, in all those who are influenced by faith in 
the Lord, and at the same time by charity towards their neigh- 
bor, and that consequently, their natural principle is transparent, 
*t follows that a man is proportionably wise in spiritual things, 
and hence also in natural things ; for he sees within himself 
whatever he thinks, reads, or hears, whether it be truth or not ; 
and this perception he has of the Lord, from whom he receive? 
an influx of spiritual light and heat into the superior sphere oi 
his understanding. In proportion as a man’s faith and charity 
are rendered spiritual, he is withdrawn from selfhood or proprium 
and does not regard himself, reward, and recompense, but only 
the delight arising from the perception of the truths of faith, and 
from the practice of the goods of love ; and in proportion as such 
spirituality is increased, that delight grows more blessed ; hence 
comes his salvation, which is called eternal life. This state of a 
man may be compared with the most beautiful and pleasant ob- 
jec here on earth, and is so compared in the Word; as with 
trees bearing fruit, with the gardens in which they grow, with 
fields full of flowers, with precious stones, and with dainty anc' 
savory meats ; also with marriages and their festivities and re 
joicings. But when this state is inverted, that is, whe^ ?. natura- 
principle is within the spiritual, and when in consequence a man 
in his internals, is a devil, and in his external: like an angel, he 
may then be compared with a dead per^c laid in a coffin of gilt 
and costly wood, and also with a skeleton dressed out like a liv- 
ing man, and carried in a magpuicent chariot; or with a corpse 
buried in a sepulchre as mag*' liicent as the temple of Diana : yea, 
the internal of such a may be apt! v represented by a nest 

381 


OF FAITII. 


361, 362 

of serpents in a dark cave, while his external may be represented 
by butterflies, which have their wings painted with a variety of 
colors, but which nevertheless lay their filthy eggs on the leaves 
of all kinds of useful trees, to the destruction of their fruits: 
yea further, the internal of such a person may be compared with 
a hawk, and his external with a dove, and his faith and charity 
with the flight of a hawk over a dove that is endeavoring to 
escape, but which he at length wearies out, then darts down 
upon and devours. 

VI. That the lord, charity, and faith, constitute a one, like 

LIFE, WILL, AND UNDERSTANDING IN MAN ; AND IN CASE THEY 

ARE DIVIDED, EACH PERISHES, LIKE A PEARL BRUISED TO POW- 
DER. 

362. Before entering upon this subject, it will be necessary 
to mention some particulars which have hitherto been unknown 
among the learned, consequently to the ecclesiastical order ; in- 
deed so entirely so, that they have been, as it were, deepty 
hidden in the bowels of the earth, when yet there are treasures 
of wisdom, such as must be dug up, and presented to the public, 
before it be possible for a man* to attain any just knowledge of 
God, of faith, of charity, and of the state of his own life, how 
he ought to regulate and prepare it for a state of eternal life. 
These unknown particulars are the following : A man is a mere 
organ of life : life, with all its constituents, is derived by con- 
tinual influx from the God of heaven, who is the Lord : there 
are two faculties of life in man, the will and the understanding ; 
and the will is a receptacle of love, and the understanding a 
receptacle of wisdom ; and thus also the will is a receptacle of 
charity, and the understanding a receptacle of faith : whatever 
a man wills, and whatever he understands, enters into him by 
influx extrinsically, the goods of love and charity and the truths 
of wisdom and faith, from the Lord, but whatever is contrary to 
them, from hell : the Lord has provided that a man should 
perceive in himself as his own what is thus received extrinsi 
cally by influx, and consequently should bring it forth of him- 
self as his own, although no part thereof is so ; nevertheless 
what he so receives is imputed to him as his own, on account of 
the freedom which he enjoys in the exercise of will and thought, 
and on account of the knowledges of good and truth which are 
imparted to him, and by which he may freely choose whatever 
is conducive to the good of his temporal and eternal life. He 
who regards these particulars with an oblique glance, may draw 
from them conclusions that are the offspring of insanity ; but he 
who fixes the eye of his understanding directly upon them, may 
draw from them conclusions that are the offspring of wisdom. 
To promote the latter effect, and to guard against the former, it 
was necessary to place at the beginning of this work decisions 
and tenets that relate to God and the Divine Trinity, and after* 
382 


OF FAITH. 


362-364 


wards to establish decisions and tenets that relate to faith and 
charity, free-will, reformation and regeneration, and imputation, 
and also to repentance, baptism, and the holy supper, as means. 

363. But to see and acknowledge the truth of this article oi 
faith, in which it is insisted that the Lord, charity, and faith 
constitute a one, like life, will, and understanding in man, and 
that in case they are divided, each perishes like a pearl bruised 
to powder, it will be necessary to consider it under the following 
heads : 1. That the Lord, with all his divine love, all his divine 
wisdom, and all his divine life, enters by influx into every man. 
2. That consequently he enters with the whole essence of faith and 
charity. 3. But that every man receives those things according 
to his particular form. 4. And that the man who divides the 
Lord, charity, and faith, is not a form receptive, but a form de- 
structive of them. 

364. 1 . That the Lord, with all his divine love , all his divine 
wisdom , and all his divine life , enters by influx into ever.y man. 

In the book of Genesis it is written, God created man in his 
own image ; and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives 
(Gen. i. 27 ; ii. 7) ; by which is meant that a man is an organ 
of life, and not life itself. God could not create another being 
like himself ; had this been possible there would have been as 
many gods as men : and he could not create life, in like manner 
as light also cannot be created ; but he could create man a form 
receptive of life, as he created the eye a form receptive of light ; 
also God could not and cannot divide his own essence, that being 
one and indivisible. Since therefore God alone is life, it follows 
indisputably that God, from his life, quickens or gives life to 
every man, and that a man, without such quickening, would be 
as to his flesh a mere sponge, and as to his bones a mere skeleton, 
without any more life in him than a clock, which derives its 
motion from the pendulum, and at the same time from the weight 
or spring. This then being the case, it follows also that God 
enters by influx into every man, with all his divine life, that is, 
with all his divine love and divine wisdom, these two constituting 
his life, as may be seen above, n. 39, 40 ; for the divine cannot 
be divided. But the manner of God’s influx with all his divine 
life may in some measure be conceived from what is known as 
to the sun of this world ; for as this sun, with all its essence, 
consisting of heat and light, enters by influx into every tree, 
fruit, flower, and into every stone, whether common or precious, 
and as every object takes in its portion of this common influx, 
and yet the sun does not divide his light and heat, and distribute 
a part here and a part there, so it is likewise with the sun ot 
heaven, from which divine love proceeds as heat, and divine 
wisdom as light. These two enter by influx into human minds, 
as the heat and light of the sun of this world enter into bodies, 
and impart life to them, according to the quality of the recipient 
383 


364, 365 


OF FAITH. 


forms, each of which takes as much as it needs from the, common 
influx. In this sense the words of the Lord may be applied, 
“Your Father maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the 
good, and sendeth rain upon the just and on the unjust” (Matt, 
v. 45). The Lord also is omnipresent, and wherever he is pres 
ent, there he is with his w r hole essence ;* and it is impossible for 
nim to take any thing from it, and consequently impossible to 
give part to one, and part to another, but he gives it whole, and 
affords man a capacity of taking either little or much. He says 
also that he makes his abode with those who keep his command- 
ments, and that the faithful are in him, and he in them. In 
short, all things are full of God, and every one takes his portion 
from that fulness. The case is similar with every common or 
general form ; as with the atmospheres and oceans : the atmos- 
phere has the same qualities in its least parts as in its greatest, 
and does not dispense a part only of itself for the respiration ot 
man, or to assist a bird in flying, or a ship in sailing, or the 
vane of a windmill in turning the mill : but every recipient object 
takes from the atmosphere its measure and portion, and applies 
what is necessary to its own purposes. The case is similar also 
with a granary stored with corn ; the granary does not distribute 
the. corn, but the owner takes daily from it sufficient for his 
wants. 

365. 2-. That consequently the Lord enters ly influx into 
every man , with the whole essence of faith and charity. 

This is deduced from the preceding theorem ; for the life of 
divine wisdom is the essence of faith, and the life of divine love 
is the essence of charity ; therefore since the Lord is present 
with what is peculiarly his, namely, divine wisdom and divine 
love, he is also present with all the truths of faith, and all the 
goods of charity ; for by faith is meant all the truth which a 
man perceives, thinks, and speaks from the Lord, and by char- 
ity all the good w r ith which he is affected from the same source, 
and which he thence wills and practises. It was observed above 
that the divine love which proceeds from the Lord as the sun is • 
perceived by the angels as heat, and the divine wisdom pro- 
ceeding from the same source is perceived as light : now where 
the conception cannot penetrate beyond appearances, it may be 
imagined that that heat is bare naked heat, and that that light 
is bare naked light, such as the heat and light proceeding from 
the sun of this world ; whereas the heat and light proceeding 
from the Lord as a sun, contain In their bosoms all the infinities 
that are in the Lord, the heat all the infinities of his love, and 
the light all the infinities of his wisdom, and thus also in infinity 
every good of charity and every truth of faith : the reason of this 
is, because that sun itself is present everywhere in its heat and 
light, and that sun is the sphere which proximately encompasses 
the Lord, being an emanation' from his divine love and divine 
384 


OF FAITH. 


365, 366 

wisdom together ; for, as has been repeatedly observed above, 
the Lord is in the midst of that sun. Hence then it is evident, 
that in consequence of the Lord’s omnipresence, a man has 
power and opportunity of taking from the Lord, for his own use, 
every good of charity and every truth of faith. That this is the 
case, is plain from the love and wisdom of the angels of heaven, 
which they derive from the Lord, in that they are ineffable and 
incomprehensible to the natural man, and likewise capable of 
being multiplied to eternity. The heat and light which proceed 
from the Lord contain infinities in them, although they are per- 
ceived simply as heat and light, as m&y be illustrated by various 
circumstances in the natural world ; as for instance : the sound 
of a man’s voice and speech is heard only as a simple sound, 
and yet the angels when they hear it perceive in it all the affec- 
tions of his love, and likewise discover their nature and quality. 
That such are the hidden contents of sound, is in some measure 
even perceivable by man, who from the sound of the person’s 
voice conversing with him can tell whether it involves contempt, 
mockery, or hatred, and also whether it involves charity, be- 
nevolence, joy, or other affections. Similar hidden contents are 
in the radiance issuing from the eye, when one person looks at 
another. This case is capable also of illustration by the fragrance 
arising from a large garden, or from extensive fields of flowers ; 
the fragrance which they breathe forth consists of thousands and 
myriads of various compounds, which still are perceived as one 
perfume. It is the same too with many other things, which, 
although outwardly they appear under one single form, are yet 
inwardly compounded of innumerable varieties. Sympathies and 
antipathies are nothing else but exhalations of affections from 
minds which excite affection in another according to their simil- 
itudes, and aversion according to their dissimilitudes : these 
similitudes or dissimilitudes, notwithstanding they are innumer- 
able, and imperceptible to any bodily sense, are yet perceivable 
by the senses of the soul as a one, and according to these all 
conjunctions and consociations in the spiritual world are regu- 
lated. These instances are adduced in order to illustrate what 
was said above concerning spiritual light, which proceeds from 
the Lord, that it contains in it all things that belong to wisdom, 
and consequently all that belong to faith, and that it is this light 
by which the understanding sees and perceives rational things 
analytically, as the bodily eye sees and perceives natural things 
symmetrically. 

366. 3. But that every man receives those things , according 
to his particular form . 

By form is here meant the man’s state as to his love and 
wisdom together ; hence also as to his affections of the goods of 
charity, and at the same time his perceptions of the truths of 
faith. It has been shown above, that God is one, indivisible, and 
385 co 


366 of faith. 

the same from eternity to eternity, though his identity is not 
simple identity, but infinite, and that all variation is' from the 
subject in which he abides. The form or recipient state is the 
occasion of variations, as is evident from the life of infants, chil- 
dren, young men, adults, and old people, in each of whom there 
is the same life from infancy to old age, for it is the same soul 
which animates them in those several stages ; but as their state 
is changed according to their various ages, and the pursuits to 
which they apply themselves, so also the perception of life is 
changed. The life of God is present in all its fulness, not only 
with the good and pious, but also with the wicked and impious, 
and in like manner with the angels of heaven and the spirits of 
hell: the difference is, that the wicked obstruct the way, and 
shut the gate, so that God is prevented from entering into the 
inferior regions of their mind ; whereas the good prepare the way, 
and open the gate, and also invite God to enter into the inferior 
regions of their mind, even as he dwells in its highest regions, 
and thus they form the state of the will to receive the inflax ol 
love and charity, and the state of the understanding to receive 
the influx of wisdom and faith, consequently to receive God ; 
but the wicked obstruct that influx by various lusts of the flesh 
and spiritual defilements, which are spread beneath and prevent 
the passage : God nevertheless resides in their highest regions 
with.all his Divine Essence, and gives them the faculty of willing 
good and understanding truth, which faculty belongs to every 
man, and is a convincing proof that he has life from God in 
his soul. That the wicked have this faculty, has been proved 
to me by abundant experience* That every one receives life 
from God according to his form, may be comparatively illus- 
trated by the case of vegetables of all kinds : every tree, shrub, 
herb, and blade of grass, receives the influx of heat and light 
according to its form ; thus the influx is received not only by 
good and useful plants, but also by the bad and noxious; and 
the sun with his heat does not change their forms, but the forms 
change his effects in themselves. The case is the same with the 
subjects of the mineral kingdom, each of which, wdiether it be 
of great or little use and value, receives influx according to the 
form of the contexture of its parts, so that the influx is differently 
received by one stone, mineral, and metal, and by another ; 
some of them are variegated with most beautiful colors, some 
transmit the light without variegation, and some of them con- 
fuse and suffocate it in themselves. From these few cases it may 
appear evident, that as the sun of this world, with his heat and 
light, is equally present in one object as in another, but that the 
recipient forms vary his operations, so the Lord in like manner, 
by virtue of the sun of heaven, in the midst of which he is, is 
universally present with his heat, which in its essence is love, 
and with his light, which in its essence is wisdom, but that th« 
386 


OF FAfra. 


366, 367 

form of a man, which is occasioned by the states of his life, 
varies his operations ; consequently, that if a man is not born 
again and saved, the fault is not chargeable on the Lord, but 
rests with the man himself. 

367. 4. But that the man who divides the Lord , charity , and 
faith , is not a form receptive, hut a form destructive of them. 

B e who separates the Lord from charity and faith, separates 
life from them ; in which case, charity and faith either have no 
being, or else are abortive births : the Lord is the essential life, 
as may be seen above, n. 358. He that acknowledges the Lord,- 
and yet separates charity from such acknowledgment, acknowl- 
edges him only with his lips ; his acknowledgment and con- 
fession are cold and languid, in which there is no faith, because 
they are void of all spiritual essence ; for charity is the essence 
of faith. But he that exercises charity, and does not acknowl- 
edge the Lord, as being the God of heaven and earth, and one 
with the Father, as he himself teaches, exercises no other charity 
than what is merely natural, in which there is no eternal life ; 
for every true member of the church knows that all good, prop- 
erly so called, is from God, consequently from the Lord, who 
is “ the true God and eternal life” (1 John v. 20). In like 
manner charity is from him, because good and charity constitute 
a one. The reason why faith separate from charity is not faith, 
is, because faith is the light, and charity is the heat of a man’s 
life ; if charity then be separated from faith, it is like the sepa- 
ration of heat from light, the consequence of which is, that the 
man’s state becomes like the state of the earth in the time of 
winter, when all its vegetable productions wither and die. Char- 
ity and faith, to be genuine, can no more be separated than 
will and understanding ; for the understanding is nothing with- 
out the will, and the will is soon reduced to nothing without the 
understanding: the reason why charity and faith are in similar 
circumstances, is, because charity resides in the will, and faith 
in the understanding. To separate charity from faith, is like 
separating essence from form, and it is well known to the learned, 
that essence is not any thing without form, nor form without 
essence ; for essence has no quality but from form, and form is 
a subsisting entity only from essence, consequently nothing is 
predicable of either when separated from the other : charity also 
is the essence of faith, and faith is the form of charity, just, as 
was observed above, as good is the essence of truth, and truth 
is the form of good. These two, namely, good and truth, are in 
all and every particular thing that essentially exists ; therefore 
charity having relation to good, and faith to truth, may be 
illustrated by comparison with several parts in the human body, 
and several things on the face of the earth. They may be 
justly compared with the respiration of the lungs and the sys- 
tolic motion of the heart; for charity is as incapable of being 
387 


367 


OF FAITH. 


separated from faith, as the heart is of being separated from the 
lungs ; for the pulse of the heart ceasing, the respiration of the 
lungs ceases instantly ; and when the respiration of the lungs 
ceases, all the senses are suspended, the muscles are deprived of 
their power of motion, and presently afterwards the heart ceases 
to beat, and a dissolution of life ensues. This comparison is 
just, since the heart corresponds to the will, and consequently 
also to charity, and the respiration of the lungs corresponds to 
the understanding, and consequently also to faith ; for, as was 
observed above, charity resides in the will, and faith in the 
understanding; and this is what is meant in the Word by heart 
and spirit, or breath. The separation of charity and faith coin- 
cides also with the separation of flesh and blood ; for the blood 
separated from the flesh is gore and becomes corruption, and the 
flesh separated from the blood by degrees grows putrid and pro- 
duces worms ; blood also, in the spiritual sense, signifies the 
truth of wisdom and faith, and flesh the good of love and charity, 
as is shown in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 379, and 832. 
Charity and faith can no more be separated, and yet be any 
thing, than meat and drink, or bread and wine, can be separated, 
consistently with the life and well-being of man ; for meat and 
bread, taken without either water or wine, do but distend the sto- 
mach, and destroy it with a load of indigested matter, and become 
like so much putrid mire ; in like manner, water and wine, taken 
without meat and bread, distend the stomach, with the vessels 
and pores also, and thereby emaciate the body even to death, for 
want of substantial nourishment: this comparison is also a just 
one ; for meat and bread, in a spiritual sense, signify the good 
of love and charity, and water and wine the truth of wisdom and 
faith, as may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 50, 
316, 778, 932. Charity conjoined with faith, and faith again 
conjoined with charity, may be likened to the face of a fair virgin, 
made beautiful by a just and proper mixture of red and white ; 
which similitude also has an exact coincidence, since love, and 
consequently charity, is red in the spiritual world, from the fire 
of the heavenly sun ; and truth, and consequently faith, is white, 
from the light of the same sun ; therefore charity separated from 
faith may be compared to a face inflamed with pimples, and faith 
separated from charity to the pale countenance of a corpse. 
Faith separated from charity may also be compared to a palsy in 
one side, which is called Hemiplegia , the consequence of which, 
when it proceeds to extremity, is death : it may also be compared 
to a disorder, called St. Yitus’s Dance, occasioned by the bite of 
a tarantula ; for human reason, where faith is in such a state of 
separation, does dance furiously like such a madman, and fancies 
itself in consequence peculiarly alive, when yet it is no more able 
to collect reasons into one legitimate conclusion, and to form 
just conceptions of spiritual truths, than a man lying in bed 
388 


OF FAITH. 


367—369 


oppressed with the night-mare. What has been said may suffice 
to prove the two preceding theorems of this chapter : first, That 
faith without charity is not faith , and charity without faith is 
not charity , ancl neither of them has any life but from the Lord: 
and afterwards : That the Lord , charity , and faith, constitute a 
one , like life , will, and understanding in man ; a/nd in case they 
are divided , each perishes like a pearl bruised to powder. 

VII. That the Lord is charity and faith in man, and man 

IS CHARITY AND FAITH IN THE LORD. 

368. Every member of the church is in the Lord, and the 

Lord is in him, as is evident from these passages in the Word : 
Jesus said, “ Abide in me, and L in you. I am the vine, and ye 
are the branches : he that dbideth in me, and L in him, the same 
bringeth forth much fruit” (John xv. 4, 5). u He that eateth 
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dbideth in me, and L in him ” 
(vi. 56). “ At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, 

and ye in me, and L in you ” (xiv. 20). 44 Whosoever confesseth 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of' God, God dwelleth in him, and 
he in God ” (1 John iv. 15). A man himself, however, cannot 
be in the Lord, yet charity and faith can, which are in him from 
the Lord, and by virtue of which two constituents he is essentially 
a man. But in order to present this arcanum before the human 
understanding in some degree of light, it is expedient to digest 
it under the following propositions : 1. That conjunction with God 
is the medium by which a man has salvation and eternal life : 2. 
That there cannot be conjunction with God the Father, but with 
the Lord, and by him with God the Father : 3. That conjunction 
with the Lord is reciprocal, that is, the Lord is in man, and man 
in the Lord : 4. That this reciprocal conjunction is* effected by 
means of charity and faith. The truth of these propositions will 
•appear from the following explication. 

369. 1. That conjunction with God is the medium by which 
a man has salvation and eternal life. 

A man is created to this end, that he may be conjoined with 
God : for he is created a native of heaven, and also a native ol 
this world, and as a native of heaven he is spiritual, but as a 
native of this world he is natural ; and the spiritual man has 
power to think of God, and to perceive whatever relates to him, 
and also to love him, and to be affected with what proceeds from 
him ; whence it follows, that he has a capacity of being conjoined 
with God. Beyond all doubt or dispute, a man has power to think 
of God, and to perceive whatever relates to him ; for he has power 
to think of the unity of God, of the esse of God, which is Je- 
hovah, of the immensity and eternity of God, of the divine love 
and divine wisdom, which constitute his essence, of his omnip- 
otence, omniscience, and omnipresence; of the Lord, the Saviour, 
his Son, and of redemption and mediation ; also of the Holy 
Spirit; and lastly, of the Divine Trinity; all which relate tc 
389 


369—370 


OF FAITH. 


God, yea, they are God ; besides, he has power to think of the 
operations of God, which are principally faith and charity, with 
many others proceeding from those two. A man has not only 
the power to think of God, but also to love him, as is evident 
from the two divine commandments, which are thus expressed : 
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul : this is the first and great commandment : and the 
second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” 
(Matt. xxii. 37, 38, 39 ; Dent, vi. 5). A man has power to do 
the commandments of God, which is to love God, and to be loved 
by God, as is evident from these words: “Jesus said, He that 
hath my commandments, and doeth them, he it is that loveth 
me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I 
will love him, and will manifest myself unto him” (John xiv. 21). 
Moreover, what is faith, but conjunction with God by means 
of truths, which belong to the understanding, and thence to the 
thoughts ? And what is love, but conjunction with God by means 
of goods, which belong to the will, and thence to the affections? 
The conjunction of God with man is conjunction resulting from 
the reception of a spiritual principle in the natural, and the 
conjunction of man with God is conjunction resulting from the 
natural principle being derived from the spiritual. For the sake 
of this conjunction as an end, every man is created a native of 
heaven, and at -the same time a native of this world ; as a native 
of heaven he is spiritual, and as a native of this world he is nat- 
ural : if, therefore, he becomes spiritual- rational, and at the same 
time spiritual-moral, he is conjoined with God, and by means of 
that conjunction has salvation and eternal life ; but if he is only 
natural-rational and arlso natural-moral, in this case God has 
conjunction with him, but he has no conjunction with God, and 
consequently he is spiritually dead, which death, considered in 
itself, is natural life without spiritual ; for the spiritual principle, 
wherein the life of God dwells, is extinct in him. 

370. 2. That there camnot be conjunction with God the Father , . 
but with the Lord , and by him with God the Father. 

This doctrine is taught by Scripture, and approved by rea- 
son; for Scripture teaches that God the Father was never either 
seen or heard, and cannot be, consequently, that he does not 
operate at all in man of himself, as he is in his esse and in his 
essence : for the Lord says, “Ho one hath seen the Father, save 
he who is of God ; he hath seen the Father” (John vi. 46). “Ho 
one knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son 
will reveal, him” (Matt. xi. 27). “Ye have neither heard his 
voice at any time, nor seen his shape” (John v. 37). This is, 
because he is in the first beginnings and inmost principles of all 
things, consequently, in a most eminent degree above every 
sphere of the human mind ; for he is in the first beginnings and 
inmost principles of all things relating to wisdom and love, with 
390 


OF FAITH 


370, 371 

which a man can nave no possible conjunction ; therefore if lie 
should approach to a man, or a man to him, the consequence 
would be that the man would be consumed, and melt away like 
a piece of wood in the focus of a large burning-glass, or rather 
like an image cast into the sun itself: w T hen Moses therefore 
wished to see God, it was said to him, “No man can see God 
and live” (Exod. xxxiii. 20). But that there can be conjunction 
with God the Father by the Lord, is evident from the passages 
quoted above, affirming that not the Father, but the only-be- 
gotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and who has 
seen the Father, has declared and revealed the things that are of 
and from God. It is evident also from the following passages : 
“ In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in 
me, and I in you” (John xiv. 20). “I have given them the 
glory which thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are 
one ; I in them, and thou in me” (xvii. 22, 23, 26). “ Jesus 

6aid, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life : no man cometh 
to the Father but by me.” And when Philip’desired to see the 
Father, Jesus answered him, “He that seeth me seeth the Father 
also, and he that knoweth me knoweth the Father” (xiv. 6, &c.). 
And in another place : “ He that seeth me seeth him that sent 
me” (John xii. 45). And again : “I am the Door ; by me if 
any man enter in, he shall be saved ; but he that climbeth up 
some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (x. 1, 9). 
And lastly : “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a 
branch, and is withered ; and men gather them, and cast them 
into the fire, and they are burned” (xv. 6). The reason of this 
is, because the Lord our Saviour is Jehovah the Father himself 
in a human form ; for Jehovah descended, and was made a man, 
that he might be able to approach to man, and man to him, 
and thus conjunction be effected, and by conjunction man might 
have salvation and eternal life ; for when God w r as made man, 
and thus also was made God-Man, being then in a state of 
accommodation to man, he could approach and be conjoined 
with him as Man-God and God-Man. There are three things 
which follow each other in an orderly connection, accommoda- 
tion, application, and conjunction. There must be accom- 
modation before there can be application, and there must be 
accommodation and application together before there can be 
conjunction. Accommodation on the part of God was effected 
by liis being made Man ; application on the part of God is per* 
petual, so far as man ‘applies himself in his turn ; and as this is 
effected, conjunction also is effected. These three things follow 
each other, and proceed in their order in all things, and in each, 
which become a one, and co-exist. 

371. 3. That conjunction with the Lord is reciprocal , that is, 
the Lord is in man , and man in the Lord. 

The reciprocality of conjunction is also a doctrine which 

391 


OF FAITH. 


Scripture teaches and reason approves. The Lord, speaking of 
his conjunction with his Father, teaches that it is reciprocal ; 
for he says to Philip, “ Believest thou not that I am in the 
Father, and the Father in me? Believe me that I am in the 
Father, and the Father in me” (John xiv. 10, 11). “ That ye 

may know and believe that I am in the Father, and the Father 
in me” (x. 38). “ Jesus said, Father, the hour is come : glorify 

thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee” (xvii. 1). “ Father, 

all mine are thine, and all thine are mine” (xvii. 10). The Lord 
declares the same of his conjunction with man, that it is recip- 
rocal ; for he says, “ Abide in me, and I in you. He that 
ahideth in me , and I in him , the same bringeth forth much 
fruit” (John xv. 4, 5). “ He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh 

my blood, dwelleth in me , and I in him ” (vi. 56). “ At that 

day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me , and 1 
in you ” (xiv. 20). “ He that keepeth the commandments of 

Christ dwelleth in him , and he in him ” (1 John iii. 24 ; iv. 3). 
“ Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God, God 
dwelleth in him , and he in God ” (iv. 15). “ He that heareth my 

voice, and openeth the door, 1 will come in to him, and sup with 
him , and he with me ” (Bev. iii. 20). From these plain expressions 
it is evident that the conjunction of the Lord and man is recip- 
rocal, and as it is reciprocal, it follows of course than a man 
ought to conjoin himself with the Lord, in order that the Lord 
may conjoin himself with him ; for otherwise there can be no 
conjunction, but a withdrawing and consequent separation, yet 
not a separation on the Lord’s part, but on the man’s part. As 
a means of effecting this reciprocal conjunction, man is endowed 
with a freedom of choice, so that he can enter either into the 
way that leads to heaven, or into that which leads to hell. From 
this freedom with which he is endowed, is derived his power of 
* reciprocation, or his ability to conjoin himself with the Lord, or 
to conjoin himself with the devil ; but the nature and quality of 
this freedom, with the true ground and reason why man is gifted 
with it, will be explained more fully in the following pages, when 
we come to treat of free-will, repentance, reformation and regen- 
eration, and imputation. It is much to be lamented that the 
reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and man, notwithstanding the 
clearness with which it is stated in the Word, is yet a doctrine 
unknown in the Christian church ; but the reason is to be im- 
puted solely to the hypothetical tenets which have prevailed on 
faith and free-will. The hypothetical tenets on faith are, that faith 
is bestowed upon a man without his contributing at all towards 
procuring it, and without his accommodating and applying him- 
self to receive it, any more than a stock or a stone ; and the 
hypothetical tenets concerning free-will are, that in spiritual 
concerns a man has not a single grain of free-will in his con- 
stitution. But that this reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and 
392 


OF FAITH. 


371 


man, a doctrine oil which the salvation of mankind depends, 
may not lie any longer concealed and unknown, necessity itself 
enjoins that it should be explained, which cannot be better 
effected than by illustrative examples. 

There are two kinds of reciprocation by which conjunction 
is produced ; one is alternate, the other mutual. Alternate 
reciprocation, by which conjunction is produced, may be illus- 
trated by the respiration of the lungs. A man draws in the air, 
and thus dilates the thorax or chest ; presently after he emits 
the air he had drawn in, and thus compresses the thorax. This 
attraction and consequent dilation is effected by means of the 
incumbent air, in proportion to its column ; but the emission 
and consequent compression is effected by the strength of the 
muscles acting upon the ribs. Such is the reciprocal conjunction 
of air and the lungs, on which depends the life of all the senses 
and motions of the body ; for when respiration ceases, all sense 
and motion instantly cease with it. Reciprocal conjunction, 
which is effected by alternates, may also be illustrated by the 
conjunction of the heart with the lungs, and of the lungs with 
the heart : the heart, from its right ventricle, pours forth blood 
into the lungs, and the lungs pour it back again into the left 
ventricle of the heart ; and hereby that reciprocal conjunction is 
effected on which the life of the whole bodily system altogether 
depends. Similar to this is the conjunction of the blood with 
the heart, and of the heart with the blood. The blood, of the 
whole body flows through the veins into the heart, and flows out 
from the heart through the arteries into every part of the body : 
action and reaction cause this conjunction. A similar action 
and reaction, operating to the continuance of conjunction, exists 
between the embryo and the womb of the mothei*. The recip- 
rocal conjunction of the Lord and man is not however of this 
sort, but is a mutual conjunction, not effected by action and 
reaction, but by co-operations ; for the Lord acts, and the man 
receives action from the Lord, and operates as from himself, 
yet of himself, from the Lord. This operation of the man from 
the Lord is imputed to him as his own, for he is continually kept 
in free-will by the Lord. The free-will thence resulting is this, 
that he has power to will and think from the Lord, that is, from 
the Word, and also has power to will and think from the devil, 
that is, against the Lord and the Word. The Lord gives a man 
this freedom, in order that he may be capable of performing his 
part in effecting this reciprocal conjunction, and of being gifted, 
through such conjunction, with eternal life and happiness, which, 
without reciprocal conjunction, cannot possibly be attained 
This reciprocal conjunction, which is of the mutual kind, may 
also be illustrated by various things in man and the world. Such 
is the conjunction of soul and body in every particular person 
393 


OF FAfTH. 


371, 372 

such is the conjunction of the will and action , and such aiso 
that of the thought and speech ; such likewise is that of the twc 
eyes with each other, and of the two ears, and of the two nos- 
trils. The conjunction of the two eyes with each other is recip- 
rocal after its manner, as is evident from the optic nerve, in 
which the fibres, from both hemispheres of the cerebrum are 
folded together, and in that folded state extend to both the eyes. 
The case is similar w r ith the ears and nostrils. The same recip- 
rocal mutual conjunction exists between light and the eye, 
sound and the ear, smell and the nostril, taste and the tongue, 
touch and the body ; for the eye is in the light, and the light is 
in the eye ; sound is in the ear, and the ear is in the sound ; 
smell is in the nostril, and the nostril is in the smell ; taste is 
in the tongue, and the tongue is in the taste ; and touch is in 
the body, and the body is in the touch. This reciprocal con- 
junction may also be compared with the conjunction of a horse 
and a chariot, of an ox and a plough, of a wheel and a machine, 
of a sail and the wind, of a musical pipe and the air ; in short, 
such is the reciprocal conjunction of the end and the cause, and 
such also that of the cause and the effect : but this is not the 
place to enter into a particular explanation of these several cases, 
which would require a volume to do it justice. 

372. 4. That this reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and 
man is effected by means of charity and faith. 

It is an acknowledged truth among Christians at this day, 
that the church constitutes the body of Christ, and that every 
particular person in whom the church is, is in some member or 
other of that body, according to what is said by Paul, Ephes. i. 
23 ; 1 Cor. xii. 27 ; Korn. xii. 4, 5. But what is the body of 
Christ but divine good and truth ? This is understood by the 
Lord’s words in John : “ He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh 
my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” (John vi. 56). The 
Lord’s flesh, and also bread, means divine good, and his blood, 
and also wine, means divine truth. This is their true meaning, 
as will be shown in the chapter on the Holy Supper. Hence 
it follows, that so far as a man is in the goods of charity and the 
truths of faith, so far he is in the Lord, and the Lord in him ; 
for conjunction with the Lord is spiritual conjunction, which is 
effected only by charity and faith. That there is a conjunction 
of the Lord and the church, and consequently of good and truth, 
in all and every part of the Word, was shown in the chapter on 
the Sacred Scripture, n. 248 — 253; and whereas charity is 
good, and faith is truth, there is in every part of the Word a 
conjunction of charity and faith. From what has been, said then 
it follows that the Lore is charity and faith in man, and 
man is charity and faith in the Lord ; for the Lord is char- 
ity and faith spiritual in the charity and faith natural of man. 

394 


OF FAITH. 


372—374 


and man is charity and faith natural derived from the spiritual 
of the Lord, which in conjunction constitute charity and faith 
spiritual-natural. 

VIII That charity and faith are together in good works. 

313. The whole man, according to his measure and quality 
with regard to his mind or his essential quality, is in every work 
which proceeds from him. By mind is meant the affection of his 
love, and the principle of thought thence derived : these form 
his nature, and in general his life. Works viewed in this light 
are like so many mirrors, reflecting the man’s real image. This 
may be illustrated by the similar case of brutes and wild beasts : 
a brute is a brute, and a wild beast is a wild beast, in all their 
respective actions : a wolf is a wolf in all his actions : a tiger a 
tiger in all his, a fox a fox in all his, and a lion a lion in all his. 
The same is true of a sheep and a kid in all their actions. In 
like manner all a man’s works partake of his true nature, which 
however is to be estimated according to what he is in his internal 
man ; for if in this he be like a wolf or a fox, all his works will 
be interiorly of the same bestial quality ; and so again, if he be 
like a sheep or a lamb ; but that the man’s true nature is thus 
in all his works, does not apj>ear in his external man, for this 
can turn and change about the internal ; and yet the true nature 
and quality are within. The Lord says, “ A good man, out of 
the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that wdiich is good ; 
and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth 
forth that which is evil” (Luke vi. 45). And again : “ Every tree 
is>known by its own fruit; for of thorns men do not gather figs, 
nor of a bramble-bush gather they grapes” (vi. 44). That a man’s 
nature and quality are the same in all and every thing that pro- 
ceeds from him, as they are in his internal, man, is a truth which 
after death is made manifest in him by lively evidence, for then 
he lives an internal man, and no longer an external. That good 
is in man, and that every work which proceeds from him is good, 
when the Lord, charity, and faith reside in his internal man, 
will be proved under the following heads : — 1. That charity con- 
sists in willing what is good, and good works consist in doing 
what is good, from and under the influence of such a good will. 
2. That charity and faith are mere mental and perishable things, 
unless they are determined to works, and coexist in them, when- 
ever it is practicable. 3. That charity alone does not produce 
good works, still less does faith alone ; but good works are pro- 
duced by charity and faith together. But a particular explana- 
tion of each shall be given. 

374. 1.. That charity consists in willing what is good , and 
good works consist in doing what is good , f rom and under the 
influence of such a good will. 

Charity and works are distinct from each other, like will and 
action, and like an affection of the mind and an operation of the 
395 


374 OF FAITH. 

body ; consequently, also, like the internal man and the external ; 
and these are distinct from each other like cause and effect; for 
the causes of all things are formed in the internal man, and the 
effects thence resulting are produced in and by the external : 
hence charity, as it has relation to the internal man, consists in 
willing what is good, and good works, as they have relation to 
the external man, consist in doing good from and under the 
influence of a good will. Still, however, there is an infinite 
diversity between the good will of different persons ; for what- 
ever is done by any person in favor of another is supposed or 
appears to flow from good will or benevolence, when yet it ia 
not known whether such action was done from a principle of 
charity, and still less from what kind of charity it proceeds, 
whether genuine or spurious. This infinite diversity in the good 
will of different persons arises from the end, intention, and con- 
sequent purpose by which each is influenced, and which lie con- 
cealed in the will of doing good, and stamp on each person’s 
will a peculiar quality. The will also seeks out in the under- 
standing the means and methods of attaining its ends, which are 
effects, and thus in the understanding it betakes itself to the 
light, in order that it may discern not only the reasons why, 
but also the occasions when and how it should determine itself 
to actions, and thus produce its effects, which are works ; and at 
the same time, in the understanding, it seeks and finds its 
power of action ; from which it follows that works, in respect to 
their essence, are of the will; in respect to form, are of the 
understanding ; and in respect to act, are of the body ; and thus 
charity descends into good works. This may be illustrated by 
the comparative case of a tree. A man himself, with regard to 
all his constituent parts, is like a tree ; in its seed there lie hid, 
as it were, an end, intention, and purpose of producing fruits, in 
which respect the seed, corresponds with the man’s will, which, 
as was observed, contains those three things; afterwards, the 
seed from its interior parts springs forth from the earth, and 
clothes itself with branches, buds, and leaves, and thus provides 
itself with means adapted to its ends, which are fruits ; and in 
this a tree corresponds with the man’s understanding. Lastly, 
when the proper season arrives, and it is allowed free power of 
exertion and determination, it blossoms and produces fruits ; 
and in this it corresponds with the man’s good works. Here it 
is evident that the fruit of the tree, in respect to essence, is of 
the seed, in respect to form, of the branches and leaves, and in 
respect to act, of the wood of the tree. This may also be illus- 
trated by the comparative case of a temple : a man is a temple 
of God, according to Paul, 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16 ; 
Ephes. ii. 21, 22. Salvation and eternal life are the end, inten- 
tion, and purpose of man, as a temple of God ; and in these 
there is a correspondence with the will where those three thingi 
396 


OF FAITH. 


374, 375 

have their residence : afterwards he imbibes the doctrinal-s of 
faith and charity from his parents, masters, and spiritual teach- 
ers, and when he comes to riper years he collects them from the 
Word, and other books of instruction, all which are means con- 
ducive to the end ; and in these there is a correspondence with 
the understanding. Lastly, he is directed and determined to 
the performance of uses, according to the doctrines which he 
has imbibed as means ; and this is effected by acts of the body, 
which are called good works ; and thus the end, by means of 
causes, produces effects, which in regard to their essence, are of 
the end ; in regard to their form, are of the doctrines of the 
church ; and in regard to act, are of uses. Thus a man becomes 
a temple’ of God. 

375. 2. That charity and faith are merely mental and 

'perishable things , unless they are determined to works , and co- 
exist in them , whenever it is practicable. 

Has not a man a head and a body, which are joined together 
by means of the neck ? And has he not a mind in the head, 
which wills and thinks, and power in the body, which performs 
and executes ? If therefore a man only willed what was good, 
or his thoughts were under the influence of charity, and yet he 
never practised what was good, or was in the active exercise of 
uses in consequence of such a charitable will, would he not, in 
such a case, be like a head alone, or a mind alone, which with- 
out a body could not possibly subsist ? How plain then is it to 
see, from this instance, that charity and faith are not charity and 
faith while they are only in the head and mind, and not in the 
body ! For in this case they are like birds flying in the air, 
without any resting-place on earth ; and also like birds impreg- 
nated with eggs, which, having no nests, must drop their eggs 
in the air, or on the branch of some tree, from which they must 
fall to the ground and be broken. There is not any thing in the 
mind which has not something in the body corresponding to it, 
and that which corresponds to it may be called its embodying 
form ; therefore charity and faith, while they are only in the 
mind, are not embodied in the man, and may be likened to an 
aerial being, such as Fame was painted by the ancients, with 
laurel about her head, and a cornucopia in her hand. Such 
phantoms of men, however, retaining still the capacity of think- 
ing, must needs be shaken and disturbed by phantasies, in con- 
sequence of various sophistical reasonings, just as the fenny 
bulrush is shaken by the wind, while the bottom of its bed is 
strewed with shells, and frogs croak on the surface. How plain . 
is it to see that these circumstances are verified in all those who 
have only acquired from the Word some knowledge about charity 
and faith, and do not practise them ! The Lord also says, 

“ Every one that heareth my words , and doeth them , I will liken 
to a wise man who built his house upon a rock; bat every one 
397 


OF FAITH. 


375, 376 

that heareth my words, and doeth them not , I will liken to a fool- 
ish man who built his house upon the sand, or upon the ground, 
without a foundation” (Matt. vii. 24, 26 ; Luke vi. 47 — 49). 
Charity and faith, with all their factitious ideas, when they are 
unpractised by man, may also be compared with butterflies in 
the air, which are no sooner seen by a sparrow, than he flies 
upon and devours them. The Lord also says, a A sower went 
out to sow his seed ; and some fell by the wayside, and the 
fowls came and devoured it up” (Matt. xiii. 3, 4). 

376. That charity and faith are utterly unprofitable to a man 
while they remain only in one hemisphere of his body, that is, 
in his head, and are not fixed firm in works, is evident from a 
thousand passages in the Word, of which I shall only adduce 
the following : “ Every tree which bring eth not forth good fruit, 
is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. vii. 19 — 21). u He 
that receiveth seed into the good ground is he that heareth the 
Word, and understandeth it, who also heareth fruit, and doeth ” 
(xiii. 23). “ Jesus said, Mv mother and my brethren are those 

who hear the Word of God, and do it ” (Luke viii. 21). “ We 

know that God heareth not sinners ; but if any man is a wor- 
shipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth” (Johnix. 
31). “ If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them ” 

(xiii. 17). “ He that hath my commandments, and doeth them, 

he it is that loveth me; and I will love him, a:;d will manifest 
myself to him, and make my abode with him” (xiv. 21 — 23). 
“ Herein is my Father glorified, that ye hear much fruit” (John 
xv. 8). “Hot the hearers of the law are just before God, hut 
the doers of the law ” (Rom. ii. 13 ; James i. 22). “God, in the 
day of wrath and of just judgment, will render to every man 
according to his works ” (Rom. ii. 5, 6). “ For we must all 

appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may 
receive the things done in his body, according to what he hath 
done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. v. 10). “ The Son of 

Man will come in the glory of his Father, and then he will 
reward every man according to his deeds ” (Matt. xvi. 27). “ I 

heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are 
the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth ; yea, saith the 
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works fol- 
low with them ” (Rev. xiv. 13). “ A book was opened, which is 

the book of life, and the dead were judged according to those 
things which were written in the bqoks, according to their works ” 
(xx. 12). “ Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, 
to give every man as his works shall he” (xxii. 12). “ Jehovah, 

whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to 
give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit 
of his works” (Jer. xxxii. 19). . “ I will punish them for their 
ways, and reward them for their works” (Hos. iv. 9). “ According 
to our ways, and according to our works, so hath he dealt with 
398 


OF FAITH. 


376, 377 

ns” (Zech. i. 6) ; not to mention a thousand other passages to 
the same purport. From all this it must plainly appear that 
charity and faith are not charity and faith before they exist to- 
gether in works, and that if they exist only in an expanse above 
works, or in the mind, they are like pictures of a tabernacle or 
temple in the air, which are mere meteors, and vanish away ot 
themselves; or they are like pictures on a piece of paper eaten 
by moths, or like abodes on the house-top, where there is no 
bedchamber, and not in the house. Hence then it is very evi- 
dent that charity and faith are fleeting, perishable things, so 
long as they are only in the mind, and are not determined to 
works, and coexist in them, whenever it is practicable. 

377. 3. That charity alone does not 'produce good works , still 
less does faith alone , but charity and faith together produce them. 

The reason of this is because charity without faith is not 
charity, and faith without charity is not faith, as was shown above, 
n. 355 to 358 ; therefore charity cannot be by itself, or faith by 
itself; it cannot therefore be said that either charity or faith by 
itself produces any good works. In this respect the case is sim- 
ilar to that of the will and the understanding ; for the will can- 
not be by itself, consequently it cannot be said that by itself it 
can produce any thing ; nor can the understanding be by itself, 
and therefore, this also by itself cannot produce any thing ; but 
production and fruitfulness are effected by both together, and 
are the operation of the understanding, acting from and under 
the influence of the will. The ground of the similitude between 
these two cases is, because the will is the habitation of charity, 
and the understanding of faith. The latter part of the proposi- 
tion, that still less can faith alone produce good works, is true, 
for this reason, because faith is truth, and its operation is to 
produce truths, and these enlighten charity and its exercises : 
this the Lord teaches when he says, “ He that doeth truth , com - 
eth to the light , that his works may be made manifest, that they 
are wrought in God” (John iii. 21). So long therefore as a man 
does good works according to truths, he does them in the light, 
that is, intelligently and wisely. The conjunction of charity and 
faith is like the marriage of husband and wife : all natural off- 
spring are produced by the husband as father, and the wife as 
mother : in like manner, all spiritual offspring, which are the 
knowledges of good and truth, are produced by charity as father, 
and faith as mother. These observations may serve to point 
out the mode of the propagation of spiritual families. In the 
Word also, according to its spiritual sense, husband and father 
signify the good of charity, and wife and mother, the truth of 
faith: hence again it is evident that neither charity alone, nor 
faith alone, can produce good works, any more than a husband 
alone, or a wife alone, can produce children. The truths of 
faith not only enlighten charitv, but also °;ive it its quality, and 
399 


OF FAITH. 


377, 378 

what is more, nourish it : therefore a man who has charity, and 
not the truths of faith, is like one walking in a garden at night, 
who plucks fruit from the trees, without knowing whether it is 
good or had ; and since the truths of faith not only enlighten 
charity, but also give it its quality, it follows, that charity with- 
out the truths of faith is like fruit without juice, or like a parched 
fig, or like a grape after the wine has been pressed from it : and 
since, as was just observed, truths also nourish charity, it fol- 
lows that if charity is without the truths of faith, it has no other 
nourishment than what a man would receive by eating burnt 
bread, and drinking at the same time dirty water drawn from a 
stagnant pool. 

IX. That there are a true faith, a spurious faith, and a hypo- 
critical FAITH. 

378. The Christian church from its earliest infancy began 
to be infested and rent asunder by schisms and heresies, and in 
process of time was torn and mangled much like the man we 
read of, that went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell 
among thieves, who stripped and wounded him, and left him 
half dead (Luke x. 30). Hence, what is written of that church 
in Daniel has come to pass : “ At length upon the bird of abomina- 
tions shall be desolation, and even until the consummation and 
the decision, it shall drop upon the devastation” (ix. 27). And 
according to the Lord’s words ; “Then shall the end come, when 
ye shall se6 the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel 
the prophet” (Matt. xxiv. 14, 15). The fate of the church in this 
respect may be compared with that of a ship laden with most 
valuable merchandise, which has no sooner weighed anchor, and 
left its port, than it begins to be tossed with storms, and presently 
is wrecked, and sinks to the bottom of the sea, and then its rich 
lading is partly spoiled by the water, and partly torn to pieces 
by fishes. That the Christian church, from its infancy, has been 
thus tossed and torn, is plain from ecclesiastical history, which 
informs us that even in the Apostle’s time it began to be dis- 
turbed by Simon , who was a Samaritan by birth, and by profes- 
sion a sorcerer, as we read, Acts viii. 9 ; and also by Hymenceus 
and Pbiletus , who are mentioned by Paul in his Epistle to Tim- 
othy ; and again by Nicolas , who gave name to the Xicolaitans, 
mentioned in Revelation, chap. ii. 6 ; and Acts vi. 5 ; and be- 
sides by Cerinthus . After the time of the Apostles, several 
other heretical sects made their appearance, as the Marcionites , 
Noetians , Valentinians , Encratites , Cataphrygians , Quarto- Ded- 
mans , Alogians , Catharians , Origenists or Adamites , Sabellians , 
Samosatenes , Manichceans , Meletians , and lastly Arians. After 
these, whole troops of arch-heretics attacked the church, as the 
Donatists , Photinians , Acacians or Semi-Arians , Eunomians , 
Macedonians , Nestorians , Predestinarians , Papists , Zwinglians , 
Anabaptists , SchwenckfeUUans , Synergists , Socinians Anti- 
400 


OF FAITH. 


378, 379 

Trinitarians , Quakers , Moravians , with many others. Over all 
these Luther , Melancthon , and Calvin finally prevailed, whose doc- 
trines are generally received at this day. The causes of so many 
divisions and seditions in the church are chiefly these three : 
First, The Divine Trinity was not understood: Secondly, Men 
had no correct knowledge of the Lord : Thirdly, The passion of 
the cross was regarded as redemption itself. Where these three 
points are misunderstood, which are the very essentials of that 
faith which gives existence to the church, and from which it is 
called a church, it must of necessity come to pass, that all things 
relating to the church will be diverted 'from their right course, 
and at last be turned in a direction contrary to truth; and yet 
the members of that church may possibly still imagine, that 
they are in a true faith towards God, and influenced by a right 
belief in all the truths which relate to God. It is in this case 
as with persons who bind a handkerchief over their eyes, and 
walk, as they fancy, in a right line, when nevertheless they are 
every step deviating from it, and at length get into a direction 
opposite to that in which they set out, till they fall headlong into 
some pit or cavern. But it is impossible for a member of the 
church to be brought back from his wandering into the right 
way, unless he be made acquainted with the nature and proper- 
ties of a true faith, a spurious Faith, and a hypocritical faith ; 
we will therefore prove these propositions, 1. That there is only 
one true faith, and it is directed towards the Lord God the Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ, and abides with those who believe that he is 
the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the 
Father ; 2. That spurious faith is every faith which is at variance 
with the one true faith, and abides with those who climb up 
some other way, and regard the Lord, not as God, but as a mere 
man ; 3. That hypocritical faith is not faith. 

379. 1. That there is only one true faith, and it is directed 
towards the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ , and abides with 
those who believe him to be the Son of God , the God of heaven 
and earth , and one with the Father. 

There is only one true faith, because faith is truth, and truth 
cannot be broken and cut asunder, so that one part may look to 
the left hand, and another to the right, and yet remain truth. 
Faith, in a general sense, consists of innumerable truths, being 
their complex ; but those innumerable truths constitute as it 
were one body, the several members of which are formed of 
various truths; thus some truths form the members that are 
dependent on the breast, as the arms and hands ; some again 
the members that are dependent on the loins, as the legs and 
feet ; but interior truths form the head, and the truths proxi- 
mately proceeding thence, form the sensories in the face. Inte- 
rior, truths form the head, because the term interior implies also 
what is superior; for in the spiritual world whatever is interior 
401 DD 


379 


OF FAITH, 


is also superior, which is the case with the three heavens. The 
soul and life of this body, and all its members, is the Lord God 
the Saviour; hence the church is called by Paul the body of 
Christ, and all who belong to the church, according to the states 
of their charity and faith, constitute its members. That there is 
only one true faith, is likewise taught by Paul in these words : 
“ There is one body and one spirit, one Lord, one faith , one 
baptism, one God : and he gave some for the work of the minis- 
try, for the edifying of the body of Christ , till we all com e to 
the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, 
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness 
of Christ” (Ephes. iv. 4 — 6, 11 — 13). That the one true faith 
is a faith in the Lord God the Saviour, was fully shown above, 
n. 337 — 339. But the reason why a true faith abides with those 
who believe the Lord to be the Son of God, is, because they also 
believe him to be God, and faith is not faith, unless it is 
directed towards God. That this characteristic of faith is the 
chief of all the truths that enter into its composition, is evident 
from the Lord’s w T ords to Peter, when he said, “ Thou art the 
Christ , the son of the living God: Blessed art thou, Simon ; and 
[ say unto thee, upon this rock I will build my church, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. xvi. 16 — 18). 
By a rock here, as in other parts of the Word, is meant the 
Lord as to Divine Truth, and likewise divine truth from the 
Lord. That this truth is the primary or chief of all, and like a 
diadem on the head, and a sceptre ki the hand, of the body of 
Christ, is plain from the Lord’s declarations, that upon this 
rock he would build his church, and that the gates of hell should 
not prevail against it. It is plain also from these words in John, 
that this characteristic of faith is of the first consequence : 
“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God 
dwelleth in him, and he in God” (1 Epist. iv. 15). Besides 
this mark of being in the one only true faith, there is another, 
which is, to believe that the Lord is God of heaven and earth. 
This is a consequence of the former, that he is the Son of God, 
and is evident from these declarations : “ In him dwelleth all the 
fulness of the Godhead” (Coloss. ii. 9). “ He hath all power 

in heaven and earth” (Matt, xxviii. 18). “ All that the Father 

hath is his” (John iii. 35; xvi. 15). The third mark which 
evinces that those w T ho believe in the Lord are interiorly prin- 
cipled in faith towards him, thus that they are in the one only 
true faith, is, that they believe that the Lord is one with the 
Father. That he is one with the Father, and is the Father 
himself in the* humanity, was fully proved in the chapter on the 
Lord, and on Redemption, and appears evidently from the 
Lord’s words, when he declared, “ I and the Father are one” 
(John x. 30); “The Fathei is in me, and I in him” (x. 38; 
xiv. 10, 11); and when he said to his disciples, that henceforth 
402 


OF FAITH. 


379, 38C 


they had seen and known the Father; and when he looked at 
Philip, and said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” 
(John xiv. 7, 9). The reason why these three are the characteristic 
testimonies which evince that the worshipper is principled in faith 
towards the Lord, thus in the one only true faith, is, because 
not all who approach the Lord are principled in faith towards 
him ; for true faith is internal, and at the same time external. 

, Such only as are in possession of these three precious marks of 
faith are in its internals as well as in its externals, so that it is 
at once a treasure in their hearts and a jewel in their mouths: 
but the case is different with those who do not acknowledge the 
Lord to be God of heaven and earth, or one with the Father ; 
for these interiorly look towards other gods, who have like 
power, which yet they conceive is to be exercised by the Son, 
either as a deputy or as a being who, by reason of the redemp- 
tion wrought by him, has merited the reward of ruling over 
those whom he has redeemed. But such persons break in pieces 
the true faith by a division of the unity of God ; and when it is 
broken it is no longer faith, but only the ghost of faith, which', 
when viewed naturally, appears as a sort of image of faith, but 
when viewed spiritually, is a mere chimera. How plain and 
undeniable is it that faith, to be true, must be directed towards 
one God, who is the God of heaven and earth, consequently 
towards God the Father in a human form, thus towards the 
Lord ! These three characters, evidences, and indices, to show 
that a man’s faith in the Lord is a real faith, are like the 
Lydian stone by which gold and silver are tried and known : 
they are also like stones and finger-posts on the roads, which 
point towards the temple where the one true God is worshipped : 
and they are like light-houses on rocks at sea, which in the 
night inform the sailor where he is, and in what direction he is 
to steer his ship. This first character of faith, that the Lord is 
the Son of the living God, is like the morning star to all those 
who enter into his church. 

380. 2. That spurious faith is every faith that departs from 
the one only true faith, and it abides with those who climb up some 
other way , and regard the Lord , not as God , but as a mere man. 

That spurious faith is every faith that departs from the one 
only true faith, is self-evident; for since there is but one true 
faith, it must necessarily follow that every other which departs 
from that, is not true. All the good and the truth of the church 
is propagated by virtue of the marriage of the Lord and the 
church, consequently all that which essentially is charity and all 
which essentially is faith are the offspring of that marriage; it 
follows that any charity or faith, not being the issue of that 
marriage, are not lawfully begotten, but are an illegitimate issue, 
consequently the fruit either of polygamy or of adultery. All 
faith which acknowledges the Lord, and yet adopts false and 
403 


380 


OF FAITH. 


heretical opinions, is the issue of polygamy ; and all faith which 
acknowledges three lords of one church, is the issue of adultery ; 
for it is either like a woman that is a professed harlot, or like a 
woman that is married to one husband, and yet hires herself out 
to two others, in whose embraces she spends the night, and calls 
each of them by turns her husband : hence it is that such faith 
is called spurious. The Lord also in many places calls the pro- 
fessors of such faith adulterers, and likewise describes them under 
the name of thieves and robbers; as in John : “Verily, I say 
unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, 
but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 
I am the door ; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved'’ 
(x. 1, 9). To enter into the sheepfold is to enter into the church, 
and also into heaven ; for heaven and the church constitute a 
one, and nothing constitutes heaven but the church there : as 
the Lord therefore is the bridegroom and husband of the church, 
so is he also the bridegroom and husband of heaven. The legit- 
imacy or illegitimacy of faith may be discovered and known by 
the three characters mentioned above, which are the acknow- 
ledgment of the Lord as the Son of God, the acknowledgment 
of him as the God of heaven and earth, and the acknowledgment 
that he is one with the Father; in proportion then as any faith 
departs from these three essentials, it is spurious. A spurious, 
and at the same time an adulterous faith, belongs to those who 
regard the Lord, not as God, but as a mere man. This is evi- 
dently the case with the two wicked heresies of Arius and 
Socinus, which were anathematized in the Christian church, 
and excommunicated from it, because they deny the divinity 
of the Lord, and climb up some other way ; but I fear that those 
abominations still lie concealed in spirit among the generality of 
those who profess to be members of the church at this day. One 
circumstance' is very extraordinary, that the more any person 
fancies himself distinguished above others for his learning and 
judgment, the more apt is he to entertain and appropriate to 
himself ideas concerning the Lord, as being a man, and not 
God, and to conclude that since he is a man, he cannot be God ; 
yet every one, who appropriates to himself these ideas, joins 
himself in society with those Arians and Socinians, whose abode 
in the spiritual world is in hell. The reason why the members 
of the church at the present day entertain such notions in their 
spirit generally, is, because every man is attended by an associate 
spirit ; for without such an associate, a man would be incapable 
of thinking analytically, rationally, and spiritually, consequently 
he would not be a man, but a brute ; and every man draws into 
association with himself a spirit similar to the affection of his 
own will, and the perception of his understanding thence result- 
ing. He that introduces himself into good affections, by means 
of truths from the Word and a concordant life, has an anffel 
404 * 


OF FAI'IH. 


880 


from heaven as his associate ; but he that introduces himself into 
evil affections, by confirmations of falsities and an evil life, has 
a spirit from hell as his associate ; in consequence of which asso- 
ciation he enters more and more into fraternity with satans, and 
then confirms himself more and more in falses which contradict 
the truths of the Word, and in the abominations of Arius and 
Socinus against the Lord. The reason of this is, because the 
whole host of satans cannot endure to hear any truth from tho 
Word, or even the name Jesus to be pronounced ; for when such 
sounds strike their ears, they become instantly like furies, and 
run to and fro, uttering blasphemies ; and if at such times any 
influx of heavenly light breaks in upon them, they cast themselves 
headlong into caverns, and into their own thick darkness, where 
they have a light like what owls see by in the night, and like 
what cats have when they are in pursuit of their prey in a dark 
place. To such a condition are all reduced after death, who in 
heart and belief deny the Divinity of the Lord and the holiness 
of the Word : their internal man is such, howsoever the external 
may play the hypocrite, and pretend to be a Christian ; and this 
I know to be true, because I have both seen and heard it. All 
who honor the Lord as a Redeemer and Saviour with their mouths 
and lips only, but in heart and spirit regard him as a mere man, 
when they thus speak and teach, their cheeks are like a bladder 
full of honey, but their hearts are like a bladder full of gall ; 
their words also are like cakes of sugar, but their thoughts are 
like emulsions of poison ; or they are like pies, in the hollow 
of which deadly serpents lie concealed. If they are priests, they 
are like pirates at sea, who hang out the flag of a friendly state, 
but when a ship approaches them in confidence of friendship, 
they hang out their piratical flag instead of the former, and 
make prize of the ship and prisoners of its people. They are 
also like serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 
which approach like angels of light, holding in their hands apples 
gathered from that tree, but painted of a golden color, as if they 
were gathered from the tree of life, which they present with 
these words : “ God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, 
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing 
good and evil” (Gen. iii. 5); and when those to whom they 
present them have eaten, they follow the serpent to his infernal 
abode, and dwell with him : around that abode are all those 
satans who have eaten of the apples of Arius and Socinus. The 
same persons are also signified by the man, who came to the 
wedding, and had not on a wedding garment, who was cast into 
onter-darkness (Matt. xxii. 11, 12, 1.3). The wedding garment 
is faith towards the Lord, as the Son of God, the God of heaven 
and earth, and one with the Father. Those who honor the 
Lord with their mouths and lips only, but in heart and spirit 
regard him as a mere man, in case they open their thoughts, 
405 


380, 381 


OF FAITH. 


and persuade others to think as they do, are spiritual murderers, 
and the worst of them are spiritual cannibals. The life of man 
is derived from love and faith towards the Lord ; but if this 
essential of faith and love, that the Lord is God-Man and Man- 
God, be removed, his life is changed into death ; thus the man 
is slain and devoured, as a lamb by a wolf. 

381. 3. That hypocritical faith is not faith. 

A man becomes a hypocrite, while he thinks much about 
himself, and prefers himself before others ; for by this means he 
determines the thoughts and affections of his mind into his body, 
infuses them into it, and conjoins them with the senses belonging 
to it. Hence the man becomes natural, sensual, and corporeal ; 
and his mind is then incapable of being withdrawn from the flesh 
with which it coheres, and of being elevated to God, and of see- 
ing any thing of God, that is, any thing spiritual in the light of 
heaven ; and being thus a merely carnal man, the spiritual things 
which enter the understanding by the sense of hearing appear to 
him but as phantoms or bubbles in the air, yea, as flies about 
the head of a horse that is heated with running ; therefore in his 
heart he ridicules them ; for it is well known that the natural 
man regards the things of the spirit, or spiritual things, as foolish- 
ness. A hypocrite is in the lowest rank of natural men, because he 
is a merely sensual man ; for his mind is so closely linked with the 
bodily senses, that he does not love to see any thing but what 
is suggested by his senses ; and they being in the sphere of na- 
ture, compel his mind to think on all subjects from nature, and 
even to judge on matters of faith by the same rule. If such a 
hypocrite becomes a preacher, he retains in his memory such 
particulars as he had been taught respecting faith in his child- 
hood and youth ; but as these are animated by no spiritual prin- 
ciple from within, but by one merely natural, they are nothing 
when introduced into his public discourses but lifeless words. 
The sound of animation he infuses into them is derived solely 
from the delights of the love of self and the world, from which 
he trumpets them forth with all his powers of eloquence, which 
soothes the ear much like the sounds of an harmonious song. A 
hypocritical preacher, when he leaves the pulpit and returns to 
his own home, laughs within himself at all that he had said 
about faith, and all that he had adduced from the Word, before 
the congregation ; and possibly he may say to himself, “ I have 
cast a net into the water, and have caught turbots and shell-fish 
for all appear such in his imagination who are principled in a true 
. faith. A hypocrite is like a carved image with a double head, one 
within the other, the inner cohering with the trunk or body, and 
the outer being movable about the inner, and painted in front 
of the color of a human face, not unlike the wooden heads that 
are exposed to view in a barber’s shop. He is also like a little 
boat, which a sailor by a proper application of the sail, can direct 
406 


OF FAITH. 


381, 3 82 

at pleasure, either witli the wind or against it ; his trimming in 
favor of every thing that indulges the flesh and its senses answer- 
ing to this management of the sail. Hypocritical ministers are 
perfect comedians, buffoons, and stage players, who can play 
the parts of kings, dukes, primates, and bishops, and presently, • 
when they leave the stage, and put off their theatrical dresses, 
will go to a brothel, and entertain themselves with their mis- 
tresses. They are also like gates hung on hinges so contrived 
that they can open at pleasure both ways. Such is the state of 
their minds, they can open towards hell and towards heaven ; and 
when they are open towards the one, they are shut towards the 
other ; for what is very surprising, at the time they are engaged 
in their holy ministration, and teaching truths from the Word, 
they do not know but that they believe them, because the door 
towards hell is then shut ; but presently, when they return home, 
they do not believe a syllable of what they have been saying, be- 
cause then the door is shut towards heaven. There dwells in the 
hearts of all who are deeply sunk in hypocrisy an intestine en- 
mity against all truly spiritual persons, such as that which burns 
in the breasts of satans against the angels of heaven : they are not 
sensible indeed of this while they live in this world, but it mani- 
fests itself after death, when their external, by which they could 
assume an appearance, of being spiritual men, is removed ; for it 
is their internal man which is of such a satanic nature. But I 
will tell you, reader, in what manner spiritual hypocrites, who 
are such as “ walk in sheep’s clothing, when inwardly they are 
ravening wolves” (Matt. vii. 15), appear before the angels of 
heaven. They appear like soothsayers, walking on the palms 
of their hands and praying, who with their lips, following the 
dictates of their hearts, address themselves to devils, and em- 
brace them, while with their shoes they make a clapping in the 
air, and thus direct a sort of noisy worship to God ; but when 
they stand on their feet they appear, as to their eyes, like leop- 
ards, as to their gait like wolves, as to their mouths like foxes, 
as to their teeth like crocodiles, and as to faith like vultures. 

X. That the wicked have no faith. 

382. All those fall under the denomination of the wicked 
who deny that the world was created by God, and consequently 
deny that there is a God ; for such are atheistical naturalists. 
The reason why such persons are wicked is, because all good, 
which is not only naturally but also spiritually good, is from 
God ; therefore those who deny a God have not the will, and 
consequently not the capacity, to receive any good from any 
other source than from their proprium or selfhood : the selfhood 
of man is the lust of his flesh ; and whatever proceeds from this 
source is spiritually evil, howsoever naturally good it may ap- 
pear. These are theoretically wicked ; but the practically wicked 
are those who set at naught the divine commandments, as they 
407 


OF FAITH. 


382, 383 

are summarily expressed in the decalogue, and who live like 
men governed by no law: these also deny a God, notwithstand- 
ing their lip-confession of his existence, because God and his 
commandments are one ; for which reason the ten command- 
ments of the decalogue are called Jehovah there (Numb. x. 35, 
36 ; Psalm cxxxii. 7, 8). But that the proof of this proposition, 
that the wicked have no faith, may be rendered more clear and 
satisfactory, we will reduce it under the two following prob- 
lems That the wdcked have no faith, because evil or wicked- 
ness is of hell, and faith is of heaven. 2. That throughout 
all Christendom there is no faith among those who reject the 
Lord and the Word, notwithstanding the morality of their 
lives, and the rationality with which they even speak, teach, 
and write about faith. But each problem will require a partic- 
ular explanation. 

383. 1 . That the wicked ham no faith, because wickedness is 
of hell , and faith is of heaven. 

The reason why wickedness or evil is of hell, is because all 
evil comes from thence ; and faith is of heaven, because all the 
truth of faith is derived from heaven. A man, during his abode 
on earth, walks and is held in the midst between heaven and 
hell, and thus is in spiritual equilibrium, which is his free-will. 
Hell is under his feet, and heaven over his head ; and whatever 
ascends from hell is evil and false, and whatever descends from 
heaven is good and true : a man therefore, from his middle sta- 
tion between those two opposites, and his spiritual equilibrium 
in consequence, has the power of freely choosing, adopting, and 
appropriating to himself either the one or the other. If he 
chooses, adopts, and appropriates to himself the evil and the 
false, he conjoins himself with hell, but if goodness and truth, 
he conjoins himself with heaven. Ilehce it appears not only 
that evil is of hell, and faith is of heaven, but also that those 
two principles cannot dwell together in one subject or man : for 
in case they were together the man would be distracted, as if he 
were tied about the body with two ropes, by one of which he 
was pulled upward, and by the other downward ; the conse- 
quence of which would be that he would remain pendulous in 
the air : in such case too lie would be like a blackbird, which in 
its flight sometimes mounts aloft, and sometimes sinks towards 
the ground, and in bis lofty flight he would worship God, but in 
his lowly flight the devil. This would constitute profanation, as 
must be evident to every oik; : the Lord also teaches that “ no 
man can serve two masters ; for he would hate the one, and love 
the other” (Matt. vi. 21). Faith cannot dwell with evil, as may 
be illustrated by various comparisons ; for instance, evil is like 
fire (infernal fire being the love of evil), and consumes faith like 
stubble, and reduces it, and all that belongs to it, to ashes. 
Evil dwells in darkness, and faith in light ; and evil, by means 
408 


. OF FAITH. 


383, 384 

of falses, extinguishes faith, as darkness does light. Evil is black 
like ink, and faith is white like snow, and clear like water ; and 
evil blackens faith, as ink does snow and water. Moreover, evil 
and the truths of faith cannot be conjoined together, otherwise 
than as any stinking body is with an aromatic or sweet-scented 
one, or as urine with well-flavored wine ; and they can no more 
abide together than a putrid carcass and a living man in one- 
bed, or than a wolf with a flock of sheep in their fold, a hawk 
in a dove-cote, or a fox in a hen-roost. 

3S4 2. That throughout all Christendom there is no faith 

among those who reject the Lord and the Word, notwithstanding 
the morality of their lives , and the rationality with which they 
even speak , teach , and write about faith. 

This follows as a conclusion from all that has been shown 
above : for it has been evinced that the one only and true faith 
is directed towards the Lord and derived from him ; that all 
faith which is not directed towards him and derived from him is 
not spiritual faith, but natural ; and that faith merely natural 
has not in it the essence of faith. Moreover, faith is derived 
from the Word, and can have no other source ; for the Word is 
from the Lord, and consequently the Lord himself is in the 
Word ; therefore he says that he is the Word (John i. 1, 2). 
Hence it follows, that whoever rejects the Word, rejects the 
Lord also, because they cohere together as a one; and further, 
that whoever rejects either the Lord or the Word, rejects also 
the church, which has its existence from the Lord by means of 
the Word ; and again, that whoever rejects the church, shuts 
himself out from heaven, because the church is an introduction 
into heaven ; and those who are shut out from heaven are among 
the damned, who have no faith. The reason why those who 
reject the Lord and the Word have no faith, notwithstanding 
their lives are. moral, and they speak, teach, and write rationally 
about faith, is, because their moral life is not spiritual, but 
natural, and their rational mind is not spiritual, but natural ; 
and morality and rationality merely natural are in themselves 
dead ; consequently, such persons have no more faith than dead 
men. The merely natural man, who in respect to faith is dead, 
can indeed converse and give instruction about faith, charity, 
and God, but not from and under the influence of faith, charity, 
or God. Those only have faith who believe on the Lord ; all 
others have no faith, as is evident from the following passages : 
“ lie that believeth on the Son is not condemned ; but he that 
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed 
in the name of the only-begotten Son of God” (John iii. 18). 
a He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he 
that believeth not the Son will not see life ; but the anger ol 
God abideth omhim” (ii:. 36). Jesus said, “ When the Spirit 
of truth cometh, lie will reprove the world of sin, because they 
409 


OF FAITH. 


884, 385 

believe not on me” (xvi. 8, 9); and to the Jews, “Except ye 
believe that I am, ye will die in your sins” (viii. 24) ; David 
therefore says, “ I will declare the decree : Jehovah hath said. 
Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee. Kiss the 
Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way. Blessed are 
all those that trust in him” (Psalm ii. 7, 12). That in the con- 
summation of the age which is the last time of the church, 
there would be no faith existing, in consequence of there being 
none directed towards the Lord, as the Son of God, the God of 
heaven and earth, and one with the Father, the Lord foretold, 
where he says, “Then shall be the abomination of desolation, 
and great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning 
of the world, and never shall be ; and the sun shall be darkened, 
and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall 
from heaven” (Matt. xxiv. 15, 21, 29) ; and in the Revelation, 
“ Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to 
deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, 
the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” (xx. 7, 8). As 
the Lord foresaw this would be the case, he also said, “ Never- 
theless, when the Son of man cometh , will he find faith on the 
earth f” (Luke xviii. 8). 

385. To the above I shall add the following memorable 
relations.—Fiest. A certain angel once said to me, “ If you 
desire to see clearly the nature of faith and charity, and thus 
what faith is when separate from charity, and what it is when 
conjoined with charity, I will give you ocular demonstration.” 
I replied, “Do so.” Then he said, “ Instead of faith and charity, 
substitute light and heat, and conceive faith to be light, and 
charity heat, and you will see the matter clearly. Faith in its 
essence is the truth of wisdom, and charity in its essence the 
affection of love, and in heaven the truth of wisdom is light, and 
the affection of love is heat ; the light and heat which the angels 
feel and enjoy are in their essence nothing else : hence you may 
clearly see what faith is when separate from charity, and what 
it is when they are in conjunction Faith separate from charity 
is like the light in winter, and faith conjoined with charity is 
like the light in spring. The light of winter, which is light separate 
from heat, and in consequence conjoined with cold, strips the 
trees of their leaves, kills every green herb, hardens the ground, 
and congeals the waters ; but the light of spring, which is light 
conjoined with heat, causes the trees to vegetate, first into leaves, 
then into blossoms, and lastly into fruits : it opens and softens 
the ground, so that it bears grass, herbs, flowers, and shrubs ; 
and it also dissolves the ice, so that the waters can flow from 
their fountains. Exactly similar is the case with faith and char- 
ity : faith separate from charity brings death to all things, and 
faith conjoined with charity imparts life to all things. This 
410 


OF FAITH. 


385 


extinction vf life, and this quickening, may be vividly seen in 
our spiritual world, because here faith is light, and charily heat ; 
for where faith is conjoined with charity, there are paradisiacal 
gardens, flower-beds, and shrubberies, gay and delightful in 
proportion to such conjunction ; but where faith is separate from 
charity, there does not grow so much as a blade of grass, or any 
green thing, except it be on thorns and briers.” There were 
standing at a little distance from us some of the clergy, whom the 
angel called justifiers and sanctifiers of men by faith alone, and 
also arcanists, that is, dealers in mysteries. We related to them 
the same things concerning charity and faith, and likewise gave 
them ocular demonstration of their truth : but when we asked 
them whether they admitted it to be so, they turned their backs 
upon us, and said, “ We did not hear you on which we raised 
our voices, and cried, “Hear us now then;” but immediately 
they stopped their ears with both hands, and exclaimed, “We 
will not hear.” 

After this I conversed with the angel concerning faith in a 
state of separation from charity, and I acquainted him that it 
had been granted me to know, by living, experience, that such 
faith is like the light in winter; for that during the space of 
several years spirits had passed before me who were influenced 
by various kinds of faith, and that whenever those approached 
who had separated faith from charity, such a coldness seized my 
feet, and from thence passed up to my loins, and at length to my 
breast, that I almost fancied my whole bodily life would depart 
from me ; and indeed this would actually have been the case, had 
not the Lord d riven them away, and thus delivered me. It appeared 
surprising to me, that those very spirits did not feel any sensation 
of cold in themselves, as they declared to me ; therefore I com- 
pared them to fish under ice, which likewise have no sensation 
of cold, as their life, and of consequence their nature, is cold in 
itself. I perceived then that the cold I felt on the approach of 
such spirits, flowed from the imaginary light of their faith, just 
as cold exhalations, accompanied by ignes fatui , arise from 
marshy and sulphureous ground in the depth of winter after 
?> unset, which are often seen and felt by travellers. Such spirits 
may be compared also to mountains of ice separated from their 
places in northern climates, and carried to and fro in the ocean ; 
of which I have heard it related, that on their approaching a 
ship, all who are on board shiver with the cold. Hence a com- 
pany of those spirits, who are in faith separate from charity, 
may not only be compared to, but without impropriety may bo 
called, such mountains. We learn from the Word that faith 
without charity is dead , but the cause of its death has been 
nitherto unknown ; I will therefore explain it. The death of 
faith separate from charity is a consequence of cold, from which 
faith expires, like a bird in a severe frost, which first dies as to 
411 


OF FAITH. 


365, 386 

its eyesight, and at the same time as to its power of dying, then 
as to respiration, and at length it falls down headlong from the 
tree where it perched, and is buried in the snow. 

386. The second memorable relation. — Awaking one morn- 
ing from sleep, I saw two angels descending from heaven, one 
from the southern quarter, and the other from the eastern, each 
in his chariot, drawn by white horses. The chariot of the 
angel from the southern quarter shone like silver, and that 
of the angel from the eastern quarter like gold, and the reins, 
which they held in their hands, glowed with a flaming light like 
the dawn of day. These two angels appeared thus to me when 
at a distance, but when they came near they did not appear in 
chariots, but in their own angelic human form. The one from 
the eastern quarter of heaven was clad in bright purple raiment, 
and the one from the southern quarter in raiment of a violet 
blue. As soon as they reached the inferior regions below the 
heavens they ran to meet each other, as if they strove which 
should be first, and mutually embraced and kissed each other. 
I was informed that these two angels, during their abode on 
earth, had been conjoined in the bond of an interior friendship ; 
but that now one was in the eastern heaven, and the other in 
the southern : in the eastern heaven are those who are in love 
from the Lord, and in the southern those who are in wisdom 
from the Lord. When they had conversed together some time 
about the magnificent objects and scenery in their respective 
heavens, they entered upon the discussion of this question, 
Whether heaven, in its essence, be love or wisdom. In this 
they agreed, that the one derived its origin from the other ; but 
the debate was which was the primitive, and which the derivative. 
The angel from the heaven of wisdom then asked the other, 
“What is love?” to which he replied, u Love originating from 
the Lord, as a sun, is the vital heat of angels and men, conse- 
quently the esse of their life ; and the derivations of love are 
called affections, and by them are produced perceptions, and 
thus thoughts ; whence it follows that wisdom in its origin is 
love, consequently that thought in its origin is the affection ot 
that love ; and it is evident from the derivations examined in 
their order, that thought is only the form of affection. The 
reason why this is not known is, because thoughts are' in light, 
and affections in heat; so that the mind reflects upon its 
thoughts, but not on its affections. That thought is only the 
form of the affection of some particular love, may also be illus- 
trated by the case of speech, which is only the form of sound , 
which is a just illustration, because sound corresponds with 
affection, and speech with thought: therefore affection forms 
the sound or tone of the voice, and thought the speech or words 
of a discourse. This may be further elucidated by this con- 
sideration, that if you take away sound from speech, nothing ol 
412 


OF FAITH. 


386, 387 

speech remains ; and in like manner if you take away -affection 
from thought, nothing of thought remains. Hence then it is 
plain that love is the all of wisdom ; consequently the essence of 
the heavens is love, and their existence is wisdom ; or, what is 
the same thing, the heavens have their being from the divine 
love; and exist from +he divine love by the divine wisdom; 
therefore, as was said above, the one derives its origin from the 
other/ 1 There was with me at that time a novitiate spirit, who, 
hearing this discourse, inquired whether the case was similar 
with regard to charity and faith, since charity has relation to 
affection, and faith to thought. The angel replied, “The case 
is siinilar, faith being only the form of charity, just as speech 
is the form of sound ; for faith is formed by charity, as speech is 
by sound. We in heaven know also the manner of such forma- 
tion, but at present we have not leisure to explain it. By faith, 
however,” he added, “ I mean spiritual faith, which alone has in 
it life and spirit from the Lord, by means of charity ; for charity 
is spiritual, and faith is rendered spiritual thereby : therefore 
faith without charity is a merely natural faith, which is dead, 
and which also conjoins itself w T ith merely natural affection, 
which is nothing but lust.” The angels conversed on these sub- 
jects spiritually, and spiritual discourse contains and infolds in 
it thousands of things, which natural language cannot express, 
and, what is wonderful, such as do not so much as fall within 
the ideas of natural thought. After conversing together for 
some time on these and similar subjects, the angels departed ; 
and as they retired to their respective heavens, their heads ap- 
peared encompassed with stars, and when they were removed to 
a distance from me, they again appeared in chariots as before. 

387. The third memorable relation. — As soon as those 
two angels were gone out of my sight, I observed a garden on 
my right hand, in which were olives, fig-trees, laurels, and 
palms, planted in order according to their correspondences. 
Thither I cast my eyes, and saw angels and spirits walking and 
conversing together among the trees. Then one of the angelic 
spirits observed me (angelic spirits are such as are in the world 
of spirits preparing for heaven), and came out of the garden 
towards me and said, “ Will you come with me into our para- 
dise ? You shall hear and see wondrous things.” I accepted 
the invitation and attended him, and then he said to me, “ Those 
whom you see (for there were many persons there) are all prin- 
cipled in the love of truth, and are in consequence in the light 
of wisdom. Here is a palace which we call the Temple of 
Wisdom ; but such is the nature of this palace, that no person 
who fancies himself very wise can see it, and much less if he 
fancies himself wise enough, and least of all if he fancies that 
his wisdom is self-derived. The reason of this is, because such 
persons have no capacity to receive light from heaven from the 
413 


387 


OF FAITH. 


love of genuine wisdom. Genuine wisdom consists in a man’s 
seeing by the light of heaven, that the knowledge, intelligence, 
and wisdom which he has, is so little in comparison of what he 
has not, that it is but like a drop of water compared with the 
whole body of the ocean, and thus of scarcely any amount. 
Every one who is in this paradisiacal garden, and who, in con- 
sequence of a clear perception and interior sight, acknowledges 
that his wisdom is respectively so little, sees that Temple of 
Wisdom; for interior light in the mind enables a man to see it, 
but not exterior light without it.” Now as I had often thought 
that such must be the fact, and first from science, afterwards 
from perception, and lastly from an interior light, had acknowl- 
edged that a man has so little wisdom, behold ! I was permitted 
to see that temple. In form it was stupendous ; it w r as raised to 
a great height above the ground, was quadrangular, with walls 
of crystal, its roof of transparent jasper elegantly arched, the 
basement constructed wfith various precious stones, and the 
steps leading up to its entrance of polished alabaster.: at the 
sides of the steps there were figures of lions with young cubs. 
I then asked whether I might be allowed to enter; and being 
informed that I might, I ascended the steps ; and when I had 
entered, I observed as it were cherubs flying beneath the roof, 
and presently vanishing out of sight : the floor under our feet 
was of cedar, and the whole temple, from the transparence ot 
its roof and walls, seemed built to be a form of light. The 
angelic spirit went in with me, and I related to him what I had 
heard from the two angels concerning Love, and Wisdom, and 
also concerning charity and faith. He then said to me, u Did 
they not speak also of a third ?” and I said, “ What third ?” 
He replied, “The Good of Use! Love and wisdom without 
the good of use are mere nothings : they are only ideal entities, 
and are without reality, until they are fixed in use. Love, wis- 
dom, and use, are three things which are not to be separated ; 
for if they are, each is reduced to nothing. Love is nothing 
without wisdom; but in wisdom it is formed for something, 
which something is use ; therefore when love by wisdom is in 
use, then it really is, because then it actually exists. The case 
in this respect is exactly the same as with end, cause, and effect, 
the end being nothing unless by the cause it be in the effect ; 
and if one of the three be destroyed, the whole is destroyed, and 
becomes as nothing. The case is the same also with charity, 
faith, and works : charity without faith is nothing, so is faith 
without charity, and so are charity and faith without works; 
but in works they become something, the quality of which is 
according to the use of those works. The same holds good in 
regard to affection, thought, and operation, and also in regard 
to will, understanding, and action ; for will without understand- 
ing is like the eye without sight, and both without action are 
4 14 


OF FAITH. 


387, 388 

like the mind without the body : that this is. the case, may be 
clearly seen in this temple, because the light which shines here 
is a light enlightening the interiors of the mind. The science 
of geometry also teaches that nothing can be complete, or per 
feet, except it be a trine', or a compound of three ; for a geo- 
metrical line is nothing, unless it becomes an area, and an area 
is nothing unless it becomes a solid ; therefore the one must be 
multiplied into the other in order to give them existence, and in 
the third they coexist. As it is in this instance, so it is like- 
wise in the case of all and every created thing; they have their 
limit and termination in a third. Hence we see why the number 
Three in the Word signifies what is complete and perfect. How 
this being the case, it surprises me that some profess faith alone, 
some charity alone, and some works alone, to be necessary to 
salvation ; when yet one without another, or any two of them 
without the third, are a mere nothing.” Upon hearing this I 
asked him, “ Is it not possible for a man to have charity and 
faith, and yet not to have works ? may he not be inclined, both 
in affection and thought, towards some particular purpose, and 
yet not be in its operation ? The angel answered, “ Only ideally, 
but not really ; and even then he must be in the endeavor or 
will to operate ; and will or endeavor is in itself an act, because 
it is a continual striving towards action, which stri ving becomes 
an exterior act whenever a termination to the endeavor presents 
itself: endeavor and will therefore as an interior act is accepted 
by every wise man, because it is accepted by God, as if it were 
an exterior act, provided only that when opportunity offers it is 
not defective in operation.” 

388. The fourth memorable relation. — I was once con- 
versing with some of those who are meant by the dragon in the 
Revelation ; and one of them said, “ Come with me, and I will 
show you the delights of our eyes and hearts :” and he led me 
through a gloomy wood to the top of a hill, whence I could be- 
hold the amusements of the dragons. I saw an amphitheatre 
built in the form of a circus, with rows of benches one above 
another, on which the spectators were seated ; those on the lowest 
seats appeared to me, at a distance, like satyrs and priapi, some 
with such clothing as decency requires, and some naked ; on the 
benches over those were whoremongers and harlots, as I easily 
discerned from their gestures and behavior. Then the dragon 
said to me, “ How you shall see our pastime.” I saw as it were 
bullocks, rams, sheep, kids, and lambs, driven into the area ot 
the circus ; and when they were in, a gate was opened, and 
there rushed in as it were young lions, panthers, tigers, and 
wolves, which with great fury attacked the flock, tore them in 
pieces, and killed them. After the bloody slaughter was over, 
the satyrs scattered sand over the place where the butchery had 
been executed. The dragon then said to me, u These are ou) 
415 


OF FAITH. 


J3S 

sports and pastimes with which our minds are delighted ;” to 
which I replied, “ Get thee hence, demon ; in a short time you 
will see this amphitheatre converted into a lake of fire and brim- 
stone ;” at which he laughed and departed. When he was gone 
I began to think within myself, “ Why are such things permitted 
^ t + he Lord ?” and I received an answer in my heart, that they 
are permitted so long as such dragons are in the world of spirits ; 
but when the time of their continuance in that world is at an 
end, such scenical exhibitions are changed into infernal horrors. 
All the scenes above mentioned were appearances induced by the 
dragon by means of phantasies ; so that the bullocks, rams, sheep, 
kids, and lambs, were not real, but formed to be representative 
of the genuine goods and truths of the church, which are the 
objects of their hatred ; the lions, panthers, tigers, and wolves, 
were appearances of the lusts ruling in those who appeared like 
satyrs and priapi ; those who were without decent clothing, were 
such as believed that evils did not appear in the sight of God; 
and those who had such clothing, were such as believed that 
evils did indeed appear in his sight, but did not bring damnation, 
provided the evil-doer were in the faith : the whoremongers and 
harlots were falsifiers of the truths of the Word, for whoredom 
signifies the falsification of truth. In the spiritual world all 
things appear at a distance according to correspondences, and 
when they appear in forms, they are called representations ot 
spiritual things in objects similar to natural. 

After this I observed them as they went out of the wood : the 
dragon appeared in the midst of the satyrs and priapi, and the 
whoremongers and harlots came after them like a troop of camp- 
followers. Their company increased as they went along, and 
then I heard what they were conversing about : they said they 
perceived in a meadow a flock of sh’eep with lambs, and this was 
a token that one of the cities of Jerusalem, where charity had 
the pre-eminence, was not far off. Hereupon they said, “Let 
us go and take that city, and cast out its inhabitants, and 
plunder their possessions.” They accordingly drew near, but 
the city was encompassed with a wall that was guarded by angels. 
Then they said, u Let us take it by stratagem; and for this 
purpose let us send one skilled in muttering, who can make 
black appear white, and white black, and can give to any ob- 
ject whatever color he pleases:” and immediately they dis- 
covered one of their company who was expert in metaphysics, 
and who could change the ideas of things into the ideas of 
terms, and conceal the things themselves under technical for- 
mularies, and thus fly away like a hawk, with his prey under 
his wings. This metaphysician had instructions how to treat 
with the people of the city, by pretending that they were of the 
same religion, and wished to be let within the walls. So com 
ing to the gate he knocked, and when it was opened he said, tha 
416 


OF FAITH. 


388 


he wished to speak with the wisest person in the city : then he 
entered, and was conducted to the house of a certain wise per- 
sonage, whom he thus addressed: “There are some of my 
brethren without the gates of the city who request to be let in. 
They profess the same religious sentiments with yourselves : we 
all, both you and we, make faith and charity the two essentials 
of religion ; the only difference between us is, that you call 
charity the primitive, and faith the derivative, whereas we say 
that faith is the primitive, and charity the derivative ; but what: 
matters it which is called the primitive or which the derivative, 
provided they are both maintained and believed ?” The wise 
man of the city replied, “ It is not expedient that we talk on 
this subject alone, but in the presence of several witnesses, who 
may act as arbiters and judges between us, or else we shall 
never come to any determination.” Accordingly witnesses were 
summoned, to whom the draconic spirit addressed the same 
w'ords as before. The wise man of the city replied, “ You have 
• asserted that it is the same thing, whether charity or faith be 
considered as the primary esseiitial of the church, be it only 
agreed that each constitutes the church and its religion ; and 
yet the difference between them is the same as between prior 
and posterior, cause and effect, the principal and the instru- 
mental, and the essential and the formal. I speak in this man- 
ner, because I have observed that you are expert in the art of 
metaphysics, which we call mussitation, and some call enchant- 
ment: but laying aside these terms, the difference is the same 
as between what is above and what is below ; yea, if you are 
disposed to believe it, it is like the difference between the minds 
( mentes ) of those who dwell in the higher regions and the minds 
of those who dwell in the lower regions in this world ; for that 
which is primary constitutes the head and the breast, and that 
which is thence derived, the feet and the soles of the feet. But 
let us in the first place determine and be ageeed about the 
meaning of charity and faith : chari-ty is the affection of the 
love of doing good to our neighbor, for the sake of God, salva- 
tion, and eternal life ; and faith is thought, grounded in trust 
and confidence, concerning God, salvation, and eternal life.” 
But the emissary said, “ I grant that this is faith, and I grant 
also that charity is the affection of the love of doing good for 
the sake of God, because he commanded it, but not for the sake 
of salvation and eternal life.” When he had thus drawn the 
line of agreement and disagreement, the wise man of the city 
inquired, “ Is not affection or liking the primitive, and thought 
the derivative ?” to which the dragon’s emissary said, “ No ; I 
deny it:” but the wise man answered, “It is impossible to deny it: 
is not some kind of liking the origin of every person’s thoughts ? 
If you remove such liking, would it be possible to think al 
all ; or would it not be like removing sound from speech, in 
417 k E 


:88 


OF FAITH 


which case articulation of speech would be impracticable ? 
Sound also originates in and has -elation to the affection of 
some love, as speech originates in and has relation to thought ; 
for love produces sound, and thought frames it into speech. The 
case may be also illustrated by that of flame and light ; for if 
flame be taken away, light perishes at the same time ; so it is 
too with charity and faith, as charity has relation to love, and 
faith to thought. Cannot you then hence conceive that the 
primary is the all in all in the secondary, just as is the case with 
flame and light ? from which circumstance it is evident, that 
unless you make that primary which is primary, you cannot be 
in the other : if therefore you assign to faith the first place, 
when in reality it is in the second, you must needs appear in 
heaven like a man inverted, standing with his feet uppermost, 
and his head undermost, or like a mountebank walking on his 
hands with his feet in the air ; and if such be your appearance 
in heaven, of what sort must your good works be, which are 
charity in act, but like those which the mountebank would per- • 
form with his feet, his hands being otherwise employed ? Hence 
it is that your charity is natural, and not spiritual, because it is 
inverted.” The emissary understood all that the wise man said, 
for every devil can understand truth w T hen he hears it, but he 
cannot retain it, for the affection of evil, which is the lust ot 
the flesh, on the return of its influence, dispels the thought and 
consideration of truth. After this, the wise man of the city 
explained at large what is the nature and quality of faith when 
it is regarded as the primary essential of religion, showing that 
it is merely natural faith, and a bare persuasion, destitute of all 
spiritual life, consequently that it is not faith : then addressing 
himself to the emissary, he added, “ I can venture to assert, 
that in your faith there is no more real spirituality than there is 
in thinking about the Mogul’s dominions, the diamond mines 
there, or the wealth and grandeur of that potentate.” As he 
said this, the draconic spirit walked off angrily, and related all 
that had passed to his companions without the gates ; and when 
they heard it asserted, that charity is the affection of the love of 
doing good to one’s neighbor for the sake of salvation and 
eternal life, they exclaimed with one consent, “ It is a lie and 
the dragon himself cried out, “ What enormous wickedness ! 
Are not all the works of charity done for the sake of salvation, 
works that have merit in them ?” Then they said to one another, 

“ Let us call together more of our companions, and let us be- 
Biege this city, and cast rmt those charities.” But while they 
were proceeding to put their threats into execution, lo ! there 
appeared, as it were, fire from heaven, which consumed them ; 
but the fire from heaven was only an appearance of their anger 
and hatred against the inhabitants of the city, because they had 
degraded faith, and allowed it only a secondary place, and that 
418 


OF FAITH 


388, 389 

e'* en the lowest, beneath charity ; and had asserted that to he 
no faith which they regarded as the primary essential of religion. 
The reason why they appeared to be consumed as by fire, was, 
because hell was opened under their feet, and they were swal- 
lowed up. Similar circumstances befell many others in divers 
places on the day of the last judgment, and are understood by 
this passage in the Revelation : “ The dragon shall go out to 
deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, 
to gather them together to battle : and they went up on the 
breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints 
about, and the beloved city ; and fire came down from God out 
of heaven, and devoured them” (xx. 8, 9). 

389. The fifth memorable relation. — Some time ago I 
saw a sheet of paper come down from heaven to a certain society 
in the spiritual world, where there were two prelates of the church, 
with inferior canons and presbyters. The paper contained an 
exhortation to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of 
heaven and earth, according to what he himself had taught 
(Matt, xxviii. 18) ; and to recede from their doctrine respecting 
faith as being itself justificatory without the works of the law, 
because it was erroneous. The contents of the paper wete read 
and copied by several, and became the subject of much consid- 
eration, upon which many spoke with great judgment. But 
after they had received it, they said to one another, “ Let us 
hear the sentiments of the prelates.” Their opinion was accord- 
ingly given, but they contradicted and reviled the contents of 
the paper ; for the prelates of that society were hardened in their 
hearts by the falses which they had imbibed in the former world, 
so that after a short consultation with each other, they sent the 
paper back again to heaven. Upon this, after some noise and 
disturbance, several of the laity retracted their first opinion in 
favor of the contents of the paper ; and straightway the light of 
their judgment on spiritual subjects, which refore shone very 
bright, was suddenly extinguished. After this they were a 
second time admonished, but in vain ; when instantly I observed 
that society sink under ground, but how deep I could not see : 
it was thus removed from the sight of those who worship the 
Lord only, and hold in aversion the doctrine of justification 
by faith alone. Some days afterwards I saw near a hundred 
persons ascending from the lower earth, whither that wicked 
society had subsided, and on their coming to me, one of them 
said, “ Hearken to our wonderful relation : On our descent, it 
appeared to us at first as if we were in a lake or a bog, but pres- 
ently the appearance changed to that of dry ground, and soon 
after tc a small city, in which many had their particular dwell- 
ings allotted them. The next day we consulted among ourselves 
what steps we should take ; and it was the opinion of many that 
we should go and mildly remonstrate with the two prelates fot 

419 


389 


OF FAITH. 


sending the paper back to heaven from whence it came down, 
which was the apparent cause of our present calamity. Accord- 
ingly a certain number of us were deputed to go to the prelates 
(he who gave me this relation said he was one of the deputies), 
and when we were introduced, one of us particularly distinguished 
for his wisdom thus addressed them : ‘We have heretofore fondly 
plumed ourselves on the extraordinary purity of our church and 
our religion, because we have heard it asserted that we enjoyed 
the highest degree of Gospel light ; but some of us have lately 
been favored with illustration from heaven, in which state we 
had a perception that at this day there is no longer any church 
throughout the Christian world, because there is no religion.’ 
4 How !’ replied the prelates, 4 does not the church exist where 
the Word is read, where Christ the Saviour is acknowledged, and 
the sacraments are administered ?’ To this our friend answered, 
4 These indeed belong to the church, for they constitute it ; but 
they do not constitute the church without or extraneously to man, 
but within him.’ He further added, 4 Can the church be where 
three gods are worshipped ? Can the church be where the whole 
doctrine is founded on a single assertion of Paul falsely under- 
stood, and consequently not on the Word ? Can the church be, 
so long as the Saviour of the world, who is the very God of the 
church, is not approached and worshipped? Who can deny that 
religion consists in renouncing evil and doing good ? Can there 
then be any religion in the belief that faith alone brings salvation, 
without charity ? Can there be any religion where it is a received 
doctrine, that the charity which proceeds from man is merely 
moral and civil charity, and can have nothing in it of a religious 
principle ? Is there in faith alone any thing of deed or work, 
when yet religion consists in doing ? Can there be found any 
people throughout the world, who do not allow the goods of 
charity, which are good works, to be of a saving nature, since 
the all of religion consists in good, and the all of the church 
consists in that doctrine which teaches truths, and by truths, 
good ? What would have been our glory, had we but received 
the admonitions contained in the paper which was sent us from 
heaven !’ Then the prelates replied, 4 You speak in too high a 
strain ; does not faith in act, which is faith fully justifying and 
saving, constitute the church? And does not faith in state, 
which is faith proceeding and perfecting, constitute religion? 
Consider and apprehend this, my children.’ But our wise friend 
answered, 4 Hear this, O fathers ! Does not a man, according 
to your tenets, conceive faith in act, like a stock or stone ? And 
is it possible for a stock or stone to be so quickened as to become 
a church ? And agreeably to your idea, is not faith in state the 
continuation and progression of faith in act ? Since, therefore, 
according to your tenets, faith alone has all-saving power, and 
the good of charity which a man does has nothing in it of a saving 
420 


OF FAITH. 


389 


nature, where, in such case, is religion to be found V Then the 
prelates replied, 4 You talk in this manner, friend, in consequence 
of not knowing the mysteries of justification by faith alone ; and 
not to know them is to be ignorant of the interior ways of salva- 
tion, and to walk only in an external and beaten track : but go 
in whatever road you like ; only know this, All good is from God, 
and nothing of it from man, and consequently in spiritual things 
a man has no power to do any thing of himself, and how then can 
he do such good as is spiritual of himself?’ To this our friend 
answered, with great indignation, 4 1 know your mysteries of 
justification better than you do yourselves, and I tell you plainly 
that I can see nothing within those mysteries but mere spectres. 
Does not religion consist in an acknowledgment of God, and in 
fleeing from and hating the devil ? Is not God goodness itself, 
and the devil evil itself? What person throughout the whole 
world, of any religion, is ignorant of this ? And does not the 
acknowledgment and love of God consist in doing good, because 
good is of and from God ? And does not the fleeing from and 
hating the devil consist in not doing evil, because evil is of and 
from the devil ? Yet let me ask, does your faith in act, which 
you style a fully justifying and saving faith, or, what is the same 
thing, does your act of justification by faith alone teach you to 
do any good which is of and from God, or to shun any evil which 
is of and from the devil ? Hot in the least ; because it is an 
established doctrine with you that there is nothing of salvation 
either in doing good or in shunning evil. Further, what is your 
faith in state, which you call faith proceeding and perfecting, 
but the same thing with faith in act or operation? and how can 
this be perfected, when you exclude all good from man, as of 
himself, by urging in your mysteries, How can a man be saved 
by any good from himself, when salvation is a free gift ? And 
what good can come from man, except such as has merit in it ? 
yet all merit belongs to Christ alone. Of consequence you also 
say, to do good with a view to salvation, would be attributing 
to one’s self what belongs solely to Christ, and would thus be 
establishing self-justification and salvation. You add further, 
how can any man perform what is good, when the Holy Ghost 
performs all things, without receiving any aid from man ? What 
need then is there of any accessory good on the man’s part, seeing 
that all good which a man does has no real goodness in it? I 
appeal to yourselves whether your mysteries do not consist in 
these and other doctrines of a similar nature, which, in my eyes, 
appear like mere subtle arguments and cunning artifices, con- 
trived for no other end than to remove good works, which are 
works of charity, in order to establish your notion of faith alone ; 
and in consequence of so doing you regard a man with respect 
to faith, and in general as to all the spiritualities of the church 
and religion, as a dead stock, or as a lifeless image, and not as 
421 


389, 390 


OF FAITH. 


a man created in the image of God, to whom has been given, 
and continually is given, the power of understanding and willing, 
of believing and loving, and of speaking and acting altogether 
as from himself, particularly in spiritual subjects ; for by virtue 
of these a man is a man. Supposing a man, in respect to what 
is spiritual, not to think and operate as from himself, what then 
is the Word ? What is the church and religion ? Or what is ah 
worship ? You know that to do good to our neighbor from a 
principle of love is charity, but you do not know what charity 
is, when nevertheless it is the soul and essence of faith ; and 
consequently faith in a state of separation from charity must be 
dead, and dead faith is nothing but a mere ghost or spectre. I 
give it those names because the apostle James styles faith without 
good works, not only dead, but devilish. 5 Then one of the pre- 
lates, when he heard his faith called dead, devilish, and a spectre, 
grew so angry, that he tore the mitre from his head, and threw 
it down on the table, saying, 4 I will not take it up again until 
I have avenged myself on the enemies of the faith of our church 
and he shook his head, muttering and exclaiming, 4 that James ! 
that James !’ On the front of his cap was a thin plate, with 
this inscription, faith alone justifying. Then suddenly there 
appeared a monster rising out of the earth, with seven heads, 
which had feet like a bear, a body like a leopard, and a mouth 
like a lion, exactly resembling the beast described in the Reve- 
lation, xiii. 1, 2, whose image was made and worshipped, verses 
14, 15. This spectre took the mitre off the table, and spreading 
it out wide, placed it on his seven heads ; after which, the earth 
opened under his feet, and he sunk down, and disappeared. At 
this sight the prelate exclaimed, 4 Violence! Violence!’ Then 
we left them, and lo ! there appeared steps before us, by which 
we ascended, and returned above ground and to the sight of 
heaven, where we had been before.” This relation was given 
me by the spirit that had ascended, with a hundred others, from 
the lower earth. 

390. The sixth memorable relation. — In the northern 
quarter of the spiritual world, hearing as it were a roaring of 
waters, I walked towards it. As I approached the roaring 
ceased, and I heard a buzzing noise, like the distant voices of a 
multitude gathered together ; and then I saw a building, full of 
chinks and clefts, encompassed with a mound of earth, from 
whence that buzzing issued. I went up to it, and seeing the 
porter, I asked him who were within those walls ? He said, 
44 The wisest of the wise, who are now debating on supernatural 
subjects so he expressed himself, in the simplicity of his 
belief. I asked, 44 May I be permitted to enter?” 44 Yes,” 
said he, 44 on condition you will say nothing ; for I have leave 
to admit gentiles, to stand with me at the door.” So I went in, 
and lo ! there was a circus, and in the midst an elevated stage, 
422 


OF FAITH. 


390, 391 


where an assembly of the wise, so called, were discussing the 
mysteries of their faith. The subject or proposition which at 
that time engaged their attention was, “ Whether the good 
which a man does, in the state of justification by faith, or 
in its progression after the act, is the good of religion or not ?” 
They were unanimous in defining the good of religion to be 
such good as contributes to salvation. The debate was carried 
on with much earnestness, but victory inclined to the side of those 
who contended that the good actions which a man does in the 
state or progression of faith are only moral good actions, which 
conduce indeed to his temporal prosperity, but contribute no- 
thing to salvation, which can only be communicated by faith. 
This opinion they confirmed by the following arguments : “ How,” 
said they, u can any good thing, proceeding from a man’s will, 
be conjoined with free grace d And is not salvation of free 
grace? How again can any good thing, proceeding from or 
done by a man, be conjoined with Christ’s merit? And how 
is it possible for a man’s operation to be conjoined with the 
operation of the Holy Ghost ? Does not the Holy Ghost do all 
without the man’s aid or assistance ? Are not these three things, 
free grace, the merit of Christ, and the operation of the Holy 
Ghost, alone conducive to salvation in the act of justification 
by faith ? And do not they remain alone conducive to salvation 
in the state or progress of faith ? Of consequence, the accessory 
good on man’s part can in no wise be called the good of religion, 
which we have agreed is the good that contributes to salvation, 
but ought rather to be called the evil of religion, whenever it is 
done with a view to salvation, since man’s will is in it, which 
must needs regard its own good as meritorious.” Two gentiles 
heard all this reasoning, as they stood with the door-keeper in 
the porch, and one said to the other, “ These people have no 
religion at all ; for who does not see that what is called religion, 
consists in doing good to one’s neighbor for the sake of God, 
consequently with and from God ?” and the other said, “ Their 
faith has infatuated them.” Then they asked the door-keeper, 
“Who are these people?” On his replying, “They are wise 
Christians,” they said, “ Nonsense ! you are imposing on us : by 
their manner of speaking we should judge them to be jugglers.” 
I then departed. It was under the Lord’s divine auspices that 
I went to this building, and that they were then debating on the 
above subjects, with the other circumstances that have been de- 
scribed. 

391. The seventh memorable relation. — The miserable 
desolation of truth and the theological leanness which at this 
day prevail throughout the Christian world, were clearly dis- 
covered to me by the conversation of many of the laity, and 
many of the clergy in the spiritual world. Among the latter 
particularly, there is such a poverty and barrenness of spiritual 
423 


391 


OF FAITH. 


knowledge, tliat they know scarcely any thing but that there is 
a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that faith alone 
saves, together with some historical facts related by the evange- 
lists of the Lord Christ; but other truths which the Word, 
both of the Old and Hew Testament, teaches respecting the 
Lord, as that the Father and he are one ; that he is in the 
Father, and the Father in him ; that he has all power in heaven 
and in earth ; that it is the will of the Father that men should 
believe on the Son ; and that all who believe on him have 
eternal life ; with many more truths to the same purport ; — 
these truths are as much unknown and hidden from them as 
things that lie at the bottom of the ocean, or even in the centre 
of the earth ; and when such truths are produced from the Word, 
and read to them, they stand like people that hear and yet do 
not hear; and their organs of hearing are not more deeply im- 
pressed by them than by the whispers of the wind, or the sound 
of a drum. The angels, whom the Lord, at particular times, 
sends to visit the Christian societies in the world of spirits, 
under heaven, are much grieved to observe such dulness and 
darkness prevailing on subjects which concern salvation, and 
compare Christians, in such circumstances, with parrots that 
have learned to talk : they also affirm that the learned among 
them have no more understanding in spiritual and divine sub- 
jects than so many statues. Some time ago, a certain angel 
related to me the particulars of a conversation he had with two 
of the clergy, one of whom was principled in faith separated from 
charity, and the other in faith not separate. “ Friend,” said he 
to the first, “ who are you?” He replied, “ I am a Christian of 
the Reformed Church.” “And what is your doctrine, and 
your religion grounded on that doctrine ?” He replied, u Faith.” 
u And what,” said the angel, “ is your faith ?” He answered, 
“ My faith is, that God the Father sent his Son to take upon 
him the curse entailed on all mankind, and that in consequence 
thereof we are saved.” The angel questioned him further, 
“ What do you know besides respecting salvation ?” He replied, 
“Salvation is effected by that faith alone.” He then asked, 
“ What is your notion of redemption ?” He answered, “ It 
was wrought by the passion on the cross, and the merit thereof 
is imputed by means of that faith.” “And what,” said he, “ is 
your notion of regeneration?” He answered, “This also is 
effected by that faith.” “ What,” said he, “ is your notion of 
love and charity ?” “ These likewise are involved in that faith.” 
“What is your opinion of the commandments of the decalogue, 
and of the other contents of the Word?” He replied, “They 
are all included in the above faith.” “Then,” said the angel, 
“ you do not think it is necessary to do any thing ?” He answered, 
“ What should I do ? I cannot do good, which is really good, of 
myself.” “ But,” added the angel, “ is it not equally impossible 
424 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


391, 392 


for you to have faith of yourself?” He replied, “ That is a 
business I never inquire into : it is enough for me that I have 
faith.” Lastly, he asked, “ Do you know any thing farther 
concerning salvation ?” He answered, “What further remains 
to be known, when faith alone communicates salvation ?” Then 
said the angel, “Your answers resemble the music of a per- 
former who can sound but one note of his instrument : faith is 
the only note you strike ; but if this is all your knowledge, you 
know nothing : go, therefore, and visit your companions.” He 
accordingly departed, and found them in a desert place, where 
there was no grass ; and inquiring into the reason of it, he was 
informed that the people who dwelt there had nothing of the 
church among them. 

The conversation of the angel with the other clergyman, 
who conjoined faith with charity, was to this effect. “ Friend,” 
said he, “ who are you ?” He replied, “ I am a Christian of 
the Reformed Church.” “What is your doctrine, and your 
religion derived from it?” He answered', “Faith and charity.” 
“ These,” said the angel, “ are two.” He answered, “ They 
admit of no Reparation.” “What,” said he, “ is faith ?” He 
replied, “To believe what the Word teaches.” “And what,” 
said he, “is charity?” He replied, “ To do what the Word 
teaches.” The angel then said, “Have you barely believed 
what you have read in the Word, or have you also done and 
practised it ?” He replied, “ I have also done and practised it.” 
The angel of heaven then looked at him, and said, “ My friend, 
come along with me, and take up your habitation in our society.” 


CHAPTER YH. 

CHARITY, OR LOVE TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOR, AND GOOD WORKS. 

392. From the doctrine of faith we next proceed to that of 
charity ; for faith and charity are conjoined like truth and good, 
or like light and heat in the time of spring. We use this simil- 
itude, because spiritual light, which is the light that proceeds 
from the sun of the spiritual world, in its essence is truth, and 
in consequence truth in that world, wherever it appears, shines 
with a splendor according to its purity ; and spiritual heat, 
which also proceeds from the same sun, in its essence is good. 
The case is the same with charity and faith, as with good and 
truth ; charity being the complex of all things belonging to the 
good which a man does to his neighbor, and faith the complex 
of all things belonging to the truth which he thinks respecting 
God and tilings divine. Since then the truth of faith is spir- 
425 


392, 393 OF CHARITY AND GOOD W ORES. 

itual light, and the good of charity spiritual heat, it follows 
that there is a similitude between these two and the two proper- 
ties of the same name in the natural world ; that is to say, that 
as by their conjunction the earth puts forth its blossoms, so by 
their conjunction the human mind puts forth its blossoms ; but 
with this distinction, that the blossoming of the earth is occa- 
sioned by natural heat and light, whereas the blossoming of the 
human mind is occasioned by spiritual heat and light, and of 
consequence this latter blossoming, being of a spiritual nature, 
consists in wisdom and intelligence. There is also a correspond- 
ence between the earth and the human mind ; and hence the 
mind, wherein charity is conjoined with faith, and faith with 
charity, is in the Word compared to a garden, and is also un- 
derstood and signified by the garden of Eden ; a point fully 
proved in the work entitled Arcana Ccelestia, published at 
London. It is further to be noted, that unless the doctrine of 
faith be succeeded by that of charity, it will be impossible to 
comprehend what faith is; for it has been asserted and proved, 
in the foregoing chapter, that faith without charity is not faith, 
and that charity without faith is not charity, and that neither 
has any life but from the Lord, n. 355 — 361; also that the 
Lord, charity, and faith, constitute a one, like life, will, and 
understanding; and that if they are divided, each perishes, and is 
destroyed like a pearl bruised to powder, n. 362 — 367 ; and fur- 
ther, that charity and faith are together in good works, n. 373. 

3Q3. It is a certain truth that faith and charity cannot be 
separated consistently with man’s enjoyment of spiritual life and 
his consequent salvation. This is a proposition so clear and 
self-evident, that it requires neither depth of judgment, nor 
the advantages of learning, to see and comprehend it. When 
we hear it asserted, He that leads a good life , and believes aright , 
will be sawed , who does not acknowledge the truth of the asser 
tion, by a kind of interior perception, and a consequent assent 
of the understanding? And when we hear it asserted, lie that 
believes aright , aud does not lead a good life , will also be sawed , 
who does not reject the assertion, it being just as offensive to 
the understanding as dirt is to the eye into which it falls ? Every 
person in such a case is immediately led, by an interior percep- 
tion, to reflect thus within himself, “ How is it possible for any 
one to believe aright, who does not lead a good life ? And what 
is his belief, in such a case, but as a painted figure of faith, and 
not its living image ?” In like manner, when we hear it asserted, 
He that leads a good life , although he does not believe , will be 
sawed , does not the understanding see, perceive, and think, while 
it considers this proposition, that there is an incoherence in it ? 
To lead a good life is to live from God, since all good, which is 
really so, is from God ; what then is a good life unattended with 
faith, but like clay in the hand of the potter, which cannot be 
426 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


393—395 


formed into any vessel of use in a spiritual kingdon, but only 
in a natural kingdom? Moreover, who does not see the contra- 
diction contained in each of those two propositions, first, He that 
believes , and does not lead a good life , will be saved ; and secondly, 
He that leads a good life , and does not believe , will be saved f 
blow as the nature of a good life, which is the life of charity, is 
at this day understood and yet not understood, being understood 
in a natural sense but not in a spiritual sense, we will consider 
the subject of charity in a series of distinct articles. 

I. That there are three universal loves, the love of heaven, 

THE LOVE OF THE WORLD, AND THE LOVE OF SELF. 

394. We begin with the consideration of these three kinds 
of love, since they are the universal and fundamental of all, and 
charity has something in common with each of them. The 
love of heaven means love to the Lord and love towards our 
neighbor ; and because each of these regards use as its end, it 
may be called the love of uses. The love of the world is the 
love not only of riches and property, but also of all things which 
the world supplies for the delight of the bodily senses, as beauty 
for the eye, harmony for the ear, fragrance for the smell, deli- 
cacies for the palate, soft blandishments for the touch, besides 
handsome apparel, convenient habitations, the pleasures of com- 
pany, and consequently all the satisfactions resulting from these 
and many other objects. The love of self is the love not only 
of honor, glory, fame, and distinction, but also of meriting and 
seeking after high posts and employments, and thus of bearing 
rule over others. Charity has something in common with each 
of these kinds of love, because, considered in itself, it is the 
love of uses ; for charity wishes to do good to its neighbor, and 
good is the same thing as use : and each of the forementioned 
loves regards uses as its ends, — the love of heaven spiritual uses; 
the love of the world natural uses, which may be called civil 
uses ; and the love of self corporeal uses, which may also be 
called domestic, for itself, or for those with whom it is connected. 

395. Those three loves are implanted in every man from crea- 
tion, and consequently he inherits them by birth, and they tend 
to his perfection, when they are rightly subordinate to each other, 
but to his destruction when they are not rightly subordinate. 
This will be proved in the following article ; at present we will 
onlv observe, that those three loves are in right subordination 
when the love of heaven constitutes the head, the love of the 
world the breast and belly, and the love of self the feet and soles 
of the feet. The human mind, as was observed in a former 
chapter, is distinguished into three regions, from the highest of 
which, a man regards God, from the second or middle, the world, 
and from the third or lowest, himself ; and in consequence of 
this its true nature and constitution, the mind is capable of being 
raised, and of raising itself, because it can look towards God and 

427 


395, 396 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

heaven ; it is also capable of being diffused and of diffusing itsell 
laterally in every direction, because it can look around into the 
world, and its nature ; and lastly, it is capable of being sunk 
and of sinking itself, because it can look towards the earth and 
hell : in these respects, mental vision is like that of the body, 
the latter also having a power to look either upward, around, 
or downward. The human mind is like a house with three 
stories, communicating with each other by means of stairs ; in 
the highest of which dwell angels from heaven, in the middle, 
men from the world, and in the lowest, genii. Where the three 
loves above-mentioned are in due subordination, the man has 
power to ascend or descend at pleasure : when he ascends to the 
highest story, he is in company with angels as an angel ; when 
he descends thence to the middle story, he is in company with 
men as a man-angel ; and when he descends thence below, he is 
there in company with genii as a man of the world, and instructs, 
reproves, and brings them into subjection. In the mind where 
those three loves are in due subordination, they are also in such 
a state of co-ordination, that the supreme love, which is the love 
of heaven, is inwardly in the second love, the love of the world, 
and thence in the third or lowest love, the love of self ; and the 
love which is within directs that which is without at its pleasure : 
if then the love of heaven is inwardly in the love of the world, 
and thence in the love of self, the man is an instrument of uses 
in each love, from the God of heaven. Those three loves in 
operation are like will, understanding, and action ; for the will 
enters by influx into the understanding, and there provides 
itself means for the production of action. But more will be said 
on this subject in the following article, where it will be shown 
that those three loves, when they are in due subordination, 
advance the man in perfection, but when they are not rightly 
subordinate to each other, they invert and destroy him. 

396. In order however that the contents of the present chapter, 
and of those that follow on the subjects of free-determination, 
reformation, regeneration, &c., may be exhibited clearly in the 
light of reason, it will be necessary to premise some particulars 
concerning the following subjects : the Will and the Under- 
standing ; Good and Truth ; Love in general ; the love 

OF THE WORLD AND THE LOVE OF SELF, Specifically ; THE EXTER- 
NAL AND INTERNAL MAN ; THE MERELY NATURAL AND SENSUAL 

man. Unless some light be thrown on these subjects, the rational 
sight of man, in the apprehension of what is to follow, will be 
like a person in a thick fog, wandering as it were through the 
streets of a city, till he cannot find the way to his own house. 
For unless the understanding be illustrated in reading the Word, 
what is all theological truth, but as a lamp in the hand without a 
light in it, such as the five foolish virgins carried, who had no oil $ 
We now proceed to the consideration of each subject in its order 
428 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


397, 398 


397. 1 . The will and the understanding. 

“ 1. A man is endowed with two faculties, which constitute 
his life ; the one is called will, and the other understanding : 
they are distinct from each other, yet so ordered by creation as 
to become a one, and when so united they are called the mind. 
The human mind then consists of these two faculties, and the 
whole life of man is there in its principles, and is in the body 
thence by derivation. 2. As all things in the universe which 
are according to order bear relation to good and truth, so all 
things in a man have relation to the will and the understanding / 
for good with him belongs to his will, and truth with him to his 
understanding, these two faculties, or these two lives of man, 
being respectively the receptacles and subjects of good and truth, 
the will the receptacle and subject of the all of good, and the 
understanding of the all of truth. Goods and truths with a man 
have no other place of residence, consequently neither have love 
and faith ; since love is of good, and good of love, faith is of 
truth, and truth of faith. 3. The will and the understanding 
also constitute the spirit of man ; for his wisdom and intelligence, 
his love and charity, and likewise his life in general, reside 
therein : the body is a part entirely in subjection to them. 4. 
Nothing is of more concern than to apprehend clearly how the 
will and the understanding torm one mind : there is a marriage 
between them like that between good and truth. The nature of 
this marriage will appear from what will be presently adduced 
concerning good and truth, namely, that as good is the very 
esse of a thing, and truth its existere derived from that esse, so 
a man’s will is the very esse of his life, and the understanding is 
the existere of life derived from the esse / for good, which 
belongs to the will, takes to itself a form in the understanding, 
and so renders itself visible. 

398. 2. Good and truth. 

“ All things in the universe which are in divine order have 
relation to good and truth : there is nothing in heaven, or in 
the world, which does not respect those two principles ; because 
both good and truth proceed from God, from whom are all 
things. 2. Hence it appears how necessary it is for a man to 
know what good and truth are, and how they have a mutual 
regard to each other, and are reciprocally conjoined. This 
knowledge is more especially necessary for every member of the 
church, because all things of heaven have relation to good 
and truth, so also have all things of the church : for the good 
and truth of heaven are likewise the good and truth of the 
church. 3. Divine order requires that good and truth should 
be conjoined, and not separated, that so they may be one, and 
not two : for they proceed in conjunction from God, and they 
are in conjunction in heaven, and therefore they ought to be in 
conjunction in the church. The conjunction of good and truth 
429 


398, 399 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

is in heaven called the heavenly marriage, for all there are the 
subjects of such marriage : this is why heaven in the Word is com- 
pared to a marriage, and the Lord is called a bridegroom and 
husband, while heaven and the church are called the bride and 
wife : these names are given to heaven and the church, because 
all in both receive divine good in truths. 4. The angels in 
heaven derive all their intelligence and wisdom from this mar- 
riage of good and truth, but not from either of them separate 
from the other ; and so it is with the members of the church. 
5. Since then the conjunction of good and truth is like a mar- 
riage, it is evident that good loves truth, and truth in return 
loves good, and they have a mutual desire to be conjoined. A 
member of the church therefore, who ‘ has no such love and 
desire, is not a subject of the heavenly marriage ; of consequence 
the church is not as yet in him ; since the conjunction of good 
and truth is what constitutes the church. 6. There are many 
kinds of good, all of which come under the general distinctions 
of spiritual and natural good ; and these are both conjoined in 
genuine moral good. As it is with goods, so it is with truths : 
for all truth is of good, and is its form. 7. What has been said 
of good and truth may be applied in a reverse sense, to evil and 
the false ; for as all things in the universe, which are according 
to divine order, have relation to good and truth, so all things 
which are contrary to divine order have relation to evil and the 
false : as, also, good loves to be conjoined with truth, and truth 
with good, so evil loves to be conjoined with the false, and the 
false with evil : and as all intelligence and wisdom arise from the 
conjunction of good and truth, so all insanity and folly arise 
from the conjunction of evil and the false. The conjunction ot 
evil and the false, interiorly considered, is not a marriage, but 
adultery. 8. Since evil and the false are opposite to good and 
truth, it is plain that truth cannot be conjoined with evil, nor 
good with the false that originates in evil ; for if truth be ad- 
joined to evil, it is no longer truth, but becomes false, for it is 
falsified ; and if good be adjoined to the false of evil, it is no 
longer good, but becomes evil, for it is adulterated. Neverthe- 
less the false which does not spring from evil, is capable of 
being conjoined with good. 9. It is impossible for those who 
from confirmation and life are in evil and its false, to know what 
good and truth are, because they believe their evil to be good 
and their false to be truth ; but those who from confirmation 
and life are in good and truth, have a capacity to know what 
evil and the false are ; because all good and its truth are, as to 
their essence, heavenly, but all evil and its false are, as to their 
essence, infernal ; and every thing heavenly is in the light, but 
every thing infernal is in darkness. 

399 3. Love in general. 

“ 1. The very life of a man is his love, and such as the love 
430 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 399 

is, such is the life, and even such is the whole man : Uiis how- 
ever is to be understood of the ruling or reigning love only, for 
it is this which determines the quality of the man. This love 
has several others subordinate to it, which are its derivations. 
These subordinate loves show themselves under different appear- 
ances ; but still they all have their root in the ruling love, and 
with it constitute one kingdom. The ruling love is as it were 
their king and head ; this directs them, and by them as mediate 
ends attentively regards and is determined to its own end, 
which is the first and last of all; and this it does both directly 
and indirectly. 2. The object of the ruling love is what a man 
loves above all things. This object is continually present in his 
thoughts, because it is in his will, and constitutes the veriest 
essence of his life. As for example: if a man loves riches above 
all other things, his mind ( animus ) is then continually employed 
about the ways and means of accumulating money and a great 
estate ; success begets an inmost joy, disappointment an inmost 
misery ; for his heart is in them. So again, if a man loves him- 
self above all things, he bears himself in mind in every thing, 
even in the minutest particulars : he thinks of himself, talks of 
himself, acts for the sake of self ; for his life is the life of self. 
3. That which a man loves above all things forms the end of all 
his purposes : he regards it in all things even to the minutest 
particulars ; it lurks in his will like the silent current of a river, 
drawing and bearing him away in its direction, even while he 
seems intent on other concerns ; for it is his animating principle. 
It is this love which one man seeks to discover in another, and 
when he has found it, he thereby either leads him, or regulates 
all his dealings with him. 4. A man is, in all respects, such as 
is the ruling principle of his life : it is this which distinguishes 
him from others : according to this his heaven is formed if he 
be a good man, and his hell, if he be a bad man : it is, in short, 
his very will self-hood (proprium), and his nature ; for it is the 
very esse of his life. This cannot be changed after death, be- 
cause it is the man himself. 5. All a man’s enjoyments, satis- 
factions, an,d happiness take their rise from his ruling love, and 
are of a quality agreeable to it ; for what a man loves, that he 
calls delightful, because it touches him sensibly ; but what he 
only thinks and does not love, he may also call delightful, but it 
is not the delight of his life. The delight of a man’s love con- 
stitutes his good ; and whatever is disagreeable to it, his evil. 
6. There are two kinds of love, from which, as from their proper 
fountains, all the varieties of good and truth derive their exist- 
ence; and there are two kinds of love from which all the varie- 
ties of evil and the false derive their existence. The two kinds 
of love which give birth to all the varieties of good and truth, 
are love to the Lord and love towards our neighbor ; and the 
two kinds of love which give birth to all the varieties of evil am* 
431 


399, 400 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

the false, are the love of self and the love of the world. These 
two latter kinds of love, when they have the ascendency, are in 
direct opposition to the two former. 7. The two kinds of love 
which give birth to all the varieties of good and truth, and which, 
as was just said, are love to the Lord and love towards the 
neighbor, constitute heaven in a man, for they are the loves 
which reign in heaven ; and as they constitute heaven in him, 
they also constitute the church in him ; but the two kinds of 
love which give birth to all the varieties of evil and the false, 
and which, as was just said, are self-love and the love of the 
world, constitute hell in a man, for they are the loves which 
reign in hell; and consequently they destroy the church in him. 
8. The two kinds of love which give birth to all the varieties of 
good and truth, and which, as just observed, are the loves' of 
heaven, open and form the internal spiritual man, for there they 
have their residence ; but the two kinds of love from which all 
the varieties of evil and the false are derived, and which, as just 
observed, are the loves of hell, when they have the ascendency, 
shut up and destroy the internal spiritual man, and render a 
man natural and sensual, according to the extent and quality of 
their dominion. 

400. 4. The love of self and the love of the world in particular. 

“1. The love of self consists in wishing well to ourselves 
alone, and to no others unless it be for the sake of self, not even 
to the church, to our country, to the society to which we belong, 
or to any fellow-citizen. The love of self, however, can confer 
benefits on these several relations when its own reputation, 
honor, and glory are concerned ; but unless it sees that these 
will be promoted by the good offices it may do them, it says in 
its heart, ‘ What matters it ? Why should I do this ? What 
good will it be to me V and so omits it : whence it is evident 
that a man who is in the love of self has no love either for the 
church, for his country, for the society to which he belongs, 
for his fellow-citizens, or for real goodness of any kind, but only 
for himself and what relates to himself. 2. A man is in the love 
of self, when in his thoughts and actions he has no regard to 
his neighbor, thus none to the public, and still less to the Lord, 
but only to himself and his own connections. To let his actions 
thus centre in himself and his connections, and to do nothing 
for the public, except from motives of ostentation, or for his 
neighbor, except with a view of securing his favor, is a sure 
indication of self-love. 3. We connect the terms himself and 
his own connections ) ; for he who loves himself, also loves those 
who belong to himself, who are in particular his children and 
grandchildren, and in general all who act in unity with him, 
whom he calls his friends ; but his love for these is nothing but 
the love of himself, for he regards them as it were in himself, and 
regards himself in them. In this same class of those whom he 
432 


OF CHAHITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


400 


calls liis friends, are likewise ranked all who praise, honor, and 
pay their court to him : others he regards indeed with his bodily 
eyes as men, but with the eyes of his spirit as little better than 
phantoms. 4. Another indication of the love of self is, when 
a man thinks contemptuously of his neighbor in comparison 
with himself, and when he esteems his neighbor as his enemy 
if he does not show him marks of favor, and pay him respect 
and attention. It is an indication of greater self-love, when a 
man for such reasons hates and persecutes his neighbor ; and 
of still greater, when he burns with revenge against him, and 
lusts for his destruction. Such persons at length delight in 
cruelty. 5. The nature of self-love may be plainly discovered 
by a comparison with heavenly love. It is the nature and char- 
acter of heavenly love, to love for its own sake the use or the 
good which the church, a man’s country, the society to which 
he belongs, or his fellow-citizens, require of him ; but where a 
man loves such things for his own sake, he then loves them in 
the same manner as he would his domestics, because they serve 
him. Hence it follows, that he who is in the love of self would 
have the church, his country, the society to which he belongs, 
and his fellow-citizens, to be his servants, rather than himself 
their servant : he places himself above them, and them beneath 
himself. 6. Moreover, in proportion as a man is in heavenly 
love, which consists in loving useful services and good deeds, 
and in being affected with heartfelt delight in the perforipance 
of them, so far he is led by the Lord, for it is this love in which 
the Lord is and which proceeds from him ; but in proportion as 
a man is in the love of self, he is led by himself, and so far also 
he is led by his self-hood, which is nothing but evil, being that 
hereditary evil which consists in loving self in preference to God, 
and the world in preference to heaven. 7 . The love of self is 
also of such a nature, that in proportion as the reins are given 
it, that is, in proportion as external restraints are removed, such 
as the fear of the law and its penalties, the loss of reputation, 
honor, gain, office, or life, it rages with such unlimited lust as to 
grasp at universal dominion, not only over this w r orld, but over 
heaven, and over God himself; it knows neither bound nor end. 
Such a tendency lurks in every man who is in the love of self, 
although perhaps it may not be apparent to the world, where it 
is held in check by the ties and restraints above mentioned, and 
where, if an insuperable obstacle stands in its way, it remains 
quiescent till the obstacle be removed ; hence it is that even 
those who are in this love, do not know that such a mad un 
bounded lust lies lurking within them. That this, however, is 
the case, may be seen by every one in the actions of potentates 
and kings, who not being subject to such checks, restraints, and 
insuperable obstacles, overrun, and as far as success attends 
their enterprises, subjugate provinces and kingdoms, and pant 
433 " f f 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


m 

after unlimited power and glory. It is still more apparent in 
those who would extend their dominion even to heaven, usurp- 
ing and claiming as their own the divine power of the Lord : 
these are perpetually in the desire of acquiring power beyond 
what they actually possess. 8. There are two kinds of dominion, 
one originating in love towards our neighbor, and the other in 
the love of self. These two kinds of dominion are directly 
opposed to each other. The man who exercises dominion under 
the influence of love towards his neighbor, desires to promote 
the welfare of all, and feels no greater delight than in the exer 
cise of use, and thus in serving others (to serve others consists 
in doing good from a principle of good-will, and in the per- 
formance of uses) : this is his love, and the delight of his heart. 
Such a person, the higher he is exalted in dignity, the more is 
he glad, not indeed on account of the mere dignity, but because 
his sphere of use is thus rendered wider in extent and more 
excellent in degree : such is dominion in the heavens. But the 
man who exercises dominion under the influence of the love of 
self, does not desire to promote the welfare of any one except 
himself and those who belong to him, and the uses which he 
performs are done only for the sake of his own honor and glory, 
which he regards as the only uses : he serves others, that he 
may himself be served, honored, and permitted to exercise 
dominion : he is ambitious of dignity, not to extend his ability 
of doing good, but that he may be in the enjoyment of glory 
and pre-eminence, and thence in the delight of his heart. 
9. The love of dominion remains also with every man after the 
termination of his life in the world : those who have exercised it 
under the influence of love towards their neighbor are then 
intrusted with dominion in the heavens, but then it is not they 
who rule, but the uses and the goods which they love ; and when 
these bear rule, it is the Lord who rules. Such, on the con- 
trary, as have exercised dominion under the influence of the love 
of self, when they leave this world, are stripped of all pre- 
eminence, and reduced to a state of servitude. From what lias 
been said, it is very plain to discover who are in the love of self: 
it matters not how they appear externally, whether elate or 
humble; for the distinctions here noted are in the internal man, 
which the generality of mankind study to conceal, while they 
teach the external to assume the appearance of love for the 
public weal and their neighbor, and thus take a false character, 
which is the very reverse of their true one : this also they do lor 
the sake of self, knowing that the love of the public weal and their 
neighbor has the power of interiorly moving the affections of 
all men, and that they will be held in estimation in proportion 
as they seem to be under its influence. The reason why that 
love has such an affecting power, is, because heaven, by influx, 
enters into it. 10. The evils which prevail in those, w ho are in 
434 


OF CHARITY AND GO( D WORKS. 400, 401 

the love of self are in general contempt of others, envy, enmity 
against such as do not favor their designs, hostility on that ac- 
count, hatred of various kinds, revenge, cunning, deceit, unmer- 
cifulness, and cruelty ; and where these evils are cherished, 
there is also a contempt of God and divine things, which are 
the goods and truths of the church, to which if any respect is 
shown, it is with the lips only, and not with the heart. As such 
evils result from the love of self, it is also attended with similar 
falses ; for falses are derived from evils. 11. The love of the 
World consists in the desire of appropriating to ourselves, by 
any arts whatever, the wealth of others, also in setting the heart 
on riches, and suffering the world to seduce our minds from 
spiritual love, which is love towards our neighbor, and thus 
from heaven. Those are in the love of the world who are desir- 
ous of appropriating to themselves the property of others by 
various arts, especially if they use cunning and deceit, esteeming 
their neighbor’s good as of no account whatever. Those who 
are in this love lust after the property of others, and where the 
fear of the law or the loss of some advantage resulting from a 
fair reputation does not restrain them, they deprive others of 
their possessions : yea, they rob and plunder them. 12. The 
love of the world, however, is not opposed to heavenly love in 
the same degree as the love of self; for the evils concealed in it 
are not so great. 13. The love of the world is manifold : there 
are the love of wealth for the sake of exaltation to honors, the 
Love of honors and dignities with a view to the amassing of 
' wealth, the love of wealth for various purposes of worldly pleas- 
ure and satisfaction, the love of wealth for the mere sake of 
wealth, which is the love of misers ; and so in other instances. 
The end for which wealth is desired is called its use ; and it is 
the end or use from which the love derives its quality ; for the 
good or evil nature of the love is determined by the end to which 
it is directed. Other things serve but as means to promote the 
end. 14. In short, the love of self and the love of the world 
are in direct opposition to the love of the Lord and the love of 
our neighbor : therefore the love of self and the love of the 
world, as described above, are infernal loves ; they do likewise 
actually reign in hell, and also constitute hell with man : but 
love to the Lord and love towards our neighbor are heavenly 
loves ; they likewise actually reign in heaven, and also consti- 
tute heaven with man. 

401. 5. The internal and external man. 

“1. Man is so created as to be, at one and the same time, 
both in the spiritual world and in the natural. The spiritual 
world is the abode of angels, and the natural of men ; and being 
so created, he is endowed with an internal and an external, the 
internal being that by which he is in the spiritual world, and the 
external that by which he is in the natural world. His internal 
435 


401 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


is what is called the internal man, and his external what is called 
the external man. 2. Every man has both an internal and an 
external ; but they are widely different in the good and in the 
evil. With the good, the internal is in heaven and its light, 
and the external in the world and its light, which latter with 
them is illuminated by the light of heaven, so that the internal 
and external act in unity, like cause and effect, or like prior and 
posterior ; but with the bad the internal is in hell and its light, 
which light, with respect to that of heaven, is thick darkness, 
and their external may be in a similar light to that which the 
good enjoy ; therefore it is inverted. This then is the reason 
why bad men can speak and teach about faith, charity, and God, 
but not, like the good, from faith, charity, and God. 3. The 
internal is what is called the spiritual man, because it is in the 
light of heaven, which light is spiritual ; and the external is what 
is called the natural man, because it is in the light of the world, 
which light is natural. The man whose internal is in the light 
of heaven, and his external in the light of this world, is a spir- 
itual man as to both ; for spiritual light from the interior illumi- 
nates the natural light, and makes it as its own : with the wicked 
the case is reversed. 4. The internal spiritual man, considered 
in itself, is an angel of heaven, and also during its life in the 
body, notwithstanding its ignorance of the fact, is in society with 
angels, and after its separation from the body is introduced into 
their company. But the internal man, with those who are evil, 
is a satan, and also during its life in the body is- in society with 
satans, and after its separation from the body is introduced 
among them. 5. The interiors of the mind with those who are 
spiritual men are actually elevated towards heaven, because that 
is the first object of their regard ; but the interiors of the mind 
with those who are merely natural are averted from heaven, and 
turned towards the world, because that is the first object of their 
regard. 6. Those who entertain a common idea only of the 
internal and external man, believe that it is the internal man 
which thinks and wills, and the external which speaks and acts, 
because thinking and willing have reference to what is internal, 
and speaking and acting to what is external ; but it is to be 
observed, that when a man is well affected, both in thought and 
will, towards the Lord and whatever relates to the Lord, and 
also towards his neighbor and what relates to his neighbor, 
he then thinks and wills from the spiritual internal *, but when 
a man is ill affected, both in thought and will, as in the above 
cases, he then thinks and wills from an infernal internal, because 
from the faith of what is false and the love of evil. In short, so 
far as a man is principled in love to the Lord and in love towards 
his neighbor, he is in the spiritual internal, from whence he 
both thinks and wills, and likewise speaks and acts ; but so far 
as a man is in the love of self and the love of the world, he thinks 
436 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 401, 402 

and wills from hell, let his words and actions he what they may. 
7. It is so provided and ordered by the Lord, that in proportion 
as a man thinks and wills from heaven, the internal spiritual 
man is opened and formed in him : this opening is into heaven 
and even to the Lord, and this formation is in agreement with 
the order of things in heaven. On the contrary, in proportion 
as a man thinks and wills, not from heaven, but from the world, 
the internal spiritual man is closed, and the external opened and 
formed : this opening is into the world, and this formation is in 
agreement with the order of things in hell. 8. Those with whom 
the internal spiritual man is opened into heaven and to the Lord, 
are in the light of heaven, and in illumination from the Lord, 
and thence in intelligence and wisdom. These see truth by the 
light of truth, and have a perception of good by the love of it. 
But those with whom the internal spiritual man is closed, neither 
know what the internal man is, nor do they believe the Word, 
or the doctrine of a future life, or any thing belonging to heaven 
and the church ; and as they are only in natural light ( lumen ), 
they imagine nature to be self-existent, and not from God ; 
they also see what is false as truth, and have a perception of evil 
as good. 9. The internal and external, of which we have been 
speaking, are the internal and external of a man’s spirit: his 
body is only an additional external, within which the former exists ; 
for the body does nothing from itself, but from the spirit which 
is in it. It is to be observed, that a man’s spirit after its sepa- 
ration from the body, retains the same capacity of thinking and 
willing, speaking and acting, as before ; thought and will then 
constituting its internal, and speech and action its external. 

402. 6. The merely natural and sensual man. 

“ As there are but few who know what persons are included 
under the class of sensual men, or their quality, and yet it is of 
importance that they should be known, we will proceed to describe 
them. 1. A sensual man is one whose judgment on all occasions 
is determined by his bodily senses, and who believes nothing 
but what he can see with his eyes and feel with his hands, allow- 
ing to such sensible objects a reality of existence, and denying 
it to all others ; a sensual man therefore is in the lowest degree 
a natural man. 2. The interiors of the mind, which see by the 
light of heaven, are closed with a sensual man, so that he is 
unable to discern there any truth belonging to heaven and the 
church, because he only exercises his thought in the most exter- 
nal sphere, and does not think interiorly from any spiritual light. 
3. And as he abides in the density of natural light ( lumen ), he 
is interiorly opposed to all things belonging to heaven and the 
church, and yet exteriorly he can argue in favor of such things, 
and that with a degree of ardor proportionable to the authority 
which he enjoys or hopes to obtain by them. 4. Sensual men 
can reason with great keenness and dexterity, because their 
437 


402 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


thought is so near their speech as to be almost in it, and as it 
were in their very lips, and for this further reason too, that they 
make all intelligence to consist in speaking from the memory 
only. 5. Some of them have the power to confirm whatever 
they please, and to establish falses with much ingenuity, which 
afterwards they believe to be truths ; but their reasonings and 
confirmations are drawn from the fallacies of the senses, which 
appear captivating and persuasive to the uninformed. 6. Sensual 
men are cunning and malicious above all others. 7. The interiors 
of their minds are vile and filthy, because they communicate 
with the hells. . 8. All who are in hell are sensual, and the 
deeper the hell is in which they are, so much the more sensual 
are they ; and the sphere exhaling from infernal spirits conjoins 
itself with the sensual principles of man from behind. 9. Since 
sensual men do not see any genuine truth in the light, but only • 
reason and dispute about every thing whether it be so / and as 
these altercations are heard at a distance like the gnashing of 
teeth, which is nothing but the collision or jarring of falses one 
against another, and also of the false against truth, it is evi- 
dent what is signified in the Word by tfie gnashing of teeth . 
The cause of all this is, that reasoning from the fallacies of the 
senses corresponds with the teeth. 10. Men of learning and 
erudition, who have deeply confirmed themselves in falses, espe- 
cially those who have confirmed themselves against the truths of 
the Word, are more sensual than others, though they may not 
appear so in the sight of the world. Such sensual men have been 
the principal broachers of heretical doctrines. 11. The hypo- 
critical, the deceitful, the voluptuous, the adulterous, the covet- 
ous, are, for the most part, sensual. 12. Those who reasoned 
from sensual things only, and argued against the genuine truths 
of the Word, and thence of the church, were by the ancients 
called serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

As sensual things mean such as are the objects of the bodily 
senses, and are imbibed thereby ; therefore, 13. A man, by 
means of sensual things, has communication with the world, 
and by means of rational things, which are above the former, 
with heaven. 14. Sensual things minister subordinately from 
the natural world, in the supply of such materials as perform 
the office of servants to the interiors of the mind in the spiritual 
world. 15. There are sensual things which minister subordi- 
nate^ to the understanding, and these are the various natural 
objects called physical ; and there are sensual things which 
minister subordinately to the will, and these are the delights ot 
the senses and of the body. 16. A man makes but small ad- 
vances in wisdom, unless his thinking faculty be elevated above 
things sensual. A wise man’s thoughts are thus elevated, and 
when this is the case, he comes into a clearer light ( lumen ), and 
at length into the light (lux) of heaven, whence he attains a 
438 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


402, 403 


perception of truth, which constitutes genuine intelligence. 
17. This elevation of the mind above sensual things, and its 
abstraction therefrom, was known to the ancients. 18. Where 
sensual things are in the last place, a way is opened by their 
means for the understanding, and truths are eliminated in the 
way of extraction ; but where sensual things are put in the first 
place, that way is closed by them, and the man sees truths only 
as objects in a mist, or in the night. 19. Sensual things, with 
a wise man, are in the last place, and are subject to the inte- 
riors, but with a foolish man they are in the first place, and 
bear rule. These are properly called sensual men. 20. A man. 
has sensual things in common with the beasts, and also such as 
they have not. In proportion as a man’s thinking faculty is 
elevated above sensual things, so far he is a man ; but no one is 
capable of such elevation of the thought above sensual things, 
and of seeing the truths of the church, unless he acknowledges 
a God, and lives according to his commandments ; for it is God 
that elevates and enlightens. 

II. That those three loyes, when they are in right subor- 
dination, MAKE A MAN PERFECT ; BUT WHEN THEY ARE NOT 

IN RIGHT SUBORDINATION, THEY PERVERT AND INVERT HIM. 

403. Previous to the demonstration of this, we will make a 
few observations on the subordination of these three universal 
loves, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and the love ol 
self ; afterwards on the influx and insertion of the one into the 
other ; and lastly, on the state of man according to their sub- 
ordination. These three loves are, with respect to each other, 
like the three regions of the body, the highest of which is the 
head ; the middle, the breast with the belly ; and the third is 
formed of the knees, the feet, and the soles of the feet. When 
the love of heaven forms the head, and the love of the world 
the breast with the belly, and the love of self the feet with the 
soles of the feet, the man is in a perfect state according to crea- 
tion ; for then the two inferior loves are subservient to the 
supreme love, just as the body and all its parts are subservient 
to the head. When, therefore, the love of heaven forms the 
head, it descends by influx into the love of the world, which 
consists principally in the love of wealth, and by its instru- 
mentality it performs uses ; then by the mediation of this love 
it descends into the love of self, which consists principally in 
the love of dignities, and by these also it performs uses : 
Thus these three loves, by the influx of the one into the other, 
conspire towards the promotion of uses. Who cannot compre- 
hend that when a man, from a principle of spiritual love (which 
is derived from the Lord, and is meant by the love of heaven), 
desires to perform uses, the natural man produces them by the 
wealth and other goods of fortune which it possesses, and the 
sensual man also lends assistance in its office or employment, 
439 


403, 404 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

and finds its honor in such production ? Who cannot compre- 
hend too, that all the works which a man effects by his body, 
are done according to the state of his mind in the head, and 
that if the mind be influenced by the love of uses, the body by 
its members effects or produces them ? and the reason of this is, 
because the will and understanding, taken together, is, with re- 
spect to its principles in the head, and with respect to its prm- 
cipiates or derivatives in the body, just as a man’s will is in his 
deeds, and his thought in his speech ; and, to use comparisons, 
as the prolific principle of the seed is in all and every part of a 
tree, by which it produces fruits, which are its uses ; or as fire 
and light, when contained in a crystal vessel, transmit their heat 
and lucidity through it. Where those three loves also are in 
just and right subordination, spiritual sight in the mind, united 
with natural sight in the body, by virtue of the influx of light 
which descends through heaven from the Lord, may be com- 
pared to an apple growing in Africa, that is transparent even to 
its centre, where its seeds are stored. Something similar is 
meant by these words of the Lord : u The light of the body is 
the eye ; if therefore thine eye be single (that is, good) thy whole 
body will be full of light” (Matt. vi. 22 ; Luke xi. 34). No man 
of sound reason can condemn riches or wealth, because, in the 
body politic, they are like blood in the animal body ; nor can 
he condemn the honors annexed to particular stations and func- 
tions, because they are the hands of royalty, and the pillars of 
society, provided the natural and sensual loves of those who en- 
joy them are in subordination to spiritual love. There are offices 
of administrations even in heaven, and dignities annexed to 
them ; but then the persons who fill them, being spiritual men, 
find their chief delight in the performance of uses. 

404. A man however acquires a totally different state and 
condition if the love of the world, or of riches, forms the head, 
that is, if it is the governing love ; for then the love of heaven 
is banished from the head, and takes up its abode in the body. 
The man with whom this is the case places the world before 
heaven ; he worships God, indeed, but then merely from a 
principle of natural love, which places merit in all its worship ; 
and he does good to his neighbor, but then it is with a view to 
receive recompense. To such persons the things of heaven are 
like garments, which make them appear bright and shining in 
the sight of men, but dark and obscure in the sight of angels ; 
for when the love of the world possesses the internal man, and 
the love of heaven the external, then the former love darkens all 
things relating to the church, and hides them as under a veil. 
There is nevertheless a great variety in this love : it is more per- 
nicious in proportion as it inclines to avarice, for, when immersed 
therein, the love of heaven becomes black : the like consequence 
attends it when it inclines to pride or self-conceit, and an 
440 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 404, 405 

assumption of pre-eminence over others ; but it is not so perni- 
cious where it inclines to prodigality, and less so still where the 
end it regards is worldly splendor, as palaces, stately furniture, 
rich clothes, numerous attendants, brilliant equipage, and other 
similar objects ; for the quality of every love is determined by 
the end which it principally regards. This love may be compared 
to crystal of a blackish hue, which suffocates the light, and 
variegates it only into dark and faint colors. It is also like a 
mist or a cloud which intercepts the rays of the sun ; or like new 
wine before it has undergone fermentation, which is pleasant to 
the taste, but prejudicial to the stomach. A person under the 
influence of this love, when viewed from heaven, appears like a 
man that is hunchbacked, walking with his head inclined and 
looking on the ground, and who, if he lifts his head towards 
heaven, does it by a violent retorsion of the muscles, and pres- 
ently after relapses into his former inclined attitude. Such per- 
sons were by the ancient church called Mammons , and by the 
Greeks Plutos. 

405. But if the love of self or the love of dominion forms the 
head, then* the love of heaven passes through the body to the 
feet, and in proportion as the love of self increases, the love of 
heaven descends through the ankles to the soles of the feet ; and 
if the love of self increases still further, it then passes through 
the shoes, and is trodden under foot. There is a love of dominion 
grounded in the love of our neighbor, and there is another 
grounded in the love of self. Those who are under the influence 
of the former love, seek dominion for the purpose of promoting 
public and private uses ; to these, therefore, authority is also 
intrusted in the heavens. Emperors, kings, dukes, and all such 
as are born and educated to the exercise of dominion, if they 
humble themselves before God, are sometimes less influenced by 
the love of dominion grounded in the love of self, than others 
who are of mean extraction, and who seek pre-eminence and 
distinction from pride or self-conceit. But with those who are 
in the love of dominion grounded in the love of self, the love ot 
heaven is made into a kind of footstool, on which they rest their 
feet when they appear before the vulgar, but which, when they 
are retired from common observation, they throw into a corner, 
or cast out of doors : the reason of this is, because they love 
themselves alone, and consequently immerse their wills and 
thoughts in their proprium, which, considered in itself, is heredi- 
tary evil, and this is diametrically opposed to the love of heaven. 
The evils which attend those who are in the love of dominion 
grounded in the love of self are in general these : contempt of 
others, envy, enmity against those who do not show them favor 
and respect, hostility on that account, hatred, revenge, unmer- 
cifulness, rage, and cruelty ; and where such evils abound, there 
also is cpntempt of God and of divine things, which are the truths 
441 


405, 406 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

and goods of the church : if such persons seem to honor these, 
it is only with their lips, to secure themselves from ecclesiastical 
censure and public defamation. But this love operates in one way 
with the clergy and m another with the laity : with the clergy, 
when it is indulged without restraint, it climbs up until it pos- 
sesses them with the lust of becoming gods ; but the laity it pos- 
sesses with the lust of becoming kings : in both cases it is the 
phantasy of that love which lifts up the mind to such a height ol 
exaltation. Since the love of heaven, in a perfect man, has 
possession of the highest station, and forms as it were the head 
of the other inferior loves, and the love of the world is beneath 
it, forming as it were the breast below the head, and beneath 
that is the love of self, forming as it were the feet, it follows, 
that were this latter love to form the head, it would totally invert 
the man, in which case he would appear in the sight of angels 
like a person lying with his head bent towards the ground, and 
his back towards heaven ; and in the act of divine worship, he 
would appear as if he danced on his hands and feet like the cub 
of a panther. Moreover, where the love of self forms the head, 
it gives birth to the appearance of various forms of beasts with 
two heads, one above having a bestial, and the other below a 
human face, the latter of which is continually pushed downwards 
by the former, and forced to kiss the ground. All these, togethei 
with such as were described above, n. 402, are sensual men. 

III. That every individual man is the neighbor whom we 

OUGHT TO LOVE, BUT ACCORDING TO THE QUALITY OF HIS 

GOOD. 

406. A man is born not for himself, but for others, that is, 
not to live for himself alone, but for others : were it not so, 
society could not be kept together, and no good could exist in it. 
It is a common saying, that every man’s nearest neighbor is 
himself ; but the doctrine of charity teaches in what sense this 
is to be understood. Every one is bound to provide himself with 
the necessaries of life, as food, raiment, a house to dwell in, and 
several other things, w r hich the wants of civil life and his partic- 
ular calling require : he is further bound to provide such things, 
not only for himself, but also for his family ; and not only for 
the time present, but also for the time to come ; for otherwise, 
being in want of all things, he could not be in a state or capacity 
of exercising charity. But in what sense a man ought to regard 
himself as his nearest neighbor, may appear from the following 
similar cases. Everyman ought to provide convenient food and 
raiment for his body ; this must be the first object of his care : 
but the end in view must be to make his body a fit instrument 
for the operations of his mind : every one ought also to provide for 
his mind all such things as may tend to advance it in intelligence 
and judgment ; but the end in view must be, that he. may be 
in a state to serve his fellow-citizens, his country, the church, 
442 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


406— 4u8 


and thus the Lord. When a man acts thus, he provides for his 
own welfare to eternity. Hence it appears, what is first in re- 
spect to time, and what in respect to end ; and that the object 
which is first in respect to end, is that to which all intermediate 
objects have reference. This case may admit of comparison with 
that of a man who builds a house : his first business is to lay the 
foundation ; but the foundation is laid for the sake of a house ; 
and the house is built for the sake of a place to dwell in. When 
a man regards himself as his nearest neighbor, and makes all 
his attention centre in himself, as the principal end and object 
of his concern, he is like a man who regards the foundation of 
his house as the chief end, and not the house itself as a place of 
abode ; whereas a convenient place of abode is the first and ulti- 
mate end, and the house with its foundation is only a means to 
promote that end. 

407. We will now proceed to show what is meant by loving 
our neighbor. To love our neighbor is not only to will and 
do good to a relation, a friend, and a good man, but also to a 
stranger, an enemy, and a bad man. Charity however is exer- 
cised after different ways towards the former objects and the lat- 
ter : towards a relation and a friend it is expressed by direct acts 
of kindness ; but towards an enemy and a wicked person, by 
indirect acts of kindness, as by exhortation, correction, and 
punishment for their amendment. Thus a judge, who according 
to law and justice punishes a criminal, is in the exercise of love 
towards his neighbor, since he thus takes the most effectual 
method to reclaim and amend the criminal, and to provide at the 
same time for the good of his fellow-citizens, by securing them 
against his future fraud and violence. It is in like manner plain 
to every one, that a father expresses his love towards his children 
by correcting them when they do amiss : on the other hand, if 
he does not correct them when they deserve it, he loves their 
vices ; and such love cannot be called charity. So again where 
a person resists the assaults of an enemy, and in his own defence 
either beats him, or commits him to prison for his future security, 
at the same time retaining such a disposition of mind as to be 
willing to become his friend ; in this case he acts from a principle 
of charity. So also wars, which have for their end the protection 
of our country and the church, are not inconsistent with charity; 
the end for which they are undertaken will show whether they 
are attended with charity or not. 

408. Since then charity, with respect to its origin, consists 
in good-will, and good-will resides in the internal man, it is 
plain that when a man possessed of charity resists an enemy, 
punishes the guilty, and chastises the wicked, he effects this by 
means of the external man, and consequently, when he has 
effected it, he returns into the charity which is in the internal 
man, and then as far as he is able, or as far as it is expedient, 

443 


408—410 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


wishes well to him whom he has punished or chastised, and from 
a principle of good-will does him good. Where charity is genu- 
ine, it is always attended with zeal for what is good ; zeal in the 
external man may look like anger and flaming fire, yet on the 
repentance of its adversary, it is instantly extinguished and 
appeased : but the case is quite different with those who have no 
charity ; their zeal is anger and hatred, for their internal man 
is on fire with these evil passions. 

409. Before the Lord came into the world, the nature of the 
internal man, and of charity, was scarcely known to a single 
person, which was the reason why he so frequently instilled the 
doctrine of brotherly love or charity, in which consists the differ- 
ence between the Old and New Testament or covenant. That 
we are bound by charity to do good to an adversary and an en- 
emy, is taught by the Lord in Matthew, where he says, “ Ye have 
heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and 
hate thine enemy : but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless 
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray 
for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that you 
may be the children of your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. v. 
43 — 45). And when Peter asked him, “ How often shall my 
brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? until seven times ? 
Jesus saith unto him, I say unto thee, not until seven times, 
but until seventy times seven” (xviii. 21, 22). I have also heard 
from heaven, that the Lord forgives every man his sins, and 
never punishes for them, yea, he does not even impute them, 
for he is love itself and good itself ; but nevertheless sins are not 
on this account wiped away : that can only be effected by repent- 
ance ; for when the Lord said to Peter, that he should forgive 
his offending brother until seventy times seven, how forgiving 
and merciful must he needs be himself! 

410. Since charity itself resides in the internal man, where 
it is like a principle of good-will, and is thence derived into the 
external man where it manifests itself in good deeds, it follows 
that the internal man ought to be the object of love, and the 
external only subordinately so; consequently that every man 
ought to be loved in proportion to the quality of the good which 
is in him therefore good itself is essentially our neighbor. 
This may appear plain from this consideration, that every one 
in the choice of a steward or a servant, out of three or four that 
are offered, immediately turns his attention to the internal man, 
and chooses one that is sincere and faithful, and loves him 
accordingly ; in like manner, a king or a magistrate is directed 
in the choice of an officer by his internal qualifications, choosing 
one that is qualified for his function, and rejecting one that is 
unqualified, how favorable and insinuating soever his external 
appearance and address may be. Since therefore every man 
is our neighbor, and there is an infinite variety of men, and 

444 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


410—412 


every one ought to be loved as a neighbor in proportion to his 
good, it is evident that there are genera and species, and also 
degrees, of love towards our neighbor. Since then the Lord 
ought to be loved above all things, it follows, that the degrees 
of love towards our neighbor ought to be regulated by love 
towards the Lord, consequently by the proportion in which the 
Lord is received by our neighbor, or in which he possesses any 
thing from the Lord ; for in that same proportion is he in the 
possession of good, all good being from the Lord. however 
these degrees exist in the internal man, which seldom manifests 
itself in this world, it is sufficient to love our neighbor according 
to the degrees with which we may become acquainted ; but these 
degrees are clearly perceived after death ; for then the affections 
of the will, and the thoughts of the understanding thence derived, 
form a spiritual sphere about all persons, which is made sensible 
in a variety of ways : that spiritual sphere, however, in the world, 
is absorbed by the material body, and incloses itself in the natural 
sphere, which exudes from a man in his present state. Love 
towards our neighbor admits of various degrees, as appears from 
the Lord’s parable concerning the Samaritan, who showed mercy 
to the man that was wounded by thieves, after the priest and 
Levite had seen him, and passed by on the other side. When 
the Lord inquired which of the three seemed to be a neighbor 
to the unhappy man, it was answered, “ He that showed mercy 
to him” (Luke x. 30 — 37). 

411. It is written, “Thou shalt love the Lord,thy God above 
all things, and thy neighbor as thyself” (Luke x. 27). To love 
our neighbor as ourselves, is, not to despise him in comparison 
with ourselves, but to deal justly with him, and not to judge 
evil concerning him. The law of charity prescribed and given 
by the Lord is this: “Whatever ye would that men should do 
unto you, do ye even so unto them ; for this is the law and the 
prophets” (Matt. vii. 12 ; Luke vi. 31, 32). Those who are 
influenced by the love of heaven, love their neighbor according 
to this law ; those who are influenced by the love of the world, 
love him from worldly motives, and for the sake of worldly 
interests ; and those who are influenced by the love of self, love 
him from selfish motives, and for selfish ends. 

IY. That man, considered collectively, that is, as a lesser 

OR LARGER SOCIETY, AND CONSIDERED UNDER THE IDEA OF COM- 
POUND SOCIETIES, THAT IS, AS OUR COUNTRY, IS THE NEIGHBOR 

THAT OUGHT TO BE LOVED. 

412. Those who are unacquainted with the meaning of the 
word neighbor in its genuine sense, are apt to imagine that it 
is only applicable to a man as an individual, and that love towards 
our neighbor consists in doing acts of beneficence towards indi- 
viduals : but there is a more extensive signification of the term 
neighbor, and the love of our neighbor is much more widely 

445 


4 : 12 , 4:13 OF CHARITY AND GOOD W0RE.8. ' 

extended, being exalted in proportion to the greater number ol 
men towards whom it is exercised. Who cannot apprehend that 
to love a body of men, consisting of many individuals, is a 
greater instance of love towards our neighbor, than to love a 
single individual of that body ? The reason therefore why a 
lesser or greater society is to be considered as our neighbor, is, 
because every such society is a collective man, and consequently, 
he that loves such a society, loves all the individuals that com- 
pose it, and by his good will and good works, shown and done 
to the society, provides for the good of all its members. A 
society is like a single man, and the individuals that compose it 
form, as it were, one body, and are distinguished one from an- 
other like the members in one body. The Lord, and from him 
the angels, when they look down upon the earth, see a whole 
society of men under no other view than as a single man, and 
under no other form than what results from the qualities of the 
members that compose it. I myself also have been permitted to 
see a particular society in heaven altogether as one man, of the 
same stature with a man here on earth. That love shown towards 
a society is love towards our neighbor in greater fulness than 
when it is shown only tow r ards a single or individual man, is 
evident from this circumstance, that dignities are assigned to 
governors in proportion to the number of societies subject to 
their government, and honors are annexed to them according to 
the extent of the uses they perform. There are in the world 
superior and inferior offices, subordinate to each other, as their 
authority over societies is more or less universal, and he whose 
authority is most universal is called the king ; and every one 
receives recompense, glory, and the love of the community, in 
proportion to the extent of his office, and the good uses which he 
performs. It is possible however for governors here below to 
perform uses, and to provide for the welfare of society, and 
yet to have no real love towards their neighbor ; this is the case 
with those who, in the exercise of their public functions, regard 
only the world and themselves, and do good merely to appear 
good, or to deserve further distinction and pre-eminence. Such 
persons, although they are not discerned in this world, are yet 
discerned in heaven, where they are rejected from holding any 
office or dignity ; while those who had done and promoted uses 
from a principle of love towards their neighbor, are exalted as 
rulers over heavenly societies, and enjoy proportionable honor 
and magnificence : these, however, do not place their hearts and 
affections in honor and magnificence, but in the uses which 
they are thus enabled to effect. 

413. Love towards our neighbor exercised towards an indi- 
vidual man, differs from the same love when exercised towards 
a society of men, as the office of a private citizen differs from that 
of a public magistrate, and as the office of a magistrate differs 
446 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 413 415 

from that of a king. The difference also is the same as between 
hrm who traded with two talents and him who traded with ten 
(Matt. xxv. 15 — 31) ; or as between the value of a shekel and 
that of a talent ; or as between the fruit produced by a single 
vine and by a whole vineyard, or by a single olive-tree and a 
whole olive-yard, or by a single fruit-tree and a whole orchard. 
Love towards our neighbor also ascends in man to a sphere 
more and more interior, and in proportion to its ascent he loves 
a society more than an individual man, and his country more 
than a society. Now since charity consists in good-will and. 
good deeds thence derived, it follows, that the exercise of them 
ought to be directed in nearly the same manner towards a society 
of men as towards an individual : a distinction however must be 
made in this case between a society of good and one of wicked 
men ; for towards the latter charity ought to be exercised accord- 
ing to natural equity, but towards the former according to 
spiritual equity ; of which two kinds we shall speak elsewhere. 

414. The reason why a man’s country is his neighbor more 
than a single society, is, because it consists of several societies, 
so that the love he bears towards it is of a more extensive and 
superior kind : moreover, to love one’s country i 3 to love the 
public welfare. Every man’s country stands in the relationship 
of neighbor, from its resemblance to a parent ; for the country 
which gave him birth is ever giving him support also, and afford- 
ing him security from injuries. Men are bound from a principle 
of love to do good to their country according to its wants, some 
of which are natural and some spiritual : natural wants regard 
civil life and order, and spiritual wants regard spiritual life and 
order. That every man is bound to love his country, not as he 
loves himself, but in preference to himself, is a law inscribed on 
the human heart, whence the universal saying, to which every 
upright man subscribes, that when in danger of destruction, 
whether from an enemy or from any other source, it is honorable 
for any one to die in his country’s cause, and it is glorious for 
a soldier to shed his blood in her defence : and these expressions 
are used to mark the very great love which should bind us to our 
country. It is to be observed that those who love their country, 
and render it good services from a principle of good-will, aftei 
death love the Lord’s kingdom, which then is their country, 
and those who love his kingdom, love the Lord himself, because 
the Lord is the all in all of his kingdom. 

Y. That the Church is our neighbor, to be loved in a higher 

DEGREE, AND THE LORD’S KINGDOM IS OUR NEIGHBOR, TO BE LOVED 

IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE. 

415. As a man is born to eternal life, and is introduced into 
it by the church, therefore he ought to love the church as his 
neighbor in a higher degree : for she teaches the means that 
lead to eternal life, and introduces him into it, leading him to 

447 


4-15, 416 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

it by the truths of doctrine, and introducing him mto it by the 
goods of life. We mean by this, not that the priesthood is to 
be loved in a superior degree, and the church subordinately, but 
that the good and truth of the church should be loved, and the 
priesthood on their account, since the priesthood is designed 
only to act as a servant to such good and truth, and should be 
respected in proportion to the service which it yields. There is 
also a further reason why the church is our neighbor, and 
entitled to a superior degree of love, and consequently to be 
ranked above our country : this is because a man by his country 
is initiated into civil life, and by the church into spiritual life, 
which ‘distinguishes a man from a mere animal. Besides, civil 
life is but temporal, and comes to an end, and is then as if it 
had never existed ; whereas spiritual life, having no end, is eter- 
nal, and may therefore be said to have a real esse or being, but 
temporal life is a state of non-esse , or non-being : the difference 
is like that between finite and infinite, between which there can 
be no comparison, for what is eternal is infinite in respect to 
time. 

416. The reason why the Lord’s kingdom is our neighbor, 
that ought to be loved in the highest degree, is, because it in- 
cludes the church dispersed throughout the whole earth, called 
the communion of saints, and also heaven : he then who loves 
the Lord’s kingdom, loves all those throughout the whole world 
who acknowledge the Lord, and live in faith towards him and 
in charity towards their neighbor ; and he loves too all who are 
in heaven. Those who love the Lord’s kingdom love the Lord 
above all things, and are thus influenced more than others by 
love to God ; for the church in heaven and throughout the earth 
is the Lord’s body, the members thereof being in the Lord, and 
the Lord in them. Love therefore towards the Lord’s kingdom 
is love towards our neighbor in all its fulness ; for those who love 
his kingdom not only love the Lord above all things, but also 
love their neighbor as themselves : for love towards the Lord is 
a universal love, and is consequently in all and every thing that 
belongs to spiritual life, as well as in all and every thing that 
belongs to natural life ; for that love has its residence in man’s 
supreme or highest principles, and the highest descend by influx 
into the lower, communicating life to them, just as the will 
enters into the whole of the intention, and thence descends into 
action, and as the understanding enters into the whole of the 
thought, and thence into the speech ; therefore the Lord says. 
“ Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and 
all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. vi. 33). The 
kingdom of God and of the heavens is the Lord’s kingdom, as is 
plain from this passage in Daniel : “ And behold, one like the 
Son of man came with the clouds of heaven; and there were 
given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, 
448 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


416 — 148 


nations, and languages should serve him : his dominion is an 
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his king- 
dom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel vii. 13, 14). 

"V I. That to loye our neighbor, considered in itself, is not 

TO LOVE HIS PERSON, BUT THE GOOD WHICH IS IN IT- 

417. Every one must be sensible that a man is not a man 
from having a human face and body, but from the wisdom of 
his understanding and the goodness of his will, the quality of 
which, in proportion to its ascent upward, causes him to be 
more and more a man. A man at his birth is utterly devoid of 
reason, more so than any animal, and becomes a man by means 
of instructions, which, as they are received, form his mind 
(mens), from and according to which a -man is a man. There 
are some beasts which resemble men as to their countenances, 
but which have not the faculty of understanding, or of acting 
according to understanding, being determined to action merely 
by the instinct which is excited by natural love. There is a 
difference too in this respect, that the beast expresses the affec- 
tions of his love only by sounds, whereas man expresses his 
affections, when formed into thought, by speech. A beast also 
looks with his face downward to the ground, but a man, with 
his face upward towards heaven, and in all directions round 
about him. Whence we may conclude that a man is a man only 
so far as his speech proceeds from sound reason, and as he has 
regard to his abode in heaven, and that he is not a man so far 
as his speech proceeds from perverted reason, and as he has 
regard only to his abode in this world : nevertheless in the latter 
case he is in power a man, though not in act ; for every one has 
the power of understanding what is true, and of willing what is 
good ; but in proportion as he is not willing to do good, and to 
understand truth, he can but assume the semblance of a man in 
externals, and play the ape. 

418. The reason why good is our neighbor is, because 
good belongs to the will, and the will is the esse of a man’s life. 
Truth in the understanding is also our neighbor, but only so 
far as it proceeds from good in the will ; for good in the will 
forms itself in the understanding, and there renders itself visible 
in the light of reason. That good is our neighbor, is plain 
from common experience, by which we learn that every one 
loves another only according to the quality of his will and under- 
standing, that is, according to the good and truth that are in 
him ; as for example, who loves a king, a prince, a duke, a 
governor, a c.ounsellor, or any person in the magistracy, or any 
judge, except from the judgment which is displayed in their 
speech and actions ? or who loves a prelate, a minister of the 
church, or any canonical person, except for his learning, integ- 
rity of life, and zeal for the salvation of souls? or who loves a 
general of an army, or any subordinate officer, but for his cour 

449 G Q 


413—420 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS 


age, and the prudence by which it is governed ? Who loves a 
merchant but for his honesty ? who a workman and servant, but 
for their fidelity ? Nay, who loves a tree but for its fruit ? or 
ground but for its fertility ? or a precious stone but for the 
purity of its water? &c. And, what may be considered as verj- 
extraordinary, it is not the upright man only who loves what is 
good and just in another, but the unprincipled man does the 
same ; and the reason is, because he is in no fear, in his deal- 
ings with one of such a character, of losing his reputation, his 
honor, or his wealth : the love of goodness, however, in this 
case, is not the love of his neighbor ; for an unprincipled 
person has no interior love for another, but only loves him so 
far as he is subservient to his own ends and purposes. To love 
what is good in another, from a principle of goodness in our- 
selves, is genuine love towards our neighbor; for in this case 
our own and our neighbor’s goodness mutually kiss and conjoin 
themselves together. 

419. He who loves good because it is good, and truth because 
it is true, pre-eminently loves his neighbor; for he loves the 
Lord, who is good itself and truth itself, who is the only source 
of the love of good and of truth, and consequently of our neigh- 
bor ; thus love towards our neighbor is formed from a celestial 
origin. Whether we speak of use or of good, it is the same 
thing ; therefore to do uses is to do good, and according to the 
quantity and quality of use in the good which we do, is the 
quantity and quality of the good itself. 

VII. That charity and good works are as distinct as will- 
ing WHAT IS GOOD AND DOING WHAT IS GOOD. 

420. In every man there is an internal and an external : his 
internal is what is called the internal man, and his external is 
what is called the external man. He who is unacquainted with 
the nature of the internal and external man, may possibly sup- 
pose that the internal man is that wdiich thinks and wills, and 
the external that which speaks and acts. It is true, indeed, 
that speech and action belong to the external man, and thought 
and will to the internal : but still these are not what essentially 
constitute the external and internal man. According to general 
perception, the mind of man is the internal man : but the mind 
itself is divided into two regions ; one, which is superior and 
interior, is the spiritual region, and the other, which is inferior 
and exterior, is the natural region. The spiritual mind looks 
principally into the spiritual world, and has for its objects such 
things as are therein, whether they be such as exist in heaven 
or such as exist in hell, for both are in the spiritual world ; but 
the natural mind looks principally into the natural world, and 
has for its objects such things as are in that world, whether 
they be good or evil. All human action and speech proceed 
from the inferior region of the mind directly, and from its supe- 

450 


OF CHARITY AND GOOI WORKS. 


420, 421 

rior region indirectly, since the inferior region of the mind is 
nearer to the bodily senses, and the superior is more remote 
from them. A man has this division of the mind, because he 
was created to be a spiritual and at the same time a natural 
being, and thus to be a man, and not a beast. Hence it is evb 
dent that the man who regards the world and himself in the 
first place, is an external man, because he is a natural man, not 
only in body, but also in mind ; and that the man who regards 
the things of heaven and the church in the first place, is an 
internal man, because he is a spiritual man, both in mind and 
body : the reason why he is spiritual even with respect to the 
body is, because his actions and speech proceed from the supe- 
rior mind which is spiritual, through the inferior which is natu- 
ral ; for it is an acknowledged truth that effects proceed from the 
body, while the causes which produce them are from the mind, 
and that the cause is the all in the effect. That the human 
mind is thus divided, appears evident from this circumstance, 
that man has the power to feign, to flatter, to play the hypocrite, 
to act a character opposite to his real one, and to assent to what 
another says at the same time that he ridicules it in his heart : 
in this case his ridicule proceeds from the superior mind, and 
his apparent assent from the inferior. 

421. Hence may be seen in what sense it is to be understood 
that charity and good works are as distinct as willing what is 
good and doing what is good, that is, they are formally distinct, 
like the mind which thinks and wills, and the body by which 
the mind speaks and acts ; and they are essentially distinct, 
because, as was shown above, the mind is distinguished into two 
regions, an interior which is spiritual, and an exterior which is 
natural ; so that if works proceed from the spiritual mind, they 
proceed from its good-will, which is charity ; but if from the 
natural mind, they proceed from its good-will, which is not char- 
ity, although it may appear like it in its external form, and yet 
not be charity in its internal form ; and charity in the mere 
external form bears indeed the specious appearance of charity, 
but still is devoid of its essence. This may be comparatively 
illustrated by the case of seeds sown in the ground, from each of 
which there sprouts forth a young shoot or set, either profitable 
or unprofitable, according to the nature and quality of the seed. 
This is likewise the case with spiritual seed, which is the truth 
of the church derived from the Word ; from this is formed doc- 
trine, which is profitable when formed of genuine truths, but 
unprofitable when formed of truths falsified. Exactly similar to 
*bese cases is that of charity, as derived from a principle of 
good-will, whether the good-will be for the sake of self and the 
world, or for the sake of our neighbor in a confined or in an 
extensive sense : if it be for the sake of self and the world it ie 
spurious charity; but if for the sake of our neighbor, it is 
451 


421 — 423 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


genuine. More, however, may be seen on this subject in the 
chapter on Faith, particularly in the articles where it is shown 
that Charity consists in willing what is good , and good works 
consist in doing what is good , from a principle of good-will , n. 
374; and charity and faith are mere mental and perishable 
things , unless they are determined to works , and coexist in them , 
whenever it is practicable, n. 375, 376. 

VIII. That charity itself consists in acting justly and faith- 
fully IN WHATEVER OFFICE, BUSINESS, AND EMPLOYMENT A 

PERSON IS ENGAGED, AND WITH WHOMSOEVER HE HAS ANY 

CONNECTION. 

422. Charity itself consists in acting justly and faithfully in 
whatever office, business, and employment a person is engaged, 
because every thing so done is of use to society, and use is good, 
and good in a sense abstracted from persons is our neighbor ; 
and it was shown above that not only individual men, but also 
a society of men, and a man’s country in general, are his neigh- 
bor. But take an instance : a king who sets his subjects an 
example of well-doing, is desirous that they should live accord- 
ing to the laws of justice, recompenses those who do so live, 
regards every one according to his merit, secures, them against 
injuries and invasions, acts as the father of his kingdom, and 
provides for the common prosperity of his people, — such a king 
has charity in his heart, and his actions are good works. A 
priest who teaches truths from the Word, and by these leads his 
Hock to the good of life and so to heaven, — such a priest, since 
he provides for the welfare of the souls of those who belong to 
his church, is pre-eminently in the exercise of charity. A judge 
who judges according to justice and law, and is not biassed in 
his judgment by bribes, friendship, or relationship, provides for 
the well-being both of society and of individuals ; of society, 
since it is thus kept in obedience to the law and under fear o t 
transgression, and of individuals, because justice is enabled to 
triumph over injustice. A merchant or trader who acts from a 
principle of sincerity, and not of deceit or fraud, provides for the 
welfare of his neighbor with whom he is engaged in business. 
The same is true of a workman or artificer, if he does his work 
uprightly and sincerely, and not fraudulently and with deceit. 
Bo also in all other cases, as with captains and sailors, farmers 
and servants. 

423. This is charity itself, because charity may be defined 
as consisting in doing good to our neighbor daily and continu- 
ally, not only to our neighbor individually, but to our neighbor 
collectively ; and this cannot be effected but by a man’s doing 
what is good and just, in whatever office, business, and employ- 
ment he is engaged, and with whomsoever he has any connection ; 
for this he does daily ; and when he is not in its immediate 
exercise, still it is continually present in his mind, and is the 

452 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


423—425 


object of his thoughts and intentions. The man who thus exer 
cises charity, becomes more and more charity in form ; for justice 
and fidelity form his mind, and their exercises his body ; so that 
in process of time, from the form thus acquired, he wills and 
thinks nothing but what has some relation to charity. Such 
persons at length become like those described in the Word, of 
whom it is said they have the law written in their hearts. They 
also place no merit in their works, for they never think of merit, 
but only of their duty, which as good citizens they are bound 
to perform. A man, however, can by no means of himself act 
from a principle of spiritual righteousness and fidelity ; for every 
one derives from his parents an hereditary disposition to do what 
is good and just for the sake of himself and the world, and 
not for the sake of goodness and justice : none therefore but 
those who worship the Lord, and act from him at the same time 
that they act of themselves, acquire spiritual charity, and are 
imbued with it by exercise. 

424. There are many who act justly and faithfully in their 
functions, and in so doing perform works of charity, who yet do 
not possess any charity in themselves : but these are those in 
whom the love of self and the world is predominant, and not the 
love of heaven ; and if it happen that this latter has any place 
in them, it is in subjection to the former, like a slave under his 
master, or like a common soldier under his captain, and like a 
porter standing in the gate. 

IX. That eleemosynary acts of charity consist in giving 

TO THE POOR, AND RELIEVING THE INDIGENT, BUT WITH PRU- 
DENCE. 

425. It is necessary to distinguish between the offices of 
charity and its eleemosynary acts. By the offices of charity we 
mean those exercises which proceed immediately from charity 
itself, and which, as has just been shown, are connected princi- 
pally with the function or employment in which each man is 
engaged ; but by eleemosynary acts of charity we mean those 
aids and assistances which a man lends to his neighbor, inde- 
pendent of the ordinary duties of his station. They are called 
eleemosynary acts, because in doing them a man is left to his 
own liberty and pleasure, and when done, they are regarded by 
the person who receives them as eleemosynary, and are dispensed 
according to the reasons and intentions which influence the mind 
of the benefactor. It is a prevailing notion that charity consists 
solely in giving to the poor, relieving the indigent, providing for 
widows and orphans, contributing towards the building of hos- 
pitals and other edifices for the reception of the sick, the stranger, 
and the fatherless, but particularly in the building, ornamenting, 
and endowing of churches : many things, however, of this sort 
have no proper connection with charity, but are extraneous to it. 
Those who make charity itself consist in such actions, must of 

453 


425—427 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


necessity consider them meritorious ; and although they may say 
they disclaim all regard to merit, yet in their hearts they cannot 
but entertain a belief that they are entitled to it. This is evident 
from what is observed of such persons after death ; for they then 
begin to reckon up their works, and to demand salvation as a 
reward. An inquiry however is then made into the ground and 
origin of their works, and their consequent quality ; and if it be 
found that they proceeded either from vain-glory, a desire of fame, 
bare munificence, friendship, mere natural inclination, or hypoc- 
risy, they are then judged according to that origin, the quality 
of which is in the works. But genuine charity proceeds from 
those who are thoroughly imbued with it from the justice and 
the judgment of their works, which they do without regarding 
recompense as an end and motive for doing them, according to 
what the Lord says, Luke xiv. 12 — 14. These also call the 
things above mentioned eleemosynary acts, and likewise duties, 
although with them they are works of charity. 

426. It is well known that some who have done such elee- 
mosynary acts as appear in the eyes of men like images of char- 
ity, imagine and believe that they have been practising works 
of charity, and regard them, as many do papal indulgences, as 
things for the sake of which they are purified from their sins, 
and are to be presented with the kingdom of heaven, like the 
truly regenerate, when nevertheless they make light of adultery, 
hatred, revenge, fraud, and in general all the lusts of the flesh, 
which they indulge in at pleasure. But in such a case what are 
their good works, but like painted images of angels in company 
with devils ? or like boxes made of lapis lazuli , that within are 
full of hydras ? The case is however changed where those elee- 
mosynary acts are done by persons who shun the above-men- 
tioned evils as abominable and detestable in the sight of charity. 
Nevertheless such acts, particularly the giving of alms to poor 
persons and beggars, have in many respects their uses and 
advantages ; for it is by these acts that children and servants, 
and, in general, all persons of simple character and condition, 
are initiated into charity, such works being its externals, in- 
troductory to the offices of charity ; for they are its rudiments 
which, at the time of doing them, are like unripe fruits, yet 
with those who are afterwards perfected by the right knowledges 
of charity and faith, they become like ripe fruits ; and then they 
regard their former works, which were done in simplicity of 
heart, as so many duties they have discharged. 

427. At the present day these acts are believed to be the 
proper deeds of charity, which are meant in the Word by good 
works, because charity is very frequently described in the Word 
by giving to the poor, relieving the needy, and providing for 
widows and orphans ; but heretofore it has not been known that 
the Word, in the letter, makes mention of such things only aa 

454 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


427 — 429 


are the external, yea, the extreme parts of worship, and they 
signify spiritual things, which are internal, as may be seen in the 
chapter on The Sacred Scripture, n. 193 — 209 ; so that it 
appears that those who are called the poor, needy, widows, and 
orphans, mean such as are so in a spiritual sense, and not such 
only as are so literally. The poor signify those who have no 
knowledge of truth and good, as may be seen in the Apocalypse 
Revealed, n. 209 ; and widows signify those who are without 
truths, and yet desire them ; n. 764, and so with the others. 

428. Those who are naturally of a tender, compassionate 
disposition, and do not make their natural disposition spiritual, 
by regulating its workings according to genuine charity, im- 
agine that charity consists in giving to every poor person, and 
relieving every one that is indigent, without inquiring whether 
their character be good or bad, for they affirm that such in- 
quiry is needless, since God regards only the alms and the 
relief that are given. Such, however, after death are carefully 
distinguished and separated from those who have done eleemos- 
ynary acts of charity under the guidance of discretion ; for those 
who have done so from the impulse of a blind undistinguishing 
charity are found in another life equally compassionate to the 
wicked and the good ; the consequence of which is, that the 
wicked are assisted in their disposition to do wickedly, and to 
turn the kindnesses they receive into means of injuring the good, 
so that such bestowers of kindnesses are ultimately the cause 
of mischief to the good. To bestow a favor on a wicked person 
is like giving bread to a devil, which he turns into poison ; for all 
the bread in a devil’s hand is poison, or if it is not, he turns it 
into poison, by using the kindnesses he receives as allurements 
to draw others into evil. It is also like offering a sword to 
another’s enemy, and so enabling him to commit murder ; or like 
giving a shepherd’s crook to a man wolf, that he may lead the 
sheep to the pasture, which he no sooner receives than he drives 
them from the pasture into the wilderness, and there slaughters 
them ; or it is like advancing a robber to a post of authority in 
the state, whose only object and care is plunder, according to 
the abundance and value of which he dispenses the laws and 
executes judgment. 

X. That there are public, domestic, and private duties of 

CHARITY. 

429. The eleemosynary acts and the duties of charity, are 
distinct from each Other, like things done of free-will, and those 
which are done of necessity. By the duties of charity, however, 
we do not here mean the duties annexed to any office in a king- 
dom or commonwealth, as in the case of a minister, that he 
ought to fulfil the office of administration, or of a judge, that 
he ought to judge, &c. ; but by the duties of charity we mean 
the duties which every one has to perform, whatever be his func- 

455 


± 29— 431 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


tion : they are consequently from another origin, and flow from 
another will [than does the obligation to the exercise of bis 
function], and hence they are discharged from a principle of char- 
ity by those who are under its influence, and, on the contrary, 
from no principle of charity by those who are not under its 
influence. 

430. Public duties of charity are, more especially, the 
payment of imposts and taxes, which ought not to be confounded 
with the duties arising from offices or functions. These are paid 
with a different disposition of heart by those who are spiritual 
and those who are merely natural : those who are spiritual pay 
them out of good will, because they are collected for the preser- 
vation and protection of their country and the church, and as a 
provision for the proper officers and governors, who must receive 
their salaries and stipends out of the public treasury ; therefore 
those who consider their country and the church as their neigh- 
bor, pay such debts gladly and with a willing mind, and consider 
it a wicked act either to withhold them or to use any deceit in the 
payment ; whereas those who do not esteem their country and 
the church as their neighbor, pay such debts with a reluctant 
and unwilling mind, and as often as they have an opportunity 
withhold them or use some fraud in the payment ; for they regard 
only their own house and their own flesh as their neighbor. 

431. Domestic duties of charity are of several kinds, as 
those of a husband to his wife, and of a wife to her husband ; of 
parents to their children, and of children to their parents ; like- 
wise, of a master and mistress to their servants, and of servants 
to their master and mistress : there are so many duties, relating 
to the education of children and the government of families, that 
it would require a volume to enumerate them. Every man is led 
to discharge these duties from a principle of love, different from 
that which influences him in his ordinary occupation : a husband’s 
duties towards his wife, and the wife’s towards her husband, 
proceed from and according to conjugial love; a father’s and 
mother’s towards their children, from a principle of love implanted 
in every one, called storge , or parental affection ; and children’s 
towards their parents, from and according to another kind of 
love, which is closely connected with obedience from a principle 
of duty : the duties of a master and mistress to their servants 
partake of the love of rule or authority, which varies according 
to the peculiar state of every one’s mind. Conjugial love, how- 
ever, and love towards children, with their several duties and 
the discharge of them, are not productive of love towards our 
neighbor, like the fulfilment of the duties which belong to a 
man’s ordinary occupation : for the love called storge , or parental 
affection, prevails alike with the wicked and the good, yea, some- 
times much more powerfully with the wicked ; it is also found 
among birds and beasts which are incapable of receiving charity 

456 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


431 — 433 


and it is besides a known fact that bears, tigers, and serpents, 
love their young with as strong an affection as sheep and goats, 
and that owls also are as tender of their offspring as doves. As 
to what particularly regards the duties of parents to their children, 
there is an intrinsic difference in this respect with those who are 
under the influence of charity and those who are not, although 
externally the duties may appear similar : with those who are 
under the influence of charity, parental affection is joined with 
love towards their neighbor and love to God, and such parents 
love their children according to their morals, virtues, pursuits, 
and qualifications for the service of the public ; but with those 
who are not under the influence of charity, there is no conjunc-. 
tion of charity with parental affection ; the consequence is that 
such parents frequently love wicked, immoral, and crafty children, 
more than those who are good, moral, and prudent, and thus 
prefer such as are unserviceable to the public before such as are 
serviceable. 

432. Private duties of charitv are also of several kinds, 
such as paying wages to workmen, returning borrowed money, 
observing agreements, keeping pledges, and other transactions 
of a like nature, some of which are duties grounded in statute 
law, some in civil law, and some in moral law. These duties 
are also discharged from different motives by those who are 
under the influence of charity and those who are not : by the 
former they are discharged justly and faithfully ; for as may be 
seen above, n. 422, the law of charity requires that a man should 
act justly and faithfully in all his dealings with whomsoever he 
may have any connection ; but these duties are discharged in a 
totally different manner by those who are not influenced by 
charity. 

XI. That convivial recreations of charity consist of dinners 

AND SUPPERS, AND SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 

433. Every one knows that dinner and supper parties are in 
general use, and are given to promote various ends ; by many 
on account of friendship, relationship, mirth, gain, recompense, 
and for party purposes of corruption ; among the great they are 
also given on account of their dignity ; and in the palaces ot 
kings, for the display of splendor and magnificence. But 
dinners and suppers of charity are given only by those who are 
influenced by mutual love grounded in a similarity of faith. 
Among Christians in the primitive church, dinners and suppers 
had this end alone in view, and were called feasts, being insti- 
tuted that they might meet together in cordial joy and friendly 
union. Their suppers signified consociations and conjunctions 
in the first state of the church’s establishment; for evening, 
which was the time of celebrating those feasts, was significative 
of that state ; and their dinners signified the same things in the 
second state of the church’s establishment, the morning and day 

457 


OF CHARITY AN I GOOD WORKS. 


433, 434 

being significative of that state. At table the guests conversed 
together on various subjects, domesticand civil, but particularly 
on such as concerned the church : and as their feasts were feasts 
of charity, their conversation on every subject was influenced by 
charity, with all its joys and delights. The spiritual sphere which 
prevailed on those occasions was a sphere of love to the Lord and 
towards the neighbor, which exhilarated every mind, softened 
the tone of every expression, and communicated to all the senses 
a festivity from the heart : for from every man there emanates a 
spiritual sphere, derived from the affection of his love and corre- 
sponding thought, which inwardly affects those in his company, 
particularly at the time of convivial recreations : this sphere 
emanates both by the face and the respiration. It is because 
dinners and suppers, or feasts, were significative of such conso- 
ciation of mind, that they are so often mentioned in the Word, 
and in their spiritual sense, when there used, have no other 
meaning : this was eminently, and in a supreme sense, signified 
by the paschal supper among the children of Israel, and like- 
wise by their banquets on their other festivals, also by their 
eating together of the sacrifices near the tabernacle : conjunction 
itself was at that time represented by breaking bread and distrib- 
uting it, and by drinking out of the same cup, and handing it 
to one another. 

434. Social intercourse was kept up in the primitive 
church among those who called themselves brethren in Christ ; 
hence it was the social intercourse of charity, because they were 
a spiritual brotherhood. This social intercourse consisted also 
'in administering consolation to each other under the distresses 
of the church, and in expressions of mutual joy for its increase, 
and also in recreation of mind from study and labor, mixed 
with conversation on various subjects ; and because all these 
flowed from spiritual love, as from their proper fountain, they 
were rational and moral from their spiritual origin. In the pres- 
ent day social intercourse of friendship has no end in view but 
the pleasures of conversation, the exhilaration of the mind {mens) 
by discourse, and thence the expansion of the mind {animus), 
the liberation of the imprisoned thoughts, and the consequent 
refreshment of the bodily senses and their restoration to their 
wonted vigor. But the social intercourse of charity is not yet 
revived ; for the Lord says, “ In the consummation of the age,” 
that is, in the end of the church, “ iniquity shall abound, and 
the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matt. xxiv. 12). This 
happens because the church has not as yet acknowledged the 
Lord God the Saviour to be the God of heaven and earth, and 
has not immediately approached and addressed him, from whom 
alone genuine charity proceeds, and is communicated by influx. 
But the social intercourse which does not conjoin minds in a 
friendship which has something akin to charity, is but the feigned 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 434, 435 

semblance of friendship, consisting in deceptive attestations of 
mutual love, ensnaring ways of insinuation into the good graces 
of another, and in the indulgence of bodily delights, particularly 
ot sensual gratifications, by which the objects of such pretended 
friendship are carried along like ships in full sail before a fair 
wind, while the sycophants and hypocrites stand at the stern, 
and direct their course by the rudder they hold in their hands. 
XII. That THE FIRST PART OF CHARITY CONSISTS IN PUTTING AWAY 

EVILS, AND THE SECOND IN DOING GOOD ACTIONS THAT ARE 

USEFUL TO OUR NEIGHBOR. 

435. This tenet, that it is the first part of charity to do no 
evil to our neighbor, and the second, to do him good, occupies 
the first place in the doctrine of charity, for it is as a door to it. 
It is an acknowledged truth, that evil resides in the will of every 
man from his birth ; and since all evil regards a man as both 
near itself and at a distance from itself, and also the society to 
which he belongs and his country, it follows that hereditary 
evil is evil against our neighbor in every degree. The light of 
reason itself may discern, that so far as the evil inherent in the 
will is not removed, the good which a man does is impregnated 
with that evil ; for in such case evil is within the good, like a 
nut in its husk and the marrow in a bone ; of consequence, 
although the good done by such a person has the appearance of 
good, yet inwardly it is not so, being like a sound husk within 
which is a kernel eaten by worms, or like a fair almond that is 
rotten within, the corrupt veins of which spread even to the sur- 
face. To will evil and to do good, are in their nature opposite to 
each other, evil being grounded in hatred towards our neighbor, 
and good in love towards him ; or in other words, evil is our 
neighbor’s enemy, and good his friend, which two cannot pos- 
sibly exist together in one and the same mind, that is, evil in 
the internal man and good in the external ; for in such case good 
in the external man would be like a wound superficially healed, 
but inwardly full of putrid matter. A man, in such circum- 
stances, is like a tree whose root is decayed through age, but 
which yet produces fruit that appears outwardly like fruit of a 
good flavor and fit for use, but inwardly is unsavory and useless ; 
or he is like the scoriae separated from metals, which, when 
polished and of beautiful color, are sold for precious stones ; in 
short, they may be compared to the eggs of an owl, which men 
are induced to believe are those of a dove. Let it be observed 
that the good which a man does in the body proceeds from his 
spirit, or internal man. for this is his spirit that lives after death, 
and of consequence, when a man casts off his body, which con- 
stituted his external man, he is then wholly and entirely im 
mersed in the evils of his life, and takes delight in them, while 
good is held in aversion, being offensive to his life. A man 
cannot do good which is truly so, before evil is put away, as the 
459 


435—437 


OF CHARITY ANI GOOD WORKS. 


Lord teaches in many places : “ Do men gather grapes of thorns, 
oi figs of thistles ? A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good 
fruit” (Matt. vii. 16 — 18). “ Woe unto you, Scribes and Phari- 

sees, hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outside ot the cup and 
the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup 
and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” (xxiii. 
25, 26). And in Isaiah : “ Wash you; put away the evil of 
your doings ; cease to do evil ; learn to do good ; seek judg- 
ment ; and then if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made 
white as snow ; if they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
wool” (i. 16 — 18). 

436. This may be further illustrated by the following com- 
parisons : no one can approach another who keeps a leopard or a 
panther in his chamber, and who lives secure from their attacks 
in consequence of giving them food, unless he first remove those 
fierce creatures. What person invited to a royal table, does 
not wash his hands and face before he presents himself? Who 
does not purify metallic ores in the fire, and separate the scoriae, 
before he can procure pure gold and silver ? What husbandman 
does not separate his wheat from tares, before he stores it in his 
barn ? Who does not boil his meat, to remove its impurities 
and rawness, before he thinks it fit to be brought to table and 
eaten ? What gardener does not shake the trees of his garden, 
and clear them from grubs and insects, to save the leaves from 
being devoured, and the fruit in consequence spoiled ? Who 
can be in love with a girl, and make her offers of marriage, when 
he knows she is infected with a bad distemper, and full of pim- 
ples and sores, notwithstanding she may paint her face, set off 
her dress, or endeavor to attract admiration by the blandish- 
ments of speech and behavior ? A man ought to purify himself 
from evils, and not to wait for the Lord to purify him by an 
immediate act of his power ; for in this case he would be like a 
servant, with his face and clothes all bedaubed with soot or filth, 
who should go to his master and say, “ Master, wash me :” 
would not his master in such a case, naturally say to him, “ You 
foolish servant, what do you 6ay ? See ! there are water, soap, 
and a towel ; and have not you hands of your own, and strength 
to use them? Go, and wash yourself.” Thus too will the 
Lord God say to his servant, “ The means of purification are 
provided by me, and from me also you have your will and power ; 
use then these my gifts and talents as your own, and you will 
be purified.” 

437. It is believed at the present day that charity consists 
only in doing good, and that while a man is doing good he does 
no evil, consequently, that the first part of charity is to do good, 
and the second not to do evil ; but the case is altogether the 
reverse, it being the first part of charity to put away evil, and 

460 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


437 — 439 


the second to do good. For it is a universal law in the spiritual 
world, and thence too in the natural world, that so far as a per- 
son wills no evil, he wills what is good ; consequently, so far as 
he turns himself away from hell, whence all evil ascends, he 
turns himself towards heaven, wdience all good descends ; and 
therefore, so far as any one rejects the devil, he is accepted by 
the Lord. It is impossible for any person to stand between 
both, turning his neck about, and praying at the same time to 
both ; for these are those of whom the Lord said, u I know thy 
works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert 
cold or hot; so then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither 
cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth” (Kev. iii. 15, 
16). How is it possible for an officer to stand wavering with his 
troops between two armies, and to take part with both ? How 
is it possible for any one to be in evil against his neighbor, and 
at the same time in good towards him ? In such a case, does 
not evil lurk within the good ? And although in its hidden state 
it may not appear in outward acts, yet it will show itself in 
many particulars, if they be duly attended to. The Lord says, 
“Ho man can serve two masters: ye cannot serve God and 
mammon” (Luke xvi. 13). 

438. Ho one, however, is able, by his own power and strength, 
to purify himself from evils, and yet such purification cannot be 
effected without the power and strength of a man as if it were 
his own ; for without this, no one would be able to fight against 
the flesh and its lusts, which nevertheless is required of all ; 
indeed, no one would ever think of any such fight or warfare, 
and thus would abandon his mind ( animus ) to evils of every kind, 
being restrained from their actual perpetration only by worldly 
laws and worldly punishments : thus he would inwardly be like 
a tiger, a leopard, and a serpent, which never reflect on the 
cruelties they exercise in the gratification of their lusts and loves. 
It is plain then that a man, being endowed with reason, and 
thereby exalted above the beasts, ought to resist evils from the 
power and strength given him by the Lord, which in every 
respect of feeling and sense appear to him as his own ; and this 
appearance the Lord communicates to every man, for the sake 
of regeneration, imputation, conjunction, and salvation. 

XIII. That in performing the exercises of charity, a man 

DOES NOT ASCRIBE MERIT TO WORKS, SO LONG. AS HE BELIEVES ' 

THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD. 

439. To ascribe merit to works which are done for the sake 
of salvation, is hurtful; for there are many evils concealed in 
such a belief of merit, of which the doer of the works is entirely 
ignorant : those latent evils are a denial of the influx and opera- 
tion of God in man ; a confident presumption on our own power 
in all that concerns salvation ; a faith and dependence on ourselves, 
and not on God ; self-justification ; salvation by means of our 

461 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


4:39, MO 

own strength; annihilation of the divine grace and mercy ; the 
rejection of reformation and regeneration by divine means ; in 
particular, a derogating from the merit and righteousness of the 
Lord God the Saviour, and an appropriation thereof to ourselves; 
besides a continual looking to reward, or recompense, which is 
then the first and last end regarded ; a suffocation and extinction 
of love to the Lord and towards our neighbor ; a total ignorance 
and impereeptibility of the delight of heavenly love, which is 
without an idea of merit, and a sensation of the delight of self- 
love only : for those who put recompense in the first place and 
salvation in the second, and thus respect the latter for the sake 
of the former, invert all order, and immerse the interior desires 
of their minds in their own proprium , and defile them in the 
body with the evil lusts of the flesh. Hence it is that the good 
which regards merit, appears in the sight of angels like rust, and 
that which does not regard merit, like purple. We ought not 
to do good with a view to recompense, as the Lord teaches in 
the following passage : “ If ye do good to them that do good to 
you, what thank have ye ? But love ye your enemies, and do 
good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall 
be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest ; for he is 
kind to the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke vi. 33 — 36). A 
man cannot do good, which is really and in its own nature good, 
except from the Lord, as in John : “Abide in me, and I in you : 
as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the 
vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in me ; for without me 
ye can do nothing” (xv. 4, 5). And in another place : “ A man 
can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven” (iii. 27). 

MO. But for men to think that they shall go to heaven, and 
that therefore they must do good, — this is not to regard recom- 
pense as an end, and to ascribe merit to works ; for even those 
who love their neighbors as themselves, and God above all 
things, think in this manner, which they do from a belief in 
these words of the Lord : “Their reward shall be great in heaven” 
(Matt. v. 12 ; vi. 1 ; x. 41, 42; Luke vi. 23, 35 ; xiv. 12 — 14; 
John iv. 36). “ Those who have done good shall inherit the 

kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world” 
(Matt. xxv. 34). “ Every man shall be rewarded according to 

his works” (Matt. xvi. 27 ; John v. 29 ; Rev. xiv. 13 ; xx. 12, 13 ; 
Jer. xxv. 14, xxxii. 19 ; Hosea iv. 9 ; Zech. i. 6) ; and in many 
other places. Such persons are not influenced by a confidence 
in the reward to which merit entitles them, but by a belief in the 
promise made of grace. To these the delight of doing good to 
their neighbor is a reward, which is the delight the angels ol 
heaven experience, and is a spiritual delight, which is eternal, 
and infinitely superior to every natural delight. Those who are 
in the enjoyment of this delight, are unwilling to hear of merit, 
tor they love to do good, and therein perceive true blessedness: 
462 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 440, 441 

and it grieves them to have it supposed that they do good for 
the sake of recompense : they are like those who do good to their 
friends for the sake of friendship ; to a brother, because he is a 
brother ; to a wife and children, because they are wife and chil- 
dren ; to their country, because it is their country : thus their 
actions are dictated by friendship and love. All persons who 
do good to others bear testimony to the superior excellence of 
such motives, by endeavoring to persuade them that they do it 
for their sakes, and not for their own. 

4 41. The case however is very different with those who in 
their works - consider recompense as the only end worth regard. 
Such persons are like those who make professions of friendship 
for the sake of gain and interest, and who also make presents, 
do kind offices, and give proofs of love, as if it proceeded from 
their hearts, and yet, when they are disappointed in their expec- 
tations, turn round, renounce the obligations of friendship, and 
join the enemies and haters of him whom they seemed to love. 
Such persons are also like nurses, who suckle infants merely 
for the sake of reward, and kiss and fondle them while their 
parents are present; but as soon as they perceive that their 
extravagant expectations of recompense are not all immediately 
gratified, they then leave the poor infants to shift for themselves, 
become regardless of their cries, and use them in the most severe 
and barbarous manner. They are also like those who, in their 
regard for their country, are influenced by the love of self and 
the world ; who make professions of a readiness to serve her, 
even at the expense of their fortunes and lives, and yet if they 
are disappointed of the honors and emoluments which they 
expected as rewards for their patriotism, begin to abuse their 
ungrateful country, and take part with her enemies. They are 
also like shepherds who feed sheep only for wages, and who, if 
they do not receive them at the appointed time, drive away the 
flock from the pasture into the wilderness. Like unto these are 
those priests who perform their ministerial duties merely out of 
regard to the emoluments annexed to them, and who, it is very 
plain, on that account care little about the salvation of the souls 
of those committed to their charge. The case is the same in 
respect to those magistrates who look only to the honors and 
profits arising from their offices : when these do good, it is not 
out of any regard to the public welfare, but with a view to selfish 
and worldly gratifications, which they consider as their only 
good. Many other instances, to the same purport, might be 
adduced ; for the end or object regarded is the grand point in 
which all other considerations centre, and mediatory causes 
belonging to the office or duty, in case they do not promote that 
end, are renounced and disclaimed. So it is with those who 
require recompense as a reward of merit in the concerns of sal- 
vation : all such after death demand heaven with much confi- 
463 


441—443 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


deuce; but when it is discovered that they possess no love to 
God and towards their neighbor, they are assigned over to 
those whose office it is to give instruction in charity and faith, 
and. if they reject the teaching of such instructors, they are sent 
away to the society of spirits of a like persuasion with them- 
selves, among whom there are some who are angry with God 
for not giving them the rewards they expected, and call faith a 
mere creature of the brain. These are those who are meant in 
the Word by hirelings, to whom the most slavish and base 
offices in the courts of the temple were committed. In the spir- 
itual world they appear at a distance as if they were cutting 
wood. 

442. It ought to be carefully observed, that charity and faith 
in the Lord are closely conjoined, so that the quality of charity 
depends on the quality of faith. The Lord, charity , and faith, 
constitute a one, like life, will, and understanding / and in 
case they are divided, each perishes like a pearl bruised to poio - 
dev, as may be seen above, n. 362 ; and charity and faith are 
together in good works, n. 373 — 377. Hence it follows that the 
quality of charity depends on that of faith, and the quality of 
good works on the quality of faith and charity together. How 
if a man’s faith be such that he believes that all the good which 
he does as of himself is from the Lord, in this case he is the 
instrumental cause of good, and the Lord its principal cause, 
which two causes appear in the man’s sight as one, when never- 
theless the principal cause is all in all in the instrumental. It 
follows, then, that if a man believes that all good, properly so 
called, is from the Lord, he will ascribe no merit to works ; and 
as this belief is rendered more pure and perfect, in the same de- 
gree every idea of merit will be removed from him by the Lord. 
A man in this state performs an abundance of charitable acts 
without fear of merit, and finally perceives the spiritual delight 
of charity, and then begins to dislike every idea of merit as ob- 
noxious to his life. Such meritorious ideas are easily removed 
by the Lord from those who are imbued with charity by a just 
and faithful discharge of the office, business, or employment in 
which they may be engaged, and by dealing justly and faith- 
fully with all with whom they have any connection, according 
to the definition given above, n. 422 ; but it is difficult to remove 
such ideas from those who believe charity to consist in giving 
alms and assisting the indigent : in doing these works of charity 
the doer at first openly, and afterwards tacitly, desires reward, 
and contracts notions of merit and desert. 

XIY. That moral life, if it is at the same time spiritual, 

IS CHARITY. 

443. Every man learns from his parents and masters to live 
morally, that is, to act in a civil character, and to discharge the 
duties of a man of honor, which duties have relation to vari me 

464 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 443, 444 

virtues, that are the essentials of honorable conduct. lie learns 
further to clothe these essentials in suitable outward forms, 
which consist in whatever regards decency and decorum of be- 
havior ; and, as he grows up, he is taught to superadd rational 
motives and considerations, and thus to perfect his moral char- 
acter; tor moral life in children, till they approach the period 
of youth, is merely natural, and from that period it becomes 
more and more rational. Every considerate person may plainly 
see that moral life is the same with the life of charity, which 
consists in a fair and upright conduct towards our neighbor, and 
in restraining the evils which might stain such a conduct : this 
was shown above, n. 435 — 438. But still, in the first period of 
a man’s existence, moral life is the life of charity in its exter- 
nals, that is, only its exterior and more superficial part, and not 
its interior : for there are four periods of life through which a 
man passes from infancy to old age : the first when he acts 
from and under the guidance of others, according to the instruc- 
tions he receives ; the second when he acts of himself, under the 
guidance of the understanding ; the third when the will acts 
upon the understanding, and the understanding modifies the 
will ; the fourth when he acts from fixed confirmation and pur- 
pose. These, however, are the periods of the life of the man’s 
spirit, but not in like manner of his body ; for this may act mor- 
ally and talk rationally, and the spirit may entertain opposite 
desires and thoughts. That this is the case with the natural 
man is evident from dissemblers, flatterers, liars, and hypocrites, 
who, it is plain, have a double mind, or a mind divided into two 
discordant parts. The case, however, is different with those 
whose wills are influenced by what is good, and their thoughts 
by what is rational, and who in consequence act well and talk 
rationally. These are understood in the Word by the single in 
spirit, which name is given them because they have not a 
double or divided spirit. Hence may be seen what is properly 
meant by the external and internal man, and that there is no 
possibility of deciding on the morality of the internal man from 
the apparent morality of the external, because the former may 
be in a state opposite to the latter, and hide itself, as a tortoise 
does its head in its shell, or as a serpent its head in its folds ; for 
such a moral man, so called, is like the same robber in a city 
and in a wood, whc in the former assumes a moral character, 
and in the latter plays the thief and plunderer. The case is oth- 
erwise with those who are inwardly, or in respect to the spirit, 
moral, being so rendered by regeneration from the Lord: these 
are those who are meant by spiritual-moral persons. 

444. A moral life, if it is at the same time spiritual, is a life 
of charity, because the exercises of a moral life and those of 
charity are the same ; for charity consists in bearing, good-will 
towards our neighbor, and in doing him good from a principle 
465 " « n 


444—446 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


of good-will, and the same is true of moral life. The law of spi'r 
itual life is laid down in these words of the Lord : u Whatsoevei 
ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto 
them ; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. vii. 12). 
This same law is the universal law of moral life : but to reckon 
up all the works of charity, and to compare them with the works 
of moral life, would require many pages ; let it suffice, then, to 
illustrate the point in question by six commandments of the 
second table of the decalogue, which, it is plain to every one, 
are precepts of moral life, and which also contain all things 
relating to love towards our neighbor, as may be seen above, 
n. 329 — 331. Charity fulfils all the contents of those command- 
ments, as is evident from these words of Paul : u Love one 
another ; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For 
this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou 
shalt no steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt 
not covet ; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly 
comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor ; 
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Homans xiii. 8 — 10). 
Those who think from the external man only, must be surprised 
that the seven commandments of the second table of the deca- 
logue were promulgated in so miraculous a manner by Jehovah 
himself on Mount Sinai, when vet they were precepts of the 
law of civil justice in all kingdoms throughout the world, conse- 
quently in Egypt, also, from which country the children of Israel 
were lately come forth ; for without them no kingdom can sub- 
sist. But they were promulgated by Jehovah, and also written 
with his finger on tables of stone, in order that they might be 
precepts not only of civil society, and thus of natural-moral life, 
but also of heavenly society, and thus of spiritual-moral life ; so 
that to act in opposition to them, is to act in opposition not only 
to men, but also to God. 

445. If moral life be considered in its essence, it will appear 
that it is agreeable to both human and divine laws ; the man 
therefore who lives according to those two laws as one, is a truly 
moral man, and his life is charity. Every person, if he pleases, 
is capable of comprehending, from external-moral life, the nature 
and quality of charity. Let him only transcribe external-moral 
life, such as it is in civil commerce and communication, into the 
internal man, that this in will and thought may be similar and 
conformable to the actions of the external man, and he will then 
see charity in its type. 

XY. That the friendship of love, contracted with a person 

WITHOUT REGARD TO HIS SPIRITUAL QUALITY, IS DETRIMENTAI 

AFTER DEATH. 

446. The friendship of love means interior friendship, which 
is such as to love not only the external man in a friend, but 

466 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


446—448 


likewise his internal, and this without examination as to the 
nature and quality of his internal or spirit, in other words, as to 
the affections of his mind, whether they be affections of love 
towards the neighbor and of love to God, and thus capable of 
consociation with the angels of heaven, or whether they be affec- 
tions of opposite loves, and thus productive of consociation with 
devils. Such friendship is contracted by many persons from 
various causes, and for various ends. This is distinct from that 
external friendship which regards the person alone, and which 
is intended for the various purposes of bodily and sensual 'grati- 
fications, and worldly business and connections. The latter kind 
of friendship may be contracted with any person, even with a 
buffoon, who entertains the company with his jests at a great 
man’s table. This is simply called friendship, but the former 
kind is called the friendship of love, because friendship is natu- 
ral conjunction only, whereas love is spiritual conjunction. 

447. The friendship of love may be detrimental after death, 
as will appear evidently from the state of heaven, of hell, and of 
the spirit of man respectively. With regard to the state of 
heaven, it is distinguished into innumerable societies, according 
to all the varieties of the affections of the love of good ; hell, on 
the other hand, is distinguished into societies, according to all 
the varieties of the affections of the love of evil ; and a man 
after death, being then a spirit, is immediately, according to 
his former life in the world, attached to that society where his 
ruling love prevails ; to some heavenly society, if love to God 
and towards his neighbor had constituted the head of his loves, 
and to some infernal society, if that head had been constituted 
by the love of self and of the world. Immediately on his 
entrance into the spiritual world (which is an effect consequent 
on death and the burial of the material body), the man is kept 
some time in a state of preparation for the society to which lie 
belongs, and this preparation is effected by the rejection of 
every love that is not in agreement with his principal love. 
During this time, therefore, a separation is made of one person 
from another ; friends are separated from friends, clients from 
their patrons, parents also from their children, brothers from 
their brethren, and each of them is inwardly adjoined to his 
like, with whom he is to live a life suited to his state, and such 
as is peculiarly his own, to eternity. At the beginning of this 
preparation they meet together, and converse in a friendly 
manner with each other, as they used to do in the world ; by 
degrees, however, and in a way not perceived by themselves, 
they are separated. 

448. But those who, during their abode on earth, have con 
tracted friendships of love with one another, are not capable, 
like the rest, of being separated according to order, and of being 
consigned to the society corresponding to their life ; for they arc 

467 


148—450 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


connected interiorly as to their spirits, and cannot be plucked 
asunder, because they are like branches of trees joined to each 
other by grafting ; wherefore in case one, as to his interiors, is 
in heaven, and the other, as to his interiors, is in hell, they 
cohere together, much like a sheep and a wolf, or a goose and a 
fox, or a dove and a hawk tied to each other ; and he whose 
interiors are in hell, inspires his infernal influences into him whose 
interiors are in heaven ; for it is well known in heaven, that evils 
may be inspired into the good, but not goods into the evil, 
because every one by birth is in evils ; the consequence is, that 
when the good so cohere with the evil, their interiors are closed, 
and both are plunged down into hell, where the good suffer very 
severely ; till at length, after a certain space of time, they are 
taken out, and then begin to be prepared for heaven. I have 
been permitted to see such connections, particularly between 
brothers and relations, and also between patrons and clients, 
and between well-disposed dupes and their flatterers, being 
persons whose affections were opposite, and their genius dis- 
similar. I have seen some consorting together, like kids with 
leopards, and then embracing each other, and vowing fidelity to 
their former friendship ; and I have perceived at such times the 
good imbibing and sucking in the delights of the evil, and both 
walking hand in hand, and entering together into caves where 
troops of evil beings appeared in their horrid forms, which yet 
by an illusion of phantasy seemed pleasing to themselves. After 
some time, however, I have heard the good uttering lamentations 
of fear, as if in dread of snares laid for their destruction, and 
the evil triumphing with joy, like hostile troops exulting over 
the spoil ; not to mention other sad and tragical scenes. I have 
been informed that the good, after they are taken out of those 
dens, are prepared for heaven by the appointed means of refor- 
mation, but with greater difficulty than others. 

449. The case is altogether different with those who love the 
good in another, that is, who love justice, judgment, sincerity, 
benevolence grounded in charity, and particularly faith and love 
to the Lord ; such persons, as they love what is within a man, 
abstracted from what is without him, if they do not observe those 
virtues in his person after death, immediately break off ail 
friendship with him, and are associated by the Lord with those 
who are in similar good with themselves. It may be objected 
that no one is capable -of exploring the interiors of the minds of 
those with whom he is engaged in commerce and connection ; but 
this is not necessary ; only let him be cautious how he connects 
himself with any person indiscriminately in a friendship of love : 
external friendship, contracted for various purposes, is not hurtful. 
XVI. That there are spurious charity, hypocritical charity, 

AND DEAD CHARITY. 

450. There can be no such thing as genuine charity, which 
468 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


450—452 


is living, unless it make a one with faith, and unless both in 
conjunction look towards the Lord ; for these three, the Lord, 
charity, and faith, are the three essentials of salvation, and when 
they make a one, charity is charity, and faith is faith, and the 
Lord is in them, and they in the Lord, as may be seen above, 
n. 363 — 372 ; but when these three are not joined together in 
one, charity then is either spurious, or hypocritical, or dead. 
Divers heresies have arisen in the Christian church since its first 
establishment, and still exist in it, in all which these three essen- 
tials, God, charity, and faith, were and are acknowledged, for 
without them there can be no religion. As to what regards 
charity in particular, it may be adjoined to any heretical faith, 
—to the faith of Socinians, of enthusiasts, of Jews, yea, even 
to the faith of idolaters ; and by all of them it may be believed 
to be charity, because in its external form it appears like it; but 
still it changes its quality according to the faith to which it is 
adjoined or conjoined, as may be seen in the chapter on Faith. 

451. All charity which is not conjoined with faith in one God, 
in whom is a Divine Trinity, is spurious : such is the charity 
of the present church, whose faith is directed towards three 
persons of the same divinity in successive order, Father, Son, 
and Holy Gho?t, and consequently towards three gods, inasmuch 
as each of those persons is supposed to be a self-subsisting God. 
To such faith charity may be adjoined, as is actually the case 
with the maintainers of that faith, but it can never be conjoined ; 
and charity only adjoined to faith is merely natural and not spir- 
itual, and consequently is spurious charity. The case is the 
same with the charity of many other heresies, as that of those 
who deny a Divine Trinity, and therefore approach God the 
Father alone, or the Holy Ghost alone, or both without God 
the Saviour. To the faith of such persons charity cannot be 
conjoined, and if it be conjoined or adjoined, it is spurious. It 
is called spurious, because it is like an illegitimate child, such 
as the son of Hagar by Abraham, who was cast out of the house 
(Gen. xxi. 9). Such charity is. like fruit not growing naturally 
on a tree, but fixed to it artificially; or it is like a chailot, to 
which the horses are fastened only by the reins which the driver 
holds in his hands ; the consequence is, that when the horses 
set off, they pull the driver from his seat, and leave the chariot 
behind them. 

452. Hypocritical charity is predicable of those who in 
public or private worship bow themselves almost to the ground 
before God, pour forth long prayers with great devotion, put on 
a sanctified appearance, kiss crucifixes and bones of the dead, 
and sometimes kneel down at sepulchres, and there mutter 
words expressive of holy veneration towards God, and yet in 
their hearts nourish self-worship, and seek to be adored like so 
many deities. Such persons are like those whom the Lord 

469 


452—454 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


describes in these words : “ When thou doest thine alms, do not 
sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in their syna- 
gogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. 
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are ; 
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the 
cornel’s of the streets, that they may be seen of men” (Matt, 
vi. 2, 5). “ Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 

for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men ; for ye nei- 
ther go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering 
to go in. Woe unto you, hypocrites ! for ye compass sea and 
land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make 
him two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto 
you, hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and 
the platter, but within they are full of rapine and excess” 
(Matt, xxiii. 13, 15, 25). “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you, 
hypocrites, saying, These people honor me with their lips, but 
their heart is far from me” (Mark vii. 6). “Woe unto you, 
hypocrites ! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men 
that walk over them are not aware of them” (Luke xi. 44) ; 
with many other passages to the same purpose. Such persons 
are like flesh without blood, or like jackdaws and parrots taught 
to speak the words of a psalm, or like birds taught to sing the 
tune of a sacred hymn ; the sound of their words is like that of 
a bird-catcher’s pipe. 

453. Dead charity is predicable of those whose faith is dead, 
since the quality of charity depends on the quality of faith : in 
the chapter on faith it was shown that they make a one. Faith 
is dead in all who are without works, as appears from the epistle 
of James, ii. 17, 20. Moreover, faith is dead, in all those who 
believe not on God, but on living and dead men, and worship 
idols as if they were holy in themselves, after the practice of 
the old gentiles. The donations of those persons who are in- 
fluenced by such faith, which they bestow with a view to salva- 
tion on miraculous images, as they call them, and which they 
reckon among the works of charity, are merely like gold and 
silver thrown into the urns and monuments of the dead ; or like 
the flesh given to Cerberus, and the fee to Charon, to obtain a 
passage to the Elysian fields. But the charity of such persons 
as believe there is no God, and adopt nature instead of God, is 
neither spurious, nor hypocritical, nor dead, but none ; because 
not being joined to any faith it cannot be called charity, whose 
quality depends solely on faith. The charity of such, when viewed 
from heaven, is like bread made of ashes, or a cake made of 
fish-scales, or fruit made of wax. 

XVII That the friendship of love among the wicked is 
intestine hatred towards each other. 

454. It was shown above, that every man has an internal 
and an external, the former being called the internal *nan, and 

470 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 454, 455 

the latter the external man. To this may be added, that the 
internal man is in the spiritual world, and the external in the 
natural world ; and the reason of a man’s being so created is, 
that he may be capable of being associated with spirits and 
angels in their world, and therefore of thinking analytically, 
and of being translated after death from his own world to an- 
other. The spiritual world includes both heaven and hell. Since 
then the internal man is with spirits and angels in their 
world, and the external with men, it is plain that he may 
be associated both with spirits of hell, and with angels of 
heaven : by this faculty and power man is distinguished from 
the beasts. The nature and quality of every man in himself 
depends on the nature and quality of his internal man, and not 
on the nature and quality of his external, because the internal 
man is his spirit, which acts by the external. The material 
body, with which his spirit is clothed in the natural world, is an 
accessory covering for the sake of continuing his species, and of 
the formation of the internal man ; for the internal man is 
formed in the natural body, as a tree is formed in the ground, 
and the seed in the fruit. Further particulars on the subject of 
the internal and external man, may be seen above, n. 401. 

455. Now the nature and quality of a wicked person as to 
his internal man, and of a good person as to his internal man, 
may be seen from this short description of heaven and hell ; for, 
with the wicked, the internal man is in conjunction with devils 
in hell, and with the good in conjunction with angels in heaven. 
Hell, in consequence of the kinds of love which prevail there, is 
in the delights of all sorts of evil, that is, in the delights of 
hatred, revenge, and murder, of depredation and theft, of abuse 
and’ reviling, of the denial of God, and the profanation of the 
Word. These evils lie concealed in his lusts, on which the man 
Beldom reflects ; and with these delights the infernal inhabitants 
burn like flaming torches, this being what is meant in the Word 
by hell-fire. But the delights of heaven are the delights of love 
towards the neighbor, and of love to God. Since then the 
delights of hell are opposite to those of heaven, there is a great 
interstice between them, into which the delights of heaven enter 
by influx from above, and those of hell by influx from below. 
In the midst of this interstice is man, during his abode in this 
world, that he may be in equilibrium, and thus in a state of 
freedom to turn himself either to heaven or to hell. This inter- 
stice is what is meant by the great gulf fixed between those who 
are in heaven and those who are in hell (Luke xvi. 26). Hence 
may appear the nature and quality of the friendship of love 
which prevails among the wicked ; that as to the external man 
it assumes the gestures and mimics the behavior of real friend- 
ship, and puts on the semblance of morality, for the purpose of 
spreading its nets, and exploring occasions of enjoying the de- 
471 


455 456 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

lights of its loves with which the internal man is on .fire, while 
the fear of the law, and of the loss of reputation and life, is the 
only check for restraining and preventing their evil lusts from 
bursting forth into act ; therefore their friendship is like a spider 
concealed in sugar, or a viper in a piece of bread, or a young 
crocodile in a honey-comb, or a serpent in the grass. Such is 
the friendship of the wicked in general ; but among those who 
are confirmed in wickedness, as among thieves, robbers, and 
pirates, it is productive of familiarity, so long as with one mind 
they are bent upon the acquisition of plunder ; for then they 
embrace each other as brethren, entertain themselves with feast- 
ing, singing, and dancing, and conspire together for the de- 
struction of others ; yet still every one in the depth of his own 
heart regards his companion as an enemy : this is what a cun- 
ning thief beholds and fears in his associates. Hence it is plain 
that among such persons there is no friendship, but, instead 
thereof, intestine hatred. 

455J. Every man who has not openly connected himself with 
malefactors, and practised theft and robbery, but' has led a 
moral-civil life, with a view to various uses and ends, and yet 
has not bridled the lusts in the internal man, may possibty fancy 
that the friendship he professes for others is not of such a nature 
as that above described ; but that it really is so, in various 
degrees, with all those who have rejected faith and despised the 
holy things of the church, and considered them as not designed 
for themselves, but only for the vulgar, I have been permitted 
to know for certain, by many examples in the spiritual world. 
In some the delights of infernal love lie concealed like fire in 
burning wood covered over with the bark ; in some like live coals 
under embers ; in some like wax torches, that blaze forth as 
soon as fire i's applied to them ; and in others after a different 
manner. Such are all men who have banished from their hearts 
the dictates of religion. Their internal man is in hell ; and so 
long as they live in the world, and are ignorant of this circum- 
stance of their true state, from an apparent morality in their 
externals, they acknowledge none for their neighbor but them- 
selves and their children, and regard others either with contempt, 
in which case they are like cats on the watch for birds in their 
nests ; or with hatred, in which case they are like wolves when 
they see dogs that they may devour. These circumstances are 
mentioned to show what charity is by its opposite. 

XVIII. The conjunction of love to god and love towards 

OUR NEIGHBOR. 

456. It is well known that the law promulgated from mount 
Sinai was written on two tables, one of which treats of God and 
the other of men, and that in the hand of Moses they were one 
table; upon the right part was written what related to God, 
and upon the left what related to men, that thus, when presented 
472 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 456, 457 

to the eyes of beholders, the writing of both parts might be seen 
at the same time. Thus the one part was in the sight of the other, 
like Jehovah speaking with Moses, and Moses with Jehovah, 
face to face, as it is written. This was done in order that the tables 
so united might represent the conjunction of God with men, and 
the reciprocal conjunction of men with God; for which reason 
the law written on them was called the covenant and the tes- 
timony, a covenant signifying conjunction, and testimony a life 
according to the articles agreed upon. From these two tables 
so united maybe seen the conjunction of love to God and of love 
towards our neighbor. The first table includes in it all things 
relating to love to God, the chief of which are these, that we 
ought to acknowledge one God, the divinity of his Humanity, 
and the sanctity of the Word, and that he is to be worshipped 
by the holy things which proceed from him. These particulars 
are included in the first table, as is evident from the commen- 
taries on the commandments of the decalogue, contained in the 
fifth chapter. The second table includes in it all things relating 
to love towards our neighbor ; the first five commandments 
whatever respects actions, which are called works, and the last 
two whatever respects the will, consequently whatever respects 
charity in its origin ; for in these commandments it is said, 
u Thou shalt not covet,” and when a man does not covet what 
belongs to his neighbor, he then bears good-will towards him. 
The ten commandments of the decalogue contain all thinc/s re- 
specting love to God and love towards our neighbor, as may be 
seen above, n. 329 — 331, where it was also shown that there is 
a conjunction of both tables with those who are in charity. 

457. The case is otherwise with those who are occupied only 
in the worship of God, and not at the same time in good works 
from a principle of charity ; these are like persons who break a 
covenant : and the case is otherwise again with those who divide 
God into three, and worship each separately, and also with those 
who do not approach God in his Humanity. It is these u who 
do not enter by the door, but climb up some other way” (John 
x. 1). It is otherwise also with those who have confirmed them- 
selves in a denial of the Lord’s Divinity. In all these cases there 
can be no conjunction with God, and consequently no salvation ; 
and the charity of such persons is spurious charity, which effects 
a conjunction not in front, or face to face, but on the side, or at 
the back. The manner in which conjunction is effected shall bo 
briefly explained. God enters by influx into every man, with 
an acknowledgment of Himself, which he infuses into the 
knowledges of him which the man possesses, and at the same 
time with an influx of his own love towards mankind. The man 
who receives only the former influx, and not the latter, receives 
it in his understanding, and not in his will, and rests in know- 
ledges without an interior acknowledgment of God, and the 
473 


457, 458 OF- CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

state of such a person is like that of a garden in winter ; Lut 
the man who receives both the former and latter influx, receives 
it in his will, and by derivation thence in his understanding, 
consequently in his whole mind ; and such a person has an inte- 
rior acknowledgment of God, which gives life to his knowledges 
concerning God, and his state is like that of a garden in spring. 
Conjunction is effected by means of charity, because God loves 
every man ; and as he cannot do good to every man immediately, 
but mediately by the instrumentality of men, therefore he in- 
spires men with his love, as he inspires parents with love towards 
their children ; and the man who receives that love is conjoined 
with God, and loves his neighbor from the love of God. With 
such a person the love of God resides within his lQve towards his 
neighbor, operating in him both the will and the power to love 
and to do good. And since a man does nothing that is good, 
unless it appear to him as if the power, the will, and the deed 
are of himself, therefore this appearance is granted him ; and 
when he does good from freedom as of himself, such good is im- 
puted to him, and accepted as that reciprocal operation by which 
conjunction is effected. This case is like that of active and pas- 
sive, and the co-operation of the latter, which is effected by the 
operation of the active in the passive. It is also like the case 
of the will in its influence upon actions, and of thought in its 
influence upon speech, and of the 'soul from its inmost residence 
in its operation upon both. It is also like the case of the endea- 
vor to move in the act of motion; and like the prolific principle 
of a seed, which acts from within upon the juices, by which the 
tree grows to the production of fruit, and by fruit to the produc- 
tion of new seeds. It is also like light in its action upon precious 
stones, which is reflected according to the texture of their parts, 
whence various colors are generated which seem to belong to 
the several stones, when in reality they belong to the light. 

458. Hence may appear the origin and nature of the con- 
junction of love to God and love towards our neighbor ; it is an 
effect of the influx of the love of God towards mankind, the re- 
ception of which by man, and his co-operation, is love towards 
our neighbor ; in short, it is fitly expressed by these words of 
the Lord : “ In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, 
and ye in me, and I in you” (John xiv. 20); and also by these : 
“ He that hath my commandments, and doeth them, he it is 
that loveth me ; and I will love him, and will manifest myself 
unto him, and will make my abode with him” (John xiv. 21, 
23). All the Lord’s commandments have relation to lo ve tow r ards 
our neighbor, and consist in these two general precepts, not to 
do evil to him, but to do him good ; and it is agreeable to the 
above words of the Lord that those who observe these precepts 
love God, and God loves them. Since the love of God and the 
love of our neighbor are thus conjoined, therefore John says, 
474 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


458, 459 


u He that keepeth the commandments of Jesus Christ dwell eth 
in him, and he in him. If a man saith, I love God, and hate 
his brother, he is a liar ; for he that loveth not his brother whom 
he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? 
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth 
God love his brother also” (1st Epist. iii. 24; iv. 20, 21). 


459. To the above I will add the following memorable 
relations. — First. I once saw at a distance five gymnasia, 
which were overspread with light of various colors; the first 
with a flame-colored light, the second with a yellow light, the 
third with a clear white light, the fourth with a light of a middle 
tint betwixt that of midday and that of evening, and the fifth 
was scarcely visible, it being as it were in the dusk of evening. 
In the ways leading to them I saw some persons on horseback, 
some in chariots, and some on foot, and of the last some were 
running, and making all the haste they could. These were 
going to the first gymnasium, which was overspread with flame- 
colored light. Hereupon I was seized and impelled with a 
strong desire of going there myself, to hear what subjects were 
there discussed ; so I quickly made myself ready, and joined in 
company with those who were hastening to the first gymnasium, 
and entered along with them ; and lo! there was a large assembly, 
part of whom ranged themselves on the right side and part on 
the left, in order to take their places on the benches close to the 
walls. In front I saw a low pulpit, in which there stood a person 
who acted as president : he ha'd a wand in his hand, a cap on his 
head, and was clothed in a garment tinged with the same flame- 
colored light as the gymnasium. This person, when the congre- 
gation were all assembled, raised his voice, and said, “ Brethren, 
let the subject of your discussion to-day be the nature and 
meaning of charity : every one of you may know that charity 
is spiritual in its essence, and natural in its acts.” Immediately 
there rose a person from the first row of benches, towards the 
left, on which were seated those who had the reputation of 
wisdom, and he declared his sentiments as follows : u My opinion 
is, that morality inspired by faith is charity ;” which po- 
sition he confirmed thus : “ Who can be ignorant that charity 
follows faith, as an attendant maid her mistress, and that a man 
who has faith fulfils the law, and consequently exercises charity 
so spontaneously that he does not know that the law and charity 
influence his life, since if he knew it, and kept the law and 
practised charity knowingly, and at the same time entertained 
thoughts of salvation on that account, he would defile the holi- 
ness of faith with his own self-hood and so would weaken its 
efficacy. Is not this agreeable to the tenets of our church ?” 
Here he looked towards those on each side of him, among whom 
475 


459 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


were some orthodox writers, who gave tokens of assent. “ But 
what,” continued he, “ is spontaneous charity but morality, which 
every one from his infancy is taught to practise, and which 
therefore in itself is natural, but is rendered spiritual under the 
inspiration of faith ? Who can distinguish men by their moral 
lives, whether they have faith or not ? for every one lives morally : 
but God alone, who is the giver and sealer of faith, knows and 
distinguishes those who possess it ; therefore I assert that char- 
ity is morality inspired by faith, and that such morality is of a 
saving nature from the faith which lies in its bosom, but that all 
other morality is of no help to salvation, because it is meri- 
torious. Those therefore who mix charity and faith together, 
that is, who conjoin them from within, instead of adjoining them 
from without, only lose their labor ; for to mix them together, 
and to conjoin them, would be like admitting the servant, who 
stands behind an archbishop’s carriage, to ride in it with his 
master, or like introducing a porter to sit at table with a grandee 
of the first rank.” After he sat down, there rose a person from 
the first row of benches on the right, who delivered himself as 
follows: “ My opinion is, that piety, inspired with a, sense 
of our miserable state, is charity; and I confirm this opinion 
by the consideration that nothing has a greater tendency to 
engage the divine favor than piety grounded in humility of 
heart. Besides, piety is continually beseeching God to give faith 
and charity, ai*d the Lord says, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you’ 
(Matt. vii. 7) ; since therefore its petitions are granted, both 
faith and charity are contained in piety. I say that piety, 
inspired with a sense of our miserable state, is charity ; for all 
truly devout piety is accompanied by such a feeling, since it 
moves a man’s heart to mourn and bewail ; and what is this but 
a sense of misery ? This feeling indeed leaves us when we cease 
to pray, but still it returns when we begin to pray again, and 
on its return piety is in it, and is thus in charity. Our priests 
ascribe to faith alone whatever conduces to salvation, and 
nothing at all to charity ; and what in this case remains but 
piety, praying from a sense of our miserable state for the increase 
of both? In reading the Word, I was always led to conceive 
that faith and charity were the two means of salvation ; but whe 1 
I consulted the ministers of the church, I was told that faith 
was the only means, and that charity was of no consequence : 
then I seemed to myself as out at sea in a ship, tossed to and 
fro between two rocks ; and under an apprehension that the 
vessel would be wrecked, I betook myself to a little boat, in 
which I made haste to escape. My little boat is piety, and 
moreover piety is profitable for all things.” After him rose 
another from the second row of benches on the right hand 
and thus began : “ My opinion is, that charity consists in 

DOING GOOD TO ALL PERSONS WHATEVER, WHETHER THEY BF VIRTU 

476 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


459 


ously or viciously inclined; and I confirm my opinion by 
the following arguments : What is charity but goodness of heart ? 
and a good heart wishes well to all, both to the virtuous and the 
vicious. Besides, the Lord said that we ought to do good even to 
our enemies ; if therefore you withdraw your charity from any 
one, does not your charity in that particular instance become 
none ? And are not you then like a person hopping on one leg, 
because the other is cut off? The vicious s*ye men as well as the 
virtuous, and charity regards a man as a man : if he be a bad 
man, what is that to me ? It is with charity as with the sun’s 
heat, which communicates life to all animals, whether they be 
of a fierce or a gentle nature, to wolves as well as sheep, and is 
the cause of growth in all plants, both hurtful and useful, of a 
thorn as well as of a vine.” As he said this, he took in his hands 
a grape fresh gathered, and said, u It is with charity as with 
this grape ; if you divide it, all its contents run out, and are 
dispersed and he divided the grape, and the contents ran out 
and were dispersed. After him rose another from the second 
row of benches to the left, and said, “ My opinion is, that 
charity consists in serving our relations and friends upon 
all occasions, which opinion I thus support : — How plain is 
it to see that cliarity begins at home, for every one is nearest 
neighbor to himself ; so that charity advances according to the 
progress of relationship from a man’s self, reaching first to 
brothers and sisters, and from them to kindred and relations, and 
thus its progress is terminated by itself All who are without 
are strangers and aliens, with whom it has no interior union, 
and consequently in the internal man they are considered as 
separated and alienated from its notice ; but there is a natural 
bond of union which connects relations and those of the same 
blood, and a union resulting from habit, which is a second nature, 
connecting friends, and thus they become our neighbors. More- 
over, charity unites others with itself from within, and by that 
means from without, and such as are not united from within 
are only to be called by the name of companions or associates. 
Do not all birds know their relatives, not by their feathers, but 
by their notes and cries, and when they are near each other, by 
the sphere of life which exhales from their bodies ? This affec- 
tion of kindred, and consequent conjunction, is in birds called 
Distinct; and the same affection in a man, when it is directed 
towards his relatives and those who belong to him, may properly 
be called the instinct of human nature. What causes homo- 
geneity, or similarity of nature, but the ties of blood ? A man’s 
mind, which is also his spirit, has a feeling, and as it were a 
sensible perception of such homogeneity ; and in this, and the 
sympathy thence arising, the essence of charity consists. But on 
the contrary, heterogeneity, or dissimilarity of nature, which is 
also the cause of antipathy, is as it were an absence of the ties 
477 


459 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


of blood, from which results an absence of charity. And as habit 
is second nature, and is also productive of homogeneity, or simi- 
larity of nature, it follows that charity consists in doing good to 
our friends also. When any one after a long voyage reaches the 
land, and finds himself in a foreign country, among strange 
people, with whose language and manners he is unacquainted, 
he is like one out of his own element, and feels towards them 
none of the delightfifl sympathy of love ; but if he finds that 
it is his native country, and that he is acquainted with the lan- 
guage and manners of the people, he is then as it were in his 
own element, and feels the delight of love, which is also the 
delight of charity*” Next arose .one from the third row of 
benches to the right, and in a loud tone of voice thus began : 
“ My opinion is, that charity consists in giving alms to 
the poor, and relieving the indigent i this assuredly is charity, 
for so the divine Word teaches, whose authority is indisputable. 
To give to the rich, and to those who abound in wealth, what is 
this but vain-glory, w 7 hich has no charity in it, but is done 
purely with a view 7 to recompense, in which motive there cannot 
possibly be any genuine affection of love towards our neighbor, 
but only a spurious affection, that may serve a man’s purpose on 
earth, but not in heaven ? therefore necessity and want ought 
to be relieved, because no idea of recompense influences such 
exercise of charity. In the city where I dwelt, where I knew 7 
who were good and virtuous, and who were not, I always 
observed that the former, on seeing a poor person in the street, 
stopped and gave alms, but the vicious and wicked passed by, 
and made as though they neither saw nor heard any object ot 
distress; and who does not allow that the good and virtuous 
have charity, but not the wicked and the vicious? He w 7 ho gives 
to the poor and assists the indigent, is like a shepherd w T ho leads 
out the hungry and thirsty sheep to pasture and water ; but he 
who gives only to the rich and opulent, is like a person that 
presses meat and wine on those who have eaten and drunk to 
the full.” After him rose another from the third row of benches 
to the left, and thus delivered himself: “ My opinion is, that 

CHARITY CONSISTS IN BUILDING AND ENDOWING HOSPITALS AND 
HOUSES FOR THE RECEPTION OF THE SICK, THE ORPHAN, AND THE 

stranger. I am confirmed in this opinion by the consideration 
that such beneficent acts and aids are of a public nature, and 
excel by many degrees such as are private ; for thus charity 
becomes of a richer quality, and more replete with blessings 
and advantages, &nd consequently the reward annexed to it fcy 
the promises of the gospel becomes more abundant, since every 
one reaps in proportion to what he sows. Besides, is not this giv- 
ing to the poor and relieving the indigent in an eminent degree ? 
Is not this the w 7 ay to obtain glory in the eyes of the world, and 
to receive the tribute of praise, uttered in the humble voice oi 
478 


OP CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


459 


gratitude, from the objects of our charity? And does not such 
praise elevate the heart, and the affection called charity at the 
same time, to its highest pitch ? It is not possible for the rich, 
"who do not walk the streets on foot, but go in their coaches, to 
take notice of the beggars that sit by the wall, and give them 
small pieces of money ; they therefore contribute larger sums to- 
wards the accomplishment of such purposes as may be attended 
with more general advantages ; yet this is no reason why others 
of inferior fortunes, who walk on foot through the streets, and 
cannot contribute so bountifully to more extensive charities, 
should not exercise this private charity, and give to beggars.” 
As he said this, there suddenly rose another from the same row 
of seats, who, in a louder tone of voice interrupting him, said, 
“ Let not however the rich exalt the munificence and grandeur of 
their charity over that of the poor man who gives his mite to 
his poor neighbor; for we know that every one’s gift is propor- 
tioned to the dignity of the giver ; a king gives according to h'*s 
dignity, and interior characters in their respective stations ac- 
cording to their dignity ; but charity, properly considered, is not 
to be estimated according to the rank of the charitable person, 
and the value of his gift, but according to the fulness of affection 
in wdiich it originates; and consequently a man of small fortune, 
in giving a single penny, may be influenced by a greater degree 
of charity than one of a large estate, who gives or bequeaths the 
largest sums, which is also agreeable to this passage in the 
Evangelist: ‘Jesus saw the rich men casting their gifts into the 
treasury, and he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither 
two mites ; and he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor 
widow hath cast in more than they all’ ” (Luke xxi. 1 — 3). 
After these another rose from the fourth row of benches to the 
left, and thus began : “ My opinion is, that charity consists in 

ENDOWING CHURCHES, AND CONFERRING BENEFITS ON THEIR MIN- 
ISTERS, which opinion I support by the following considerations : 
The man that exercises such charity has holy thoughts in his 
mind, and acts under the influence of such holiness, which sanc- 
tifies his gifts and munificence ; and this is agreeable to charity, 
which is holy in itself; and is not all worship and service 
performed in churches holy ? for the Lord says, ‘ Where two 
or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
midst of them :’ and the priests, his servants, minister unto 
him. Hence I conclude that all gifts bestowed on the clergy 
and on churches are more excellent and eminent than any other 
kind of gifts bestowed for any other end or on any other order of 
persons'. Besides, to the clergy is committed the power of 
benediction, by which they sanctify those gifts; and afterwards 
nothing does more open and expand the mind to the reception 
of true joy than to see the donations of its charity thus blessed 
and consecrated to holy uses.” After him rose one from the 
479 


459 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


fourth row of seats to the right, and thus expressed his senti- 
ments : “ My opinion is, that the old Christian brotherhood 
is charity; and I am confirmed in my opinion by these consid-* 
erations. Every church that worships the true God has its 
beginning from charity, in like manner as Ihe old Christian 
church had ; and since it is charity which unites minds, and 
joins many together in one, they called themselves brethren, — 
brethren in Jesus Christ their God; and as they then lived in 
much fear and apprehension from the barbarous nations which 
surrounded them, they made a common stock of their posses- 
sions and property, from which they were supplied at some 
general place of meeting, where they assembled with one heart 
and one mind for mutual refreshment and entertainment, the 
Lord God their Saviour Jesus Christ being the subject of their 
daily conversation, and charity the constant topic of discourse 
at their dinners and suppers. These were the ties which con- 
nected them together in brotherhood ; but after those first ages 
of the church, when schisms began to arise, and when at last 
Arius broached his wicked heresy, by which all idea of the 
Di vinity of the Lord’s Humanity was destroyed in the minds ol 
many, then charity grew out of date, and the brotherhood was 
divided and dispersed. It is true that all who worship the Lord 
in truth, and keep and do his commandments, are brethren 
(Matt, xxiii. 8) ; but then they are brethren in spirit ; and as at 
this day no one is known as to the quality of his spirit, it is not 
necessary for men to call one another brethren. A brotherhood 
of faith alone, particularly if directed towards any other God 
than tire Lord God the Saviour, is not a brotherhood, because 
charity, which is necessary to constitute a brotherhood, is not in 
that faith. I conclude, then, that the old Christian brotherhood 
was charity : I say was / for it is now no more ; yet I prophesy that 
it is about to be restored.” As he concluded, there shone through 
the window on the east a flame-colored light, which tinged his 
cheeks, to the great astonishment of the whole assembly. Last- 
ly, there rose one from the fifth row of benches to the left, who 
desired leave to make some addition to what the last speaker 
had advanced, and having obtained it, he spoke thus : “ My 
opinion is, that charity consists in forgiving every one his 
trespasses. I have conceived this opinion from a customary 
form of speech used by some who approach the holy supper, and 
who on such occasions say to their friends, ‘Forgive me my 
trespasses,’ supposing thus that they have fulfilled all the duties' 
of charity ; but I have considered with myself that this is only 
a painted figure of charity, and not the real form of its essence*, 
for this form of speech is used both by those who do not 
forgive trespasses, and by those who never strive to attain 
charity ; but this is not according to the sense of the prayer 
which the Lord taught, ‘Father, forgive us our trespasses, 
480 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


159 

as we forgive those that trespass against ns ;’ foi trespasses are 
like ulcers, which, unless they are laid open and healed, collect 
putrid matter in them, which corrupts the neighboring parts, 
creeping about like a serpent, till it turns the whole mass of 
blood into the same state of putridity : just so it is with tres- 
passes against our neighbor ; they remain in us, and consume 
us, unless they be removed by repentance, and by a life con- 
formable to the Lord’s commandments. Those therefore who 
without repentance barely pray to God to pardon their sins, are 
like people in a city infected with some contagious disease, who 
go to the governor and say, 4 My lord, heal us to whom the 
governor answers, 4 ITow can I heal you ? Go to a physician, 
and learn from him what medicines are proper for you, and then 
buy those medicines of the apothecary, and take them, and you 
will be healed.’ In like manner will the Lord say to those w r ho 
pray for forgiveness of sins without actual repentance, Open the 
Word, and read what I have spoken in Isaiah : 4 Ah sinful na- 
tion, a people laden with iniquity, when ye spread forth your 
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you ; yea, when ye make many 
prayers, I will not hear. Wash you, make you clean ; put away 
the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; 
learn to do good : and then though your sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be as white as snow’” (i. 4, 15 — 18). When the several 
speakers had thus delivered their sentiments, I waved my hand, 
and asked wliether I might be allowed, notwithstanding my 
being a stranger, to offer my opinion. The president proposed 
my question to the assembly, and having obtained leave I said, 
44 My opinion is, that charity consists in acting upon all 

OCCASIONS, AND IN THE DISCHARGE OF EVERY DUTY, UNDER THE 
INFLUENCE OF THE LOVE OF JUSTICE WITH JUDGMENT, AND UNDER 
THE INFLUENCE OF A LOVE ORIGINATING SOLELY IN THE LORD GOD 

the Saviour. I have listened to the sentiments delivered by 
the several speakers on the right hand and on the left, which 
contain excellent and distinguished marks and characters of 
charity ; but as the president of this assembly observed in his 
prefatory remarks, charity is spiritual in its origin, and natural 
in its derivation ; and natural charity, if it be spiritual within, 
appears in the sight of angels transparent like a diamond ; but 
if it be not spiritual within, and consequently merely natural, 
it appears in the sight of angels as a pearl which is opaque, like 
the eye of a boiled fish. It is not for me to say whether the 
excellent marks and characters of charity, which you have just 
now adduced, be inspired with spiritual charity or not ; but I 
may be allowed to declare in this assembly what that spiritual 
principle, which ought to inspire them, must be, in order to 
render them the natural forms of spiritual charity. Their spiritual 
principle consists essentially in this, that they be done under the 
influence of the love of justice with judgment; that is, that a 
481 ii 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


459 

man should examine, in his exercises of charity, whether he 
acts from a principle of justice, and he should make this exami- 
nation under the influence of sound judgment; for it is possible 
that a man may do mischief by beneficent actions, and likewise 
that he may do good by such acts as appear to be evil ; as for 
example, he does mischief by beneficent actions who supplies a 
poor robber with money to buy a sword, although he did not 
declare his intention of buying a sword when he asked for the 
money; or if he sets him at liberty from prison, and directs 
'him to a wood for his security, saying to himself, 4 It is no fault 
of mine that he there play the robber : I only relieved him as a 
man.’ Take also another instance : he who supports an idle 
vagrant, and secures him from the necessity of labor, saying to 
him, 4 Come into a chamber in my house, and lie down on the 
bed; why will you fatigue yourself?’ such a person is an en- 
courager of sloth and idleness. So again, he that promotes ill- 
disposed relations and friends to posts of honor, in which they 
may have it in their power to do much mischief, is himself, by 
so doing, the primary cause of that mischief. How plain is it 
to see that such works of charity do not proceed from any love 
of justice united with judgment. On the other hand, it is very 
clear that a man may do good by such acts as appear to be evil ; 
as for example, a judge does an act of charity when he sentences 
a criminal to punishment according to law, notwithstanding all 
the criminal’s tears and pious ejaculations, and his prayers to 
the judge to pardon him as an act of charity towards his neigh- 
bor ; for the judge, by condemning him, prevents the criminal 
from repeating his crime, and from doing any further injury to 
society, which is his neighbor in a higher degree ; he at the 
same time avoids the stumbling-block which a partial judgment 
would put in the way of others. How plain also is it to see, 
that it is profitable for servants and children to be corrected for 
their offences by their masters and parents ! The case is the 
same in hell, where all are influenced by the love of doing evil, 
and where they are kept in confinement, and when they do evil 
are punished, the Lord permitting this for the sake of their 
amendment, since he is essential justice, and does what he does 
from a principle of essential judgment. Hence may be seen 
from what ground it was said above that charity is rendered 
spiritual by virtue of the love of justice with judgment, which is 
a love originating solely in the Lord God the Saviour : the rea- 
son of this is, because all the good of charity is from the Lord, 
who says, 4 He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same 
bringeth forth much fruit : for without me ye can do nothing’ 
(John xv. 5) ; and that he hath 4 all power in heaven and in 
earth’ (Matt, xxviii. 18) ; and the love of justice with judgment 
can come from no other source than the God of heaven, who ie 
essential justice itself, and from whom a man derives all iudff 
482 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 459, 460 

ment (Jer. xxiii. 5; xxxiii. 25). Hence I conclude that all 
the definitions of charity given by the speakers on both sides, 
whether it be made to consist in morality inspired by faith, or in 
piety inspired with a sense of our miserable state, in doing good 
equally to the virtuous and the vicious, in serving relations and 
friends upon all occasions, in giving to the poor and relieving 
the indigent, in building and endowing hospitals, in enriching 
churches and conferring benefits on their ministers, in Christian 
brotherhood, as it existed in the primitive church, or in for- 
giving every one his trespasses ; all these, I sa} T , are excellent 
proofs and characters of charity, provided they are practised 
under the influence of justice with judgment; otherwise they 
are not charity, but are only like streams separated from their 
fountain-head, or like branches of a tree plucked off from their 

E arent-stock, since genuine charity consists in believing on the 
ord, and acting justly and uprightly in every work and in the 
discharge of every duty. Whoever therefore from th.e Lord loves 
justice, and does it with judgment, he is charity in its image 
and likeness.” After I had thus delivered my sentiments, the 
whole assembly was silent, like men who see and acknowledge 
something to be true in their internal man, but not yet in their 
external ; this I could perceive by their.countenances. But at 
that instant I was suddenly removed out of their sight, in con- 
sequence of re-entering from the spirit into my material body; 
for the natural man being clothed with a material body, is invis- 
ible to a spiritual man, that is, to a spirit or angel, and the 
contrary. 

460. The second memorable relation. — Some time ago, 
as I was looking about me in the spiritual world, I heard as it 
were a gnashing of teeth, and likewise something like a beating 
noise, and intermixed with them a kind of harsh and grating 
sound. Upon inquiring what it meant, the angels who were 
with me said, “ They are colleges, which we call places of meet- 
ing, whither disputants resort : their disputations sound thus 
when heard at a distance, but when near, they are only heard 
as disputations.” So I approached, and saw several small houses 
built of rushes, and cemented together with clay ; and as no 
entrance was allowed through the door, lest light from heaven 
should thus flow in and confuse the disputants, I felt desirous to 
look in through a window, but there was none. Then on a sud- 
den a window was made on the right side, and immediately I 
heard them complaining that they were in the dark. Presently, 
however, another window was made on the left side, and that 
on the right was shut up, and then by degrees the darkness 
was dispersed, and they appeared to each other in their own 
proper light. After this I was permitted to enter at the door, 
and hear the debates. There was a table in the middle, and 
benches placed round about it, yet they all appeared to me tc 
483 


400 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


be standing upon the benches, and to be disputing sharply to- 
gether about faith and charity ; the one side maintaining that 
faith was the essential of the church, and the other that charity 
was the essential. Those who made faith the essential, said, 
“ Are not our dealings with God conducted by faith, and our 
dealings with men by charity ? Of consequence is not faith 
something heavenly, and charity something earthly ? And are 
not we saved by what is heavenly, and not by what is earthly ? 
Further, cannot God give faith from heaven, since it is heavenly, 
and may not a man give himself charity, since it is earthly ? 
But what a man gives himself can have no relation to the church, 
and therefore cannot be a means of salvation. Is it possible then 
that any man can be justified before God by works, that are 
called works of charity ? Depend upon it, that by faith alone 
we are not only justified, but also sanctified, provided such faith 
is not defiled by notions of merit arising from works of charity 
with much more to the same purpose. On the other hand, those 
who made charity the essential of the church, violently opposed 
all this reasoning, urging that charity saves, and not faith : 
“For,” said they, “does not God hold all men dear to him, and 
wish good to all ? But how can God promote such good, but 
by the mediation of men ? Does God give us power only to 
converse with one another upon subjects of faith, and does he 
not also give us power to do one towards another the works of 
charity ? Cannot you see that you talk absurdly about charity, 
in calling it earthly ? Charity is heavenly, and your faith is 
earthly, because you do not bring forth the fruits of charity. 
But how do you receive your faith ? Truly like stocks and 
stones. You say indeed that you receive it by hearing the Word ; 
but how can the Word produce such an effect if it be only heard ? 
Or how can it operate on a stock or a stone ? Possibly you may 
pretend you are quickened, while you yourselves are entirely 
ignorant of it; but in what does such quickening consist, ex- 
cept in enabling you to say that faith alone justifies and saves ? 
But as to what faith is, especially saving faith, you are wholly 
ignorant.” Then there arose a person who was called by the 
angel that talked with me a svncratist. He took off' his cap 
and laid it on the table, but suddenly placed it on his head, be- 
cause he was bald. He then raised his voice and said, “Attend 
to me : you are all wrong : faith, it is true, is spiritual, and 
charity moral, but still they are joined together, and their con- 
junction is produced by the Word, and at the same time by the 
Holy Ghost, and by their effect, which may indeed be called 
obedience, but in which a man has no part, because when faith 
is infused into him he is as ignorant as a statue. I have long 
turned my thoughts to these subjects, and have at last discovered 
that a man is capable of receiving faith from God, which is spir- 
itual, but as incapable of being stirred by God to charity which 
484 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


460, 461 


is spiritual, as a stock or a stone.” On his saying this, the fa* 
vorers of faith alone expressed their approbation, but the favorers 
of charity their disapprobation ; and the latter exclaimed with 
indignation, addressing themselves to the syncratist, “Hearken, 
friend ; you seem to be ignorant that there are a spiritual-moral 
life, and a merely natural-moral life ; the spiritual-moral life 
abides with those who do good from God, and yet in appear- 
ance as from themselves, and the moral-natural life abides with 
those who do good from hell, and yet in appearance as from 
themselves.” 

It was observed above, that the disputation sounded like the 
gnashing of teeth and a beating noise, mixed with a harsh and 
grating sound. The disputation which sounded like the gnash- 
ing of teeth, proceeded from those who made faith the sole essen- 
tial of the church ; the beating noise from those who made char- 
ity the sole essential, and the harsh grating sound intermixed 
from the syncratist. The disputations sounded in this manner 
at a distance, because the disputants, during their abode on 
earth, had all of them been given to disputing, and had never 
shunned any evil, and thus had never practised any good from a 
true spiritual ground ; they were also entirely ignorant that 
whatever relates to faith is truth, and whatever relates to charity 
is good, and that truth without good is not truth in spirit, and 
that good without truth is not good in spirit, and thus that one 
forms and constitutes the other. 

461. The third memorable relation. — I was once con- 
veyed in the spirit to the southern quarter in the spiritual world, 
to a certain paradise there, which far exceeded all others that I 
had before entered ; the reason of this was, because a garden 
signifies intelligence, and all such as excel in wisdom are trans- 
lated to the south. The garden of Eden, in which Adam and 
his wife were placed, had no other signification ; consequently 
their expulsion thence implied that they were fallen from intel- 
ligence, and thus also from integrity of life. As I was walking 
about this southern paradise, I observed some persons sitting 
under a laurel-tree, and eating figs. Straightway I went towards 
them, and asked them for some figs, which they gave me, and 
lo ! the figs in my hand became grapes. When I expressed my 
surprise at this, an angelic spirit, who stood near, said to me, 
“ The figs became grapes in your hand, because figs by corre- 
spondence signify the goods of charity, and thence of faith in 
the natural or external man, whereas grapes signify the goods 
of charity, and thence of faith in the spiritual or internal man ; 
and because you love spiritual things, therefore this change hap- 
pened to you ; for in our world all things come to pass and exist, 
and are also changed, according to correspondences.” At that 
instant I had an eager desire to know how a man can do good 
from God, and yet altogether as from himself ; so I asked the 
• 485 


461 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

persons eating figs what was their idea on the subject. They 
said, “They could not conceive, but that Qod operates good 
internally in and by a man while he is entirely ignorant of such 
operation, since if he were conscious of it, and should do good in 
such a state of consciousness, he would only do apparent good, 
which internally is evil ; for all that proceeds from a man pro- 
ceeds from his proprium, which by birth is evil : how then can 
good from God and evil from a man be joined together, and pro- 
ceed conjointly into action? Besides, a man’s proprium , in 
things relating to salvation, is ever full of its own merit ; and 
in proportion as this is the case it derogates from the Lord’s 
merit, which is the highest injustice and impiety. In a word, 
if the good, which God operates in a man, were to enter by in- 
flux into his will, and thence into his actions, such good would 
be utterly defiled, and also profaned, which God never permits. 
A man may indeed think that the good which he does is from 
God, and may call it the good of God in and by himself; but 
still we do not comprehend how it can be so.” I then opened 
my mind to them, and said, “ You do not comprehend how it 
can be so, because you think from appearances, and such 
thought, when confirmed, is fallacy ; you therefore are mis- 
guided by appearance, and the fallacy thence resulting, in con- 
sequence of believing that all things which a man wills and 
thinks, and which he thence .does and speaks, are in him, ami 
consequently from him, when nevertheless not one of all such 
things is in him, but merely the state and capacity of re- 
ceiving what enters by influx. A man is not life in himself, but 
is an organ receptive of life. The Lord is life in himself, accord- 
ing to what he says in John : u As the Father hath life in him- 
self, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (v. 26) ; 
and in other places, as John xi. 25 ; xiv. 6, 19. There are two 
things constituent of life, — love and wisdom, or what amounts 
to the same, the good of love and the truth of wisdom. These 
two enter by influx from God, and they are received by man 
as if they were his, and from such appearance and sensa- 
tion, they proceed from him as if they were his. This appear- 
ance and sensation on man’s side are granted by the Lord, in 
order that what enters by influx may effect him, and thus be 
received and remain. But as all evil likewise enters by influx, 
not from God, but from hell, and is received with satisfaction, 
because a man is born such an organ as to imbibe it readily, 
therefore he receives no more of good from God than in propor- 
tion as he removes an evil, which he effects by repentance, and 
at the same time by faith in the Lord. Love and wisdom, char- 
ity and faith, or, to speak in more general terms, the good of 
love and charity and the truth of wisdom and faith, enter into 
a man by influx, and such things as enter by influx appear in 
him entirely as if they were his own, and consequently proceed 
486 


OF CHARITY AIs'B GOOD WORKS. 


m 


from him as his own : this may he plainly seen from the case of 
vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching ; for whatever 
things are made sensible in the organs of these senses, enter by 
influx extraneously, and are perceived in them. The case is 
similar in respect to the organs of the internal senses, only with 
this difference, that spiritual things, which are not apparent to 
the bodily senses, enter by influx into the latter, but natural 
things, which are so apparent, into the former. In a word, a 
man is an organ receptive of life from God, consequently he is 
receptive of good in proportion as he desists from evil. The 
power to desist from evil the Lord gives to every man, because 
he gives him to will and to understand ; and whatever a man 
does from the will according to the understanding, or, what is 
the same thing, from freedom of wflll according to conviction of 
the understanding, that remains, and by this the Lord intro- 
duces the man into a state or conjunction with himself, in which 
state he reforms, regenerates, and saves him. The life which 
enters by influx is life proceeding from the Lord, which is also 
called the Spirit of God, and in the Word the Holy Spirit, of 
which also it is said that it enlightens and quickens man, yea, 
that it operates in him ; but this life is varied and modified ac- 
cording to the organization induced upon' it by love. There is 
also another circumstance which may serve to convince you that 
all the good of love and charity, and all the truth of wisdom 
and faith, enter by influx, and are not in a man, which is this, 
that whoever thinks such things to be in him by virtue of his 
creation, must of necessity at last be led to consider that God 
infused himself into man, and consequently that men are in part 
gods, when nevertheless all who confirm themselves in such a 
belief acquire a diabolical nature, and in the spiritual world smell 
like putrid carcasses. Besides, what is all human action but the 
action of the mind ? For the mind brings its inclination into 
act, and its thoughts into words of speech, by means of its organ 
the body ; consequently, while the mind is under the Lord’s 
guidance, the action and speech are also under his guidance, and 
action and speech are under the Lord’s guidance when he is 
believed in. Unless this were the case, what possible reason 
can be assigned why the Lord, in a thousand passages of his 
Word, has commanded that a man should love his neighbor, 
should perform the good works of charity, should bring forth 
fruit like a tree, and should keep the commandments and do 
them, and all with a view to salvation ? Also to what purpose 
is it said that a man shall be judged according to his deeds or 
works ; that heaven and life will be the portion of him that does 
good, but hell and death of him that does evil ? How could the 
Lord possibly make such declarations, if that which proceeds 
from a man must needs be meritorious, and consequently evil ? 
K now, therefore, that if the mind be charity, the action is charity 
487 


461 , 462 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

also ; but if the mind be faith alone, which is a faith separate 
from spiritual charity, the action also is such faith. When I 
ceased speaking, those who were sitting under the laurel said, 
u We comprehend the justness of your observations, and yet we 
do not comprehend it.” I replied, u You comprehend the just- 
ness of my observations by virtue of that common perception 
which is communicated to every man by an influx of light from 
heaven, when any truth is uttered in his presence ; but you do 
not comprehend it by virtue of that peculiar perception which 
every man has in consequence of an influx of light from the 
world. These two perceptions, the internal and the external, or 
the spiritual and the natural, are united and make a one with all 
wise men ; and you also may unite and make them a one, if you 
will look to the Lord and put away evils.” Seeing that they 
understood this, I plucked off some twigs from a vine that was 
near me, and presenting them in my hand, I said, w Do you 
suppose that this is from me or from the Lord ?” and they 
replied, That it was of (ex) me from (a) the Lord ; and lo ! the 
twigs in their hands instantly put forth grapes. As I was taking 
my leave, I observed a table made of cedar-wood, on which lay 
a book, overshadowed with a green olive-tree, whose trunk was 
entwined about with a vine. I viewed it attentively, and lo ! it 
was a book I had written, entitled Arcana Ccelestia;* and I 
said, “ In that book it is fully proved, that a man is an organ 
receptive of life, and not life itself, and that life cannot possibly 
be created, and dwell in a man in such a created state, any more 
than light can dwell in the eye.” 

462. The fourth memorable relation. — I was once looking 
towards the sea-coast in the spiritual world, when I observed a 
grand dock or arsenal for shipping. I walked towards it, and 
taking a nearer view, I saw vessels of various sizes, laden with 
all kinds- of wares and merchandise, which were distributed 
liberally to all comers by some boys and girls that were sitting 
on the decks. I heard the boys and girls say, “ ¥e are in 
expectation of seeing our beautiful turtles, which will soon rise 
out of the sea and come to us.” And lo ! I saw turtles of dif- 
ferent sizes, both great and small, on whose shells and scales 
oh ere sat young turtles, which looked towards the islands that 
surrounded the coast. The parent turtles had two heads, one of 
large size, covered over with a shell like that which covered their 
bodies, so that they were of a glowing polish, and the other of 
small size, such as turtles generally have, which they drew back 
into the fore-parts of the body, and inserted it in a manner 
scarce discernible into the larger head. I kept my eyes fixed on 

* This work appears to be mentioned by an error of the press, or some othe» 
accident, for the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wist 
dom , which the book on the table is stated to have been in the Apocalypse Revealed 
n. 875, where this memorable relation was first published. 

488 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 462 

the large shining head, and observed that it had a face like that 
of a man, and that it talked with the boys and girls that were 
sitting on the decks, and licked their hands ; whereupon the 
boys and girls gently stroked them, and gave them food and 
dainties, with various precious articles, as silk for clothes, almug- 
wood for tables, purple for ornaments, and scarlet for color- 
ing. Having made these observations, I was desirous to learn 
what each thing represented, because I knew that all appearances 
in the spiritual world are correspondences, and are representative 
of such spiritual things as relate to affection and its derivative 
thought : angels then entered into conversation with me from 
heaven and said, “You know already what is represented by a 
dock or arsenal for shipping, also by ships, and boys and girls 
on their decks, but you do not know what is signified by turtles. 
Understand therefore that turtles represent such of the clergy as 
entirely separate faith from charity and its good works, affirming 
in their own minds that there is no conjunction whatever between 
them ; but that the Holy Spirit, through faith in God the Father 
for the sake of his Son’s merits, enters into a man, and purifies 
his interiors till it reaches to the man’s own will, of which they 
make as it were an oval plane, and when the operation of the 
Holy Spirit approaches that plane, it turns itself about it on its 
left side, and never enters into contact with it, and thus the 
interior or superior part of the human faculties is intended for 
God, and the exterior or inferior part for man, and consequently 
that nothing which a man does appears in God’s sight, whether 
it be good or evil, the good not appearing because it is merito- 
rious, nor the evil because it is evil ; whence if either were to 
appear, the man would inevitably perish ; but as they are thus 
kept out of sight, it is allowable for a man to will, think, speak, 
and act just as he pleases, having nothing to guard against but 
worldly censures and punishments.” I then asked whether such 
persons assert also that it is allowable to think of God a^ not 
being omnipresent and omniscient : to this the angels replied, 
“This also is allowable according to their maxims, since God, 
with those who have obtained faith, and are thereby purified and 
justified, does not look at any thing belonging to their thought 
and will, and they still retain in the inner chambers, or superior 
regions of their mind, that faith which they had received in its 
first act or operation, which act they insist may some time or 
other return without their knowing any thing of the matter. 
These tenets are the things represented by the small head which 
they draw into the fore parts of the body, and also insert in the 
great head, while they talk with the laity; for their discourses 
with such ‘persons do not proceed from the small head, but from 
the great one, which appears in front with a face resembling that 
of a man; and they converse with them from the Word about 
love, charity, good works, the commandments of the decalogue, 
489 


462 


OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 


and repentance, in which discourses they quote from the Word 
almost all that is said on those subjects ; but at times they put 
the small head into the great one, and think with themselves in 
the former that these duties are not to be performed for the sake 
of God and salvation, but only with a view to the public good or 
private advantage. Since however their discourses on such oc- 
casions are pleasing and elegant, particularly when they speak 
about the gospel, the operation of the Holy Spirit, and the 
nature of salvation, therefore they appear to their hearers like 
handsome and comely persons, of a wisdom superior to the rest 
of mankind ; and this is the reason why, as you observed, the 
boys and girls on the decks of the ships gave them delicate food, 
and other things of value. These then are those whom you saw 
represented as turtles. In the world where you live they are 
scarcely distinguishable from other people, except in this respect, 
that they fancy themselves wiser than others, and treat the rest 
of mankind with contempt, even those who profess the same 
doctrine respecting faith as themselves, but do not dive so deeply 
into its mysteries. They carry about them a particular mark or 
signature in their clothes by which they are known to one an- 
other. I shall not tell you,” said my angelic instructor, “ what 
are their sentiments in regard to other subjects connected with 
their faith, as election, free-will, baptism, and the holy supper, 
which are such as they never divulge, but yet are known to us 
in heaven. This however being their nature and quality in 
the world, and no one being permitted after death to think one 
thing and say another, therefore when they come into another 
world, where they cannot refrain from uttering all their insane 
conceptions, they are treated accordingly, and expelled from all 
societies, and at length cast down into the bottomless pit, men- 
tioned in the Revelation, chap. ix. 2, where they become corpo- 
real spirits, and appear like Egyptian mummies ; for the interiors 
of their mind contract a hard callous covering, from the barrier 
which they themselves had placed between the two regions of 
their minds while in the world. The infernal society consisting 
of such spirits, is in the neighborhood of the infernal society of 
the Machiavelists, and they are continually passing from the one 
to the other, and calling one another fellow-companions ; but 
they do not stay long with each other, because there is a diver- 
sity between them arising from the circumstance that some sort 
of religious impression, connected with their notion concerning 
the act of justification by faith, had been cherished by the former, 
while the Machiavelists had rejected every thing of the kind.” 

After I had seen these spirits expelled from the societies, and 
collected together in order to be cast down into the ‘bottomless 
pit, I observed a ship flying in the air, having seven sails, and in 
It officers and sailors in purple garments, with caps magnificently 
adorned with laurel, who exclaimed, “ Lo, we are in heaven 
490 


OF CHAEITI AND GOOD WORKS. 462 

We are tlie truly learned, distinguished above others by our 
purple robes and grand laurel wreaths, because we are the chief 
of the wise from all the clergy in Europe.” I was wondering 
what this exhibition meant, when I was informed that it rose 
from the conceited images and ideal thoughts, called phantasies, 
proceeding from those who had before appeared as turtles, and 
who were now expelled from every society as insane, and were 
collected into a body in one place. I then became desirous of 
conversing with them, and accordingly walked towards the place 
where they were assembled, and paid my respects to them, and 
said, “ Is it you that have separated men’s internals from their 
externals, and the operation of the Holy Spirit, as being within 
faith, from its co-operation with man, as having nothing to do 
with faith, and who have thus separated God from man ? Have 
you not, by so doing, separated not only charity and its works 
from faith, as many other teachers among the clergy have done, 
but also faith itself, as to its manifestation in the sight of God, 
from man ? But in discussing this subject with you, which do 
you prefer, that I should draw my arguments from reason or 
from the sacred Scripture ?” They said, “ Begin with reason.” 
So I proceeded, saying, “How is it possible for a man’s internal 
and external to be separated from each other ? Who does not or 
may not plainly see, from a perception common to all men, that 
all a man’s interiors proceed and are continued to his exteriors, 
and even to what is most external, in order to produce their 
effects and perform their works ? Do not internal things exist 
for the sake of external, that they may be terminated by them, 
and subsist in them, and thus exist, like a column on its pedestal ? 
How plain is it to see that unless there was such a continuation 
and consequent conjunction, the things most external must be 
dissolved, and melt into nothing, like bubbles in the air ? Who 
can deny that the interior operations of God in a man are myr- 
iads of myriads, utterly unknown to the man himself? And 
what does it signify whether they be unknown or not, provided 
that what is extreme and most external be known, in which the 
man, with his thought and will, is together with God ? But 
let us illustrate this matter by an example. Is a man at all 
acquainted with the interior operations of his faculty of speech, 
as how the lungs draw in the air, and fill with it the vesicles, 
the bronchise, and tLe lobes ; how they emit it into the trachea, 
and there convert it into sound ; how the sound is modified in 
the glottis by the assistance of the larynx ; and how the tongue 
afterwards articulates it, and the lips complete the articulation, 
In order to its becoming speech f Do not all these interior 
operations, of which the man is altogether unconscious, exist for 
the sake of the last, or most external, which is articulate dis- 
course ? If you remove or separate any one of those internal 
operations, so as to destroy its connection with the last, or most 

m 


462 OF CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS. 

external, would it not be as impossible for a man to speak as for 
a stock or a stone ? Take another example. The two hands are 
the ultimate or extreme parts of the human body ; but do not the 
interiors which are continued to them, descend from the head 
through the neck, and also through the breast, the shoulders, 
the arms, and the fore-arms ? Are there not innumerable mus- 
cular textures, innumerable orders of moving fibres, innumerable 
fascicles of nerves and blood-vessels, with several articulations of 
bones, with their ligaments and membranes, of which the man 
is utterly unconscious ? And yet are not all and every one of 
these unknown parts necessary for the operation of the hands ? 
Supposing those interior parts to be reflected back to the left or 
right, about the elbow-joint, and not to be continued below, 
would not the hand necessarily fall from the joint, and putrefy 
like something inanimate, that was separated from all connection 
with the source of its life ? Doubtless, under such circumstances, 
it would be with the hand as it is with the body when a man is 
beheaded. Just so would it be also with the human mind, and 
wdth its two lives, the will and the understanding, if the divine 
operations relating to faith and charity should stop in the middle 
of their course, and not proceed by continued connection to the 
man himself. In such case the man would be not only a brute 
animal, but a rotten branch broken off from its parent stock. 
Thus far I have explained to you the dictates of reason in regard 
to this subject: I will now show you, if you are disposed to 
hear me, that the sacred Scripture inculcates the same doctrine. 
Does not the Lord say, 4 Abide in me, and I in you : I am the 
vine, ye are the branches : he that abideth in me, and I in him, 
the same bringeth forth much fruit’ (John xv. 4, 5). Does not 
fruit mean good works, which the Lord works by a man, and 
which the man works of (ex) himself from (a) the Lord ? Again, 
the Lord says, 4 Behold ! I stand at the door and knock : if 
any man will open the door I will come in to him, and sup with 
him, and he with me’ (Rev. iii. 20). Does not the Lord give 
pounds and talents to the intent that men should trade with 
them, and make profit of them, and in proportion to such profit 
should receive eternal life ? (Matt. xxv. 14 — 34 : Luke xix. 
13 — 26.) And again : Does he not give to every one according 
to the work which he does in his vineyard ? (Matt. xx. 1 — 17.) 
But these are only a few passages selected out of many ; for it 
would be easy.to fill sheets with extracts from the Word, insist- 
ing that a man ought to bear fruit like a tree, that he ought to 
work in obedience to the commandments, that he ought to love 
God and his neighbor, and the like. I am well aware, however, 
that your own intelligence, grounded in your proprium^ cannot 
have any thing in common with the contents of the Word, 
according to their true and proper sense, and therefore, not 
withstanding you can introduce such passages into your dis- 
492 


FEE E-DETEEMIN ATION . 


462, 463 


course, jet the ideas you attach to them are such as pervert 
them ; and this is a necessary consequence of jour removing all 
things that are of God from man as to communication and con- 
junction. What more can you reject, unless you also abandon 
all things belonging to worship ?” When I had done speaking, 
the assembly appeared to me in the light of heaven, which 
detects and manifests the true nature and quality of every one ; 
and then they no longer seemed floating aloft in a ship, as if 
exalted^ into heaven, or clothed in purple, or crowned with laurel 
wreaths, but in a sandy place in tattered garments, having their 
loins girded with nets like those used by fishermen, through 
which their nakedness appeared ; and then they sunk down to 
the society bordering on the Machiavelists. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

FEEE - DETERMINATION. 

463. Before I proceed to deliver the doctrine of the Hew 
Church on Free-determination, it may be necessary to state the 
opinions and tenets maintained by the present-church in her books 
on that subject; or else any person of sound reason and religion 
might suppose that it would not be worth while to advance any 
thing new on this point ; for he might urge, 44 Who can be igno- 
rant that every man is endowed with freedom of determination 
in spiritual things? Were it not so, of what use would be the 
preaching of ministers, instructing us that we must believe in 
God, be converted, and live a life according to the command- 
ments in the Word ; that we must fight against the lusts of the 
flesh, and prepare ourselves to become new creatures, with much 
more to the same purpose ?” Every person of sound reason and 
religion must conclude that all such injunctions are mere empty 
sounds unless man has free-determination in whatever concerns 
his salvation, and that to deny such freedom is nothing short of 
madness, because it is contradictory to common sense. The 
present church, however, maintains such contradiction, and does 
not admit the doctrine of free-determination into its creeds, as 
will appear manifest from the following passages collected from 
the book entitled Formula Concordias, which is received by the 
Evangelical Protestants as the exposition of their faith ; and the 
same doctrine, and consequently the same faith, in regard to 
free-determination, prevails throughout the reformed churches, 
whether in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England, or Holland, 
and indeed throughout all Christendom, as is evident from the 
books that contain an exposition of their doctrines. The follow- 
ing quotations are from the Formula Concordle, according tc 
the edition published at Leipsic in 1756. 

493 


m 


FRKE-DETERMIN ATION . 


464. 1. “ The doctors of the Augsburg Confession assert that 
man, in consequence of the fall of his first parents, is become 
so thoroughly corrupt, that he is by nature blind as to things 
spiritual, or such as relate to conversion and salvation, and that 
he neither understands nor is able to understand the Word of 
God when preached to him, but judges it to be a trifling, foolish 
thing, and never of himself draws nigh unto God, but is rather 
God’s enemy, and so continues to be, until by the power of the 
Holy Spirit operating through the preaching and hearing of the 
Word, he is of mere grace, without any co-operation on his part, 
converted, gifted with faith, regenerated, and renewed.” — Page 
656. 2. “ We believe that the understanding, heart, and will 

of an unregenerate man, in regard to things spiritual and divine, 
are of their own natural powers utterly incapable of understand- 
ing, believing, embracing, thinking, willing, beginning, finishing, 
acting, operating, or co-operating in any respect, but that man is 
altogether corrupt and dead to what is good, insomuch that- in the 
nature of man since the fall, before regeneration, there is not a 
single spark of spiritual strength remaining, whereby he can 
prepare himself to receive the grace of God, or apprehend it 
when offered him, or accommodate himself, and of himself be 
capable of accepting it, or contribute, act, operate, or co operate 
of himself, by his own power, in any respect towards his con- 
version, either w T holly, partly, or in the smallest degree ; but 
that man is the servant of sin and the slave of Satan, by whom he 
is instigated, in consequence whereof his natural free-determi- 
nation, by reason of his corrupted powers and depraved nature, 
is only active and efficacious in such things as are displeasing and 
opposed to God.” — Page 656. 3. “ That man is industrious and 

ingenious in civil and natural things, but in things spiritual and 
divine, which relate to the salvation of his soul, he is like a stock, 
a stone, or the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned, 
which have no use either of eyes, of mouth, or of any other senses.” 
— Page 661. 4. “ That nevertheless man still enjoys a locomotive 
power, whereby he can direct his outward members, and can hear 
the gospel, and can in some measure meditate on what he hears ; 
but that still in his private thoughts he despises it as a foolish 
thing, and is incapable of believing it, in which respect he is worse 
than a stock, unless the Holy Spirit is efficacious in him, kindling 
and working in him faith, obedience, and other virtues which 
God approves.” — Page 662. 5. “ In one respect a man may be 

said not to be a stock or a stone ; for a stock or a stone makes no 
struggle or opposition, nor understands or perceives what is doing 
with it; whereas a man continually struggles and strives in his 
will against God, until he is converted to God ; and yet it is 
true that a man, before conversion, is a reasonable creature, 
having understanding, although not in divine things, and having 
a will, although not disposed to any saving good ; but still he 
494 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


464 


can contribute nothing towards his conversion, and in this re- 
spect he is worse than a stock or a stone.” Page 675, 673. 6. 

“ That conversion is the entire operation, gift, and work of the 
Holy Ghost alone, who effects and produces it, by his virtue 
and power through the Word in the man’s understanding, heart, 
and will, as in a passive subject, the man doing nothing at all, 
but remaining altogether passive ; and yet this operation is not 
like the forming of wood into a statue, or the stamping an im- 
pression on wax ; for wood and wax have neither knowledge nor 
will.” Page 681. 7. “ It is maintained by certain fathers and 

modern doctors, that God indeed draweth , but only such as are 
willing to be drawn , consequently that the man’s will is in some 
respect active in the business of conversion. This opinion, how- 
ever, is not consonant with the words of holy Scripture, for it 
establishes a false notion of the powers of the human will in 
regard to conversion.” Page 582. 8. “ That in respect to the 

outward concerns of the world, which fall under the cognizance 
of reason, there still remains in man some share of understanding, 
strength, and ability, although these miserable remains are very 
weak ; and even these, small as they are, are infected and con- 
taminated with the poison of the hereditary disease, so as to be 
of no account in the sight of God.” Page 641. 9. “That a 

man in the business of conversion, whereby from a child of wrath 
he becomes a child of grace, does not co-operate with the Holy 
Spirit, for the work of conversion is of the Holy Spirit wholly 
and solely.” Page 219, 519, 663, and append. 143. “ That 

nevertheless a regenerate man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, 
can co-operate, although his co-operation is attended with much 
infirmity ; and he co-operates well so long and in such pro- 
portion as he is led, guided, and governed by the Holy Spirit ; 
but still his co-operation with the Holy Spirit is not like 
that of two horses drawing together in the same chariot.” Page 
674. 10. “ Original sin does not consist in any particular fault 

perpetrated or brought into act, but remains intimately rooted 
in man’s nature, substance, and essence, and is the fountain 
from whence all actual sins flow, as depraved thoughts and words, 
and evil works.” Page 577. “ This hereditary disease, whereby 

man’s whole nature is rendered corrupt, is horrible sin, and is 
in fact the beginning and cause of all sins, from which, as from 
their root and spring, all transgressions are derived.” Page 640. 
u That nature, by means of this sin, as by a spiritual leprosy, 
is totally infected and corrupt before God, in the inmost bowels 
and deepest recesses of the heart, and by reason of such cor- 
ruption every individual man is accused and condemned by the 
law of God, so that by nature we are all the children of wrath, 
death, and damnation, unless we are delivered and saved from 
such evils by the benefit of Christ’s merits.” Page 639. “ That 

hence a total absence or privation of original righteousness, oi 
495 


464— 466 


FREE-DETERMIN ATION. 


the image of God formed in paradise, has taken place, attended 
with such impotence, unfitness, and stupidity, as render man 
altogether indisposed towards things divine or spiritual. That 
instead of the image of God thus lost in man, has arisen an 
inmost, most vile, most profound, inscrutable, inexpressible cor- 
ruption of his whole nature, and of all his powers, particularly 
of the superior and principal faculties of his soul, in the mind, 
understanding, heart, and will.” Page 640. 

465. Such are the precepts, tenets, and decrees of the pres- 
ent church on man’s free-determination in regard to spiritual and 
natural things, and also on original sin. They are adduced in 
order that the precepts, tenets, and decrees of the New Church on 
the same subjects may more evidently and distinctly appear ; for 
different forms and objects placed near each other tend, by the 
contrast, to make truth more apparent and distinct, just as in a 
picture an ugly and a beautiful face are frequently contrasted 
with each other, so that the beauty of the one and the ugliness 
of the other, may be exhibited in a more striking point of view. 
The following are the tenets and decrees of the New Church in 
regard to free-determination. 

I. That the two trees in the garden of eden, one of life, and 

THE OTHER OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, SIGNIFY 

THE FREE-DETERMINATION WHICH MAN ENJOYS IN RESPECT TC 

SPIRITUAL THINGS. 

466. It is believed by many persons that Adam and Eve, 
mentioned in the book of Genesis, do not mean the first of the 
human race that were created on the earth ; and in support oi 
this opinion they adduce arguments from chronological compu- 
tations found among some people and nations wdnch favor the 
existence of men prior to Adam, and also from what Cain, 
Adam’s first-born, said to Jehovah : “ I shall be a fugitive and a 
vagabond in the earth ; and it will come to pass that every one 
that findeth me will kill me. And Jehovah set a mark upon 
Cain, lest any one finding him should kill him” (Gen. iv. 14, 15). 
“ And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt 
in the land of Nod, and built a city” (verses 16, 17) ; whence 
they conclude that the earth was inhabited before the time of 
Adam. In addition to this I have abundantly demonstrated in 
the Arcana C(elestia, published at London, that Adam and his 
wife mean the most ancient church that existed on our earth ; 
and in the same work it is further shown that the garden ot 
Eden means the wisdom of the men of that church ; and the tree 
of life the Lord in man, and man in the Lord ; and the tree ol 
the knowledge of good and evil, man not in the Lord, but in his 
jpro^prium , or self-hood, as is the case with every one who believes 
that he does all things, even what is good, from himself. I 
have also proved that the eating of this tree means the appro- 
priation of evil. 

496 


^TREK-DETERMIXATION. 


467, 468 


467. In the Word, the garden of Eden means not any partic- 
ular garden, but intelligence ; and a tree not any particular tree, 
but man. TKe garden of Eden signifies intelligence and wisdom, 
as appears from these passages : “ With thy wisdom and tlime 
intelligence thou hast gotten thee riches : thou hast been in Eden , 
the garden of God : thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom , and 
perfect in beauty : every precious stone was thy covering 2 ’ (Ezek. 
xxviii. 4, 12, 13). This is spoken of the prince and king of Tyre, 
of whom wisdom is predicated, because Tyre, in the Word, 
signifies the church as to the knowledges of good and truth by 
which -wisdom is attained : the precious stones which were his 
covering, also signifies the same knowledges of good and truth ; 
for the prince and king of Tyre were never in the garden of 
Eden. Again, in Ezekiel : “ Behold, Ashur was a cedar in 
Lebanon ; the cedars in the garden of God could not hide him : 
no tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty : 
all the trees of Eden mat were in the garden of God envied him” 
(xxxi. 3, 8, 9). And further : “ To whom art thou thus like in 
glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden f” (verse 18). 
This is said of Ashur or Assyria, because Assyria, in the Word, 
means rationality and intelligence thence derived. So in Isaiah : 
“ Jehovah shall comfort Zion ; he 'will make her wilderness like 
Eden , and her desert like the garden of Jehovah” (li. 3). Zion in 
this passage is the church, and Eden and the garden of Jehovah 
are wisdom and intelligence. So in the Revelation : “ To him 
that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,' which is in 
the midst of the paradise of God” (ii. 7). “In the midst of the 
street of it, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life” 
(xxii. 2). Hence it plainly appears that the garden of Eden, in 
which Adam is said to have been placed, means intelligence and 
-wisdom, because the like is asserted of Tyre, Assyria, and Zion. 
A garden also, in Other parts of the Word, means intelligence, 
as in Isaiah lviii. 11 ; lxi. 11 ; Jer. xxxi. 12 ; Amos ix. 14. This 
spiritual meaning of a garden is grounded in the nature of repre- 
sentations in the spiritual world, in which world gardens and 
paradises appear, where dwell the angels who excel in intelli- 
gence and wisdom. The intelligence and wisdom which they 
receive from the Lord form themselves into such representations 
around them, and this takes place from correspondence, all things 
that exist in the spiritual world being correspondences. 

468. That a tree signifies a man, is plain from these passages 

in the Word : “ All the trees of the field shall know that 1 
Jehovah have brought dowm the high tree, have exalted the low 
tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree 
to flourish” (Ezek. xvii. 24). “ Blessed is the man whose delight 

is in the law of the Lord : he shall be like a tree planted by the 
rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season” (Psalm 
i. 1 — 3 ; Jer. xvii. 8). “Praise the Lord, ye fruitful trees” (Psalm 

497 o 


468, 469 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


cxlviii. 9). “The trees of the Lord are full of sap” (civ. 16). 
“ The axe is laid unto the root of the trees ; wherefore every tree 
which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down” (Matt. iii. 
10; vii. 16 — 20). “Either make the tree good and his fruit 
good ; or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt ; for 
the tree is known by his fruit” (xii. 33 ; Luke vi. 43, 44). “ I 

will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in 
thee, and every dry tree” (Ezek. xx. 47). In consequence of 
this signification of a tree it was made a statute “ that the fruit 
of every tree serviceable for food in the land of Canaan should 
be accounted uncircumcised” (Levit. xix. 23). And as the 
olive-tree signifies a man of the celestial church, it is therefore 
said of the two witnesses who prophesied, that they were “ two 
olive-trees standing before the Lord of the whole earth” (Rev. 
xi. 4 : see also Zech. iv. 3, 11, 12). And in David : “ I am like 
a green olive-tree in the house of God” (Psalm lii. 8). And in 
Jeremiah: “The Lord called thy name a green olive-tree, fair 
and of goodly fruit” (xi. 16); not to mention other passages, toG 
numerous for insertion. 

469. Any person of interior wisdom may, at this day, per 
ceive, or at least conjecture, that the circumstances recorded ot 
Adam and Eve must have a spiritual signification, which has 
heretofore remained unknown, because the spiritual sense of the 
Word was never discovered till now. Who cannot discern, on 
the slightest glance, that Jehovah could never have placed two 
trees in a garden, one of which might prove a stumbling-block, 
unless they had some spiritual representation % or, that both 
Adam and his wife were cursed, because they ate of the fruit of 
a certain tree, and that the curse adheres to all their posterity, 
so that the whole human face is subjected to damnation for the 
fault of one man, in which fault there was no apparent evil of the 
lust of the flesh, or iniquity of heart ? Does 'such a proceeding 
accord with the divine justice ? May it not reasonably be asked, 
why Jehovah did not remove that fruit out of Adam’s reach be- 
fore he ate of it, and why He did not cast the serpent into hell, 
before he persuaded him to eat ? But, my friend, God did not 
do so, because by so doing He would have taken away man’s free- 
determination, and it is by virtue of free-determination that a man 
is a man, and not a beast. If this consideration be well digested, 
it will evidently appear that those two trees, one of life, and the 
other of death, represented man’s free-determination in spiritual 
things. Besides, hereditary evil is not a consequence of what 
Adam did, but is successively communicated to children from 
their parents, who necessarily entail upon them that inclination to 
evil which prevails in themselves. That this is the case, may be 
clearly discerned by an attentive observer of the manners, minds, 
and countenances of children, yea of whole families descended 
from one father ; but still it depends on each individual in even 
498 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


469, 47C 

family whether he will choose or refuse the evil so propagated ; 
for every one is left to his own free-determination. The particular 
signification of the tree of life, and of the tree of the knowledge 
of good and evil, was fully explained in the memorable relation, 
n. 48, to which the reader is referred. 

II. A MAN IS NOT LIFE, BUT A RECIPIENT OF LIFE FROM GOD. 

470. It is generally believed, that life is in a man, and is his 
own, consequently that he is not only a recipient of life, but 
actually is life: this general belief is grounded in appearance, 
for he lives, that is, he feels, thinks, speaks, and acts altogether 
as of himself. This proposition then that a man is a recipient 
of life, and not life itself, must appear like some strange doctrine 
or like a downright paradox, clashing with all sensible concep- 
tion, in consequence of its opposition to appearances. The cause 
of this fallacious belief that a man is life, and consequently that 
life is inherent in him from creation, and afterwards propagated 
by descent, I have deduced from appearance ; but the true 
ground or cause of the fallacy founded on this appearance is this, 
that most at this day are merely natural men, and few respec- 
tively are spiritual, and the former judge by appearances and 
thence by fallacies, which are diametrically opposite to this truth, 
that a man is not life, but only a recipient of life. That a man 
however is not life, but only a recipient of life from God, may be 
collected from these plain proofs, that all created things are in 
themselves finite, and that a man, in consequence of being finite, 
must needs be created out of finite things ; wherefore it is said 
in the book of Genesis that Adam was made of the dust of the 
earth, from which also he had his name, Adam signifying the 
mould or soil of the earth ; and in reality every man consists 
only of such things as are in the earth, and are exhaled from it 
in the atmospheres ; what he receives from the atmospheres he 
imbibes by his lungs and through all the pores of his body, and 
the grosser parts of his composition he receives from meats and 
drinks, which are composed of earthly particles. With respect 
to his spirit, this also is created of things finite ; for what is the 
human spirit but a receptacle of the life of the mind ? The finite 
things of which it consists are spiritual substances, which are in 
the spiritual world, and which are also collated into our earth, 
and therein lie concealed : unless these were present within, 
together with material forms, it would be impossible for any seed 
to be impregnated from its inmost parts, and in consequence to 
vegetate in a wonderful manner without any deviation from its 
proper order, from its first germination to the production of fruit 
and new seeds ; neither could any insects be procreated out of 
the effluvia arising from the earth, or out of the perspirable 
matter exhaling from vegetables, with which the atmospheres 
are impregnated. How is it possible, according to any rational 
conception, for infinite to create any thing but what is finite? 
499 


FREE-DKTERMINATION. 


*70— 472 

Can a man therefore, since he is finite, be reasonably conceived 
to be any thing but a form, which infinite may vivify from the 
life which it, possesses in itself? This also is signified by these 
words: “Jehovah formed man of the dust of the earth, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives” (Gen. ii. 7). God, 
since He is infinite, is Life in Himself, which life He cannot by 
any possibility create, and so transcribe it into a man, for this 
would be to make him God. That such a thing could possibly 
be was an insane suggestion of the 'serpent or devil, which he 
instilled into Adam and Eve ; for the serpent said, “ In the day 
ye eat of the fruit of this tree, your eyes shall be opened, and ye 
shall be as God” (Gen. iii. 5). This dreadful persuasion, that 
God had transfused and transcribed Himself into men, was 
entertained, as I have been informed from their own lips, by the 
men of the most ancient church, at the period of its end or con- 
summation ; and it is on account of this horrible faith, in thus 
supposing themselves to be gods, that they lie concealed in a 
deep cavern, to which no one can approach without being seized 
with such an interior dizziness as to cause him to fall down. 
The reader was apprised in the preceding article, that by Adam 
and his wife is understood and described the most ancient church. 

471. How plain is it for any one to see, if he can but think 
from reason elevated above the sensualities of the body, that life 
is not creatable ! For what is life, but the inmost activity ot 
love and wisdom, which are in God, and which are God, which 
life may also be called the very essential living force? He whose 
eyes are open to see thus far, may also see further, that this life 
cannot possibly be transcribed into any man, unless love and 
wisdom be transcribed into him with it ; and who denies, or can 
deny, that all the good of love, and all the truth of wisdom, are 
from God alone, and that as a man receives them from God, in 
the same proportion he has life from God, and is said to be born 
of God, that is, to be regenerated ? And on the other hand, as 
far as a man does not receive love and wisdom, or what amounts 
to the same, charity and faith, from God, so far he does not 
receive life, which in itself is life, from God but from hell ; he 
receives an inverted life, which is called in Holy Scripture spirit- 
ual death ? 

472. From what has been said above, we may come to this 
perception and conclusion, that the following things are not 
creatable : 1. what is infinite ; 2. love and wisdom ; 3. life ; 
4. light and heat; 5. activity, considered in itself: but that the 
organs receptive of the above, are creatable, and are created. 
This may be illustrated by the following comparisons : light is 
not creatable, but its recipient organ, the eye, is creatable: 
sound also, which is an activity of the atmosphere, is not creata- 
ble, but its recipient organ, the ear, is : so neither is heat, which 
is the primary principle of activity, for the reception of which 

500 


F REE-DETERMIN ATION. 


472—474 


all the subjects of the three kingdoms of nature are created, 
but which, however, in proportion to their reception of it, do 
not act, but are acted upon. It is a law of creation, that 
wherever there are things active, there are also things passive, 
and that these two should join themselves together into a one. 
If the active were creatable, as the passive are, there would have 
been no need of the sun, or of the heat and light thence pro- 
ceeding, but all created things might have subsisted without 
them ; whereas the fact is, that were the sun with its heat and 
light to be removed, the whole universe of creation would become 
a chaos. The sun of this world consists of created substances, 
the activity of which produces fire. These considerations are 
adduced by way of illustration, and to show what would be the 
case with a man if that spiritual light, which in its essence is 
wisdom, and spiritual heat, which in its essence is love, were 
not to enter into him by influx, and be received by him : for the 
whole man is nothing but an organized form adapted to the 
reception of heat and light, both from the natural world and the 
spiritual, for the heat and light of both worlds mutually corre- 
spond. To deny that a man is a form receptive of love and 
wisdom from God, would be to deny the doctrine of influx, and 
consequently that all good is from God ; in which case conjunc- 
tion with God must also be denied, so that it would be absurd 
to talk of a man’s being the habitation and temple of God. 

473. The cause why this is not in some measure apparent to 
man by rational light, is, because that light is cloudecl over by 
the fallacies arising from a belief in the appearances which strike 
the external senses of the body. A man can draw no other 
conclusion from his sensible impressions than that he lives from 
a life which is his own ; for in the connection subsisting between 
the instrumental and the principal, the latter is perceived by 
the former as its own, or as something belonging to itself, and 
cannot therefore distinguish it from itself ; for the principal cause 
and the instrumental act together as one cause, according to a 
maxim established and allowed in the learned world. The 
principal cause is life, and the instrumental cause is the mind ot 
man. It appears also as if beasts possessed in themselves created 
life, but this is a similar fallacy ; for all beasts are organs created 
to receive light and heat from the natural world and from the 
spiritual at the same time, every species being a form of some 
particular natural love, and receiving light and heat from the 
spiritual world mediately through heaven or hell, the gentle 
kinds through heaven, and the fierce through hell. Man alone 
receives light and heat, that is, wisdom and love, immediately 
from the Lord ; and herein consists the difference between 
them.* 

474. The Lord is life in himself, thus life itself, as he him- 
self teaches in John : “The Word was with God, and the Word 

501 


FREE DETERMINATION. 


474 , 475 

was God : in him was life, and the life was the light of men” 
(i. 1, 4). Again : “As the Father hath life in himself, sc hath 
he given to the Son to have life in himself” (v. 26). And again : 
“ l am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (xiv. 6). And again : 
“ He that followeth me shall have the light of life” (viii. 12). 
111. That a man, during his abode in this world, is held in the 

midst between heaven and hell, and thus in a spiritual 

EQUILIBRIUM, WHICH CONSTITUTES FREE-DETERMINATION. 

475. In order to understand what free-determination is, and 
its nature and quality, we must first know whence it springs ; 
for the knowledge of its origin will lead immediately not only to 
an assurance of its existence, but to a discovery of its quality. 
Its origin is from the spiritual world, in which the mind of man 
is kept by the Lord. The mind of man is his spirit, which lives 
after death, and his spirit is continually in consort with its like 
in that world, while by means of the natural body with which 
it is clothed it is in consort with men in the natural world. The 
reason why man does not know that his mind is in the midst of 
spirits is, because those with whom he is in consort in the spirit- 
ual world think and speak spiritually, whereas his spirit, during 
its residence in the material body, thinks and speaks naturally ; 
and spiritual thought and speech cannot be understood or per- 
ceived by the natural man, nor, on the contrary, can natural 
thought and speech be understood or perceived by spirits ; for 
the same reason they remain invisible to each other ; but when 
a man’s spirit is in society with spirits in their world, then too 
it comes into the exercise of spiritual thought and speech with 
them, because the human mind, as to its interiors, is spiritual, 
but as to its exteriors is natural ; hence by its interiors it has com- 
munication with spirits, and by its exteriors with men. It is in 
consequence of this communication with spirits that a man enjoys 
the faculty of perception, and the power of thinking analytically 
on all subjects ; and if this communication were removed, he 
would be incapable of any more or other kind of thought than 
a beast, and if it were intercepted entirely, he w T ould instantly 
die. But in order to assist the apprehension in conceiving how 
a man may be held in the midst between heaven and hell, and 
thus kept in a spiritual equilibrium, which is the true cause of 
free-determination, it may be expedient to acquaint the reader 
with the following particulars. The spiritual world consists of 
heaven and hell : heaven is above, or over the head, hell is beneath, 
or under the feet, not however in the centre of the globe which 
men inhabit, but under the earth or ground of the spiritual world, 
which ground is also of a spiritual origin, and consequently not 
in any actual extense, but in an appearance of extense. Between 
heaven and hell is a great interstice, which appears to those who 
dwell there like a complete globe or world : into this interstice 
there arises a most copious exhalation of evil out of hell, and w 
502 


FREE- DET ERMIN ATION . 


475, 476 

tlie other hand there descends into it continually as copious an in- 
flux of good from heaven. It was this interstice of which Abraham 
spoke to the rich man in hell, when he said, “ Between us and 
you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who would pass from 
hence to you cannot, neither can those pass to us that would 
come from thence” (Luke xvi. 26). Every man as to his spirit 
is in the midst of this interstice, solely to this intent, that he 
may be in the possession and enjoyment of free-determi nation. 
This interstice, from its being so large, and appearing to those who 
are jn it as a great globe or world, is called the world of spirits ; 
for it is full ot spirits, being the first common receptacle of every 
man after death, where each is prepared for his final abode either 
in heaven or in hell, and where he lives in consort with spirits, 
as he had before done with men in this world ; not that there is 
any such place as purgatory there, which is a mere fiction in- 
vented by the Romish church. But the subject of this world is 
more particularly enlarged upon in the work on Heaven and 
Hell, published at London in the year 1758, n. 421 — 603. 

476. Every man, from his infancy even to old age, changes 
his place or situation in the world of spirits: when an infant 
he is kept in the eastern quarter, verging towards the north ; 
when a child, as he learns the rudiments of religion, he recedes 
by degrees from the north towards the south ; when a youth, 
as he begins to think for himself, lie is carried on further towards 
the south ; afterwards, as he comes to maturer years, and is left to 
his own judgment and direction, according to his advancement 
in such principles and practices as interiorly relate to God and 
to love towards his neighbor, he moves on from the south towards 
the east; but if he inclines to evil, and imbibes it with greedi- 
ness, he then advances towards the west ; for all have their abodes 
in the spiritual world distinguished according to the quarters. 
In the east are those who are in good from the Lord, the sun 
being in that quarter, in the centre of which is the Lord. In 
the north are such spirits as are in ignorance ; in the south, 
such as are in intelligence ; and in the west, such as are in evil. 
A man is kept in this interstice, or middle region between heaven 
and hell, not as to his body, but as to his spirit ; and in propor- 
tion as this changes its state, by its approaches towards good or 
evil, it is translated to places or situations in this or that quarter, 
and enters into consort with the spirits that dwell there. It is 
to be observed, however, that the Lord does not translate the 
man either this way or the other, but the man translates himself, 
which different* men do in different ways : if he chooses good, 
then he, together with the Lord, or rather the Lord together with 
him, translates his spirit towards the east ; but if he chooses evil, 
then he, together with the devil, or rather the devil together with 
him, translates his spirit towards the west. It is to be noted, that 
when heaven is here mentioned, the Lord also is meant, because 
503 


i76 — 478 


FBEE-DETERMLN ATI ON . 


the Lord is the all in all in heaven ; and when hell is mentioned, 
the devil is meant, because all the inhabitants of hell are devils. 

477. The sole cause why a man is kept in this great interstice, 
and is continually in the midst of it, is, that he may be in the 
continual possession and enjoyment of free-determination as to 
things spiritual ; for this is a spiritual equlibrium, being between 
heaven and hell, and consequently between good and evil. All 
who are in this great interstice are, as to their interiors, in con- 
junction either with angels of heaven, or with devils of hell ; and 
at this day either with the angels of Michael, or with those of 
the dragon. Every man after death betakes himself to his own, 
that is, to those with whom he had before been joined in that 
interstice, and associates himself with such as are influenced by 
the same love with himself ; for love conjoins every one in that 
world with his like, and enables him to respire freely, restoring 
him to the state of his former life. By successive degrees, how- 
ever, the spirit is divested of its externals, so far as they do not 
make a one with its internals ; and -when this i6 done, if he is a 

f ood spirit, he is taken up into heaven, and if he is an evil spirit, 
e casts himself down into hell, every one entering into society 
with such as he is united with as to his ruling love. 

478. This spiritual equilibrium which constitutes free-deter- 
mination will admit of illustration from cases of natural equilibri- 
um. It is like the equilibrium of a man bound about the w r aist 
or by the arms, and placed between two men of equal strength, 
one of whom strives to draw T him to the right hand, and the other 
to the left ; in which case he has power freely to turn himself which 
way Soever he pleases, as if there was no force acting upon him ; 
and if he betakes himself to the right hand, he then pulls the 
man on the left hand violently towards him, till he brings him to 
the ground. The effect would be the same if any person, let him 
be ever so weak, were to be bound between three men on the right, 
and as many of equal strength on the left, or between the same 
number of camels or horses. Spiritual equilibrium, in which free- 
determination consists, may be also compared with a balance, 
containing in each of its scales an equal weight ; when, if a very 
small addition be made to the scale on one side, the axis of the 
beam immediately begins to vibrate ; the case would be the same 
with a bar or great beam balanced on a lever. A similar equili- 
brium prevails in all and every part of the human body, as in the 
heart, the lungs, the stomach, the liver, the pancreas, the spleen, 
the intestines, and the rest of the organs ; so that each part is 
enabled to perform its functions in a state of the most perfect 
rest and freedom. The case is similar too with all the muscles 
of the body, without whose equilibrium there could be no action 
and reaction, and consequently, a man could no longer continue 
to act as a man. And as all the parts of the human body are in 
such a state of equilibrium, so also are all the parts of the brain, 
504 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


478, 479 

and consequently all things in the mind contained in it, which 
relate to the will and the understanding. Beasts, birds, fishes, 
and insects, are also in a state of freedom ; but these animals are 
carried away by the senses of the body, according to the sugges- 
tions of pleasure and appetite ; nor would a man be at all unlike 
them, if he had the liberty of acting without restraint as he has 
the liberty of thinking; in which case he too would be carried 
away by the bodily senses only, according to the suggestions of 
pleasure and lust. Circumstances however are changed where a 
man imbibes the spiritual things of the church, and by them 
restrains his free-determination : such a person is withdrawn by 
the Lord from lusts and evil pleasures, with all their greedy 
connate desires, till he finds delight in what is good, and detests 
what is evil ; and then he is translated by the Lord nearer to- 
wards the east, and at the same time towards the south, in the 
spiritual world, and is introduced into a state of heavenly free- 
dom, which is freedom truly and properly so called. 

IV. That FROM THE PERMISSION OF EVIL, WHICH EVERY ONE EXPE- 
RIENCES IN HIS INTERNAL MAN, IT PLAINLY APPEARS THAT A 

MAN HAS FREE-DETERMINATION IN SPIRITUAL THINGS. 

479. The proposition that a man has free-determination in 
spiritual things, shall be confirmed first from such general con- 
siderations, and next from such particular ones, as every person 
must acknowledge to be true as soon as he hears them. The gen- 
eral considerations tending to confirm this proposition are these : 
1. The wisest of mankind, Adam and his wife, suffered themselves 
to be seduced by the serpent. 2. Their first-born - son, Cain, 
slew his brother Abel ; in both which cases Jehovah God did not 
interfere to prevent evil, by forewarning the perpetrators of it, 
but only pronounced a curse after it was committed. 3. The 
children of Israel worshipped a golden calf in the wilderness, when 
nevertheless Jehovah observed their idolatry from mount Sinai, 
and took no measures to prevent it. 4. David numbered the 
people, for which they were visited with a plague which proved 
fatal to so many thousands, and God, not before, but after the 
perpetration of the evil deed, sent the prophet Gad to denounce 
punishment. 5. Solomon was permitted to establish idolatrous 
worship. 6. Many kings after him were permitted to profane 
the temple and the holy rites of the church. 7. And finally, that 
nation was permitted to crucify the Lord. Mahomet also was 
permitted to establish a religious system, in many respects not 
conformable to the Holy Scripture. 8. The Christian church 
is divided into several sects, and each of these overspread with 
heresies. 9. There are so many wicked people in the Christian 
world, and some who even glory in their wickedness; and so 
many snares and stratagems contrived against the pious, just, 
and upright 10. Injustice sometimes prevails over justice in 
judiciary proceedings, and the common concerns of life. 11. The 
505 


4.-7 y — ±81 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


wicked are 'frequently exalted to honors, and till the highest 
offices in church and state. 12. Wars are permitted, in which 
so many thousand lives are lost, and so many cities, nations, 
and families are plundered and ruined ; not to mention many 
other considerations of a similar kind. Now is it possible to 
explain or account for the existence of such enormities trom any 
other principle than that free-determination which every man 
possesses ? The permission of evil, which is acknowledged 
throughout the whole world, cannot be deduced from any other 
origin. The laws of permission are laws of the Divine Provi- 
dence, as may be seen in a w r ork on the Divine Providence, 
published at Amsterdam in the year 1765, n. 234 — 274, where 
an explanation is given of the cases above adduced. . 

480. The particular considerations tending to show that 
a man has the same free-determination in spiritual concerns as in 
natural, are innumerable. Let every one, if he please, consult 
himself, and try whether he cannot think of God, of the Lord, ot 
the Holy Spirit, and of the divine subjects which are called the 
spiritualities of the church, seventy times in a day, or three 
hundred, times in a week, without perceiving at such times any 
compulsion, especially if he is led to such meditation by any 
pleasure, or even by any lust, and this whether he have any 
faith or not. Let him also examine, in whatever state he be, 
whether, without free-determination, he have the power to think 
at all. In his common discourse, in his prayers to God, while he 
is preaching to others, or hearing others preach to him ; in all 
these cases does not every thing depend on free-determination ? 
Indeed, without free-determination even in the most minute par- 
ticulars, a man could no more respire than a statue, for respira- 
tion in every movement [in omni passu] follows the thought, 
and thence the speech. I say no more than a statue, and not 
than a beast, because a beast has the power of respiration from 
his natural free-determination, whereas a man has the same 
power from his free-determination both in natural and spiritual 
things at the same time; for a man is not born like a beast, a 
beast being born with all the ideas necessarily attendant on its 
natural love, thus into the knowledge of whatever concerns nu- 
trition and prolification ; whereas a man is born without any 
connate ideas, endowed only with the faculty of attaining know- 
ledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and with an inclination to love 
himself and the world, and also his neighbor and God. This is 
the reason why we have affirmed that if a man were deprived ot 
tree-determination in all particulars relating to what he wills and 
thinks, he would have no more power of respiration than a statue, 
instead of saying no more than a beast. 

481. It is not denied that a man has free-determination in nat- 
ural things ; but yet this natural free-determination is merely a con- 
sequence of his free-determination in spiritual things ; for, as was 

506 8 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


481, 482 

shown above, the Lord enters by influx into every man with his di- 
vine good and divine truth by a superior or interior way, and by this 
inspires him with life distinct from that of beasts ; and in order 
that he may be capable of receiving such influx, and acting under 
its influence, the Lord further bestows on him the faculty to exert 
power and will, and this he never takes away from any person : 
hence it follows that it is the perpetual will of the Lord that a 
man should receive truth and do good, and thus become spiritual, 
which is the end for which he is born ; but to become spiritual, 
without free-determination in spiritual things, is as impossible as 
it is to drive a camel through the eye of a sewing-needle, or to 
touch with the hand one of the stars in the firmament. That 
every man, and even every devil, is gifted with the power of un- 
derstanding and willing truth, and that this power is never taken 
away, was made manifest to me by convincing experience. One 
of the infernal inhabitants was on a time raised up into the 
world of spirits, and being questioned by angels from heaven 
whether he had power to understand the subjects on which they 
'were discoursing with him, which were spiritual-divine subjects, 
he replied that he did understand them. They then asked him 
why he did not receive and cherish them ; he said that he did 
not love them, and consequently was not willing to receive them. 
Ila was then informed that he had the power to will ; at which 
he was much surprised, and declared it impossible ; whereupon 
the angels inspired his understanding with the glory of reputa- 
tion and distinction attended with its delights, which he no 
sooner received than he was willing, and even desirous, to receive 
and cherish. what he had before rejected. Presently, however, 
he was suffered to relapse into his former state, in which he was 
a robber, an adulterer, and a calumniator of his neighbor ; and 
then he no longer understood what the angels said, because he 
was not willing to understand them. Lienee then it is very 
plain that a mao is a man from his free-determination in spir- 
itual things, and that without it he would be a stock or a stone, 
or like the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned. 

482. A man would have no free-determination in civil, moral, 
and natural concerns, unless he had free-determination in spirit- 
ual, as is evident from this circumstance, that spiritual things, 
which are called theological, reside in the highest region of the 
human mind, like a soul in its body : they reside in that region, 
because there is the door by which the Lord enters into man : be- 
low them reside whatever relates to civil, moral, and natural con- 
cerns, which receive all their life from the spiritual things that 
reside above them; and since life is derived by influx from the 
Lord, entering in at the supreme parts of the soul, and the life oi 
man consists in a power to think and will, and thence to speak 
and act in freedom, it follows of consequence, that his free-deter- 
mination in political and natural matters must be derived solely 
507 


482, 483 


FREE-DETERMIN ATION . 


from this origin. By virtue of this spiritual freedom, he is gifted 
with a perception of what is good and true, and of what is just 
and right in civil matters, which perception constitutes the very 
essence of the understanding. The free-determi nation of man in 
spiritual things is comparatively like air in the lungs, which is 
inspired, detained, and expired, according to the turns and chan- 
ges which take place in his thoughts, and without which he would 
be in a far worse condition than a person afflicted with a night- 
mare, or with the spasmodic disease of the heart called angina 
pectoris, or with an asthma. It may also be compared with blood 
in the heart : if this be deficient, the heart is straightway seized 
with palpitations, and after convulsions for a short time entirely 
ceases to beat. It may further be compared with a body in mo- 
tion, which motion is continued so long as the effort or tendency 
to move remains in it, but which ceases immediately on the ces- 
sation of that tendency. This is exactly the case with that free- 
dom of determination which the will of man enjoys. Both of 
them taken together, that is, freedom of determination and will, 
may be called a living effort or tendency in man ; for on the ces- 
sation of will, cessation of action ensues, and when freedom of 
determination ceases, will also ceases at the same time. Were 
spiritual freedom removed from man, it would be also compara- 
tively as if the wheels were removed from machines, the vanes 
from windmills, or sails from ships. Yea, it would be as when 
man emits his breath at the moment of death ; for the life of man’s 
spirit consists in his free-determination in spiritual things. The 
angels sigh when it is but mentioned that this free-determination 
is denied at this day by many ministers of the church, and they 
call the denial of it delirium upon delirium. 

Y. That without free-determination in spiritual things the 

WORD WOULD NOT BE OF ANY USE *, CONSEQUENTLY THE CHURCH 

WOULD BE A NONENTITY. 

483. It is generally acknowledged throughout the Christian 
world that the Word is, in an extensive sense, the law, or is a 
book of laws for the regulation of man’s life, that he may attain 
eternal life ; and what is more frequently insisted on therein than 
that he should do good, and not evil, and that he should believe 
in God, and not in idols ? Moreover, the Word abounds with 
injunctions and exhortations to obedience, and with blessings and 
promises of rewards for those who practise its precepts, and with 
curses and threatenings against those who do not practise them 
but to what purpose would all this be, unless a man had free-deter 
mination in spiritual things, that is, in whatever regards salvation 
and eternal life ? Surely, in such case, every divine declaration 
would be vain and useless ; and if a man were to entertain the 
idea that he had no power and no liberty in spiritual things, and 
consequently no power of will in relation to them, could the 
Holy Scripture possibly appear to him in any other light than 
* 508 


FEEE-DETERMIN A T ION. 


4S3 


as so much white paper, without a syllable of writing in it, or 
as paper entirely blotted over with ink, or as so many dots and 
points without letters, thus as an idle unmeaning volume ? It 
would have been needless to produce any passages from the Word 
in proof of this position, had not the several churches at this 
day immersed themselves deeply into a void of empty specula- 
tions upon spiritual subjects, and in confirmation of such specu- 
lations quoted some passages from the Word, and interpreted 
them falsely ; but this being the case it may be expedient to 
adduce a few particular passages, which insist on man’w doing 
and believing. Let us take the following : “ The kingdom of God 
shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth 
the fruits thereof” (Matt. xxi. 43). u Bring forth therefore fruits 
worthy of repentance. Even now the axe is laid unto the root 
of the trees ; every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good 
fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire” (Luke iii. 8, 9). “ Jesus 

said, Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which 
I say ? Whoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings, and 
doeth them, is like a man that built his house upon a roclr; but 
he that heareth and doeth not, is like a man that built a house 
upon the ground without a foundation” (Luke vi. 46 — 49). 
u Jesus said, My mother and my brethren are those who hear 
the Word of God, and do it” (Luke viii. 21). “We know that 
God heareth not sinners ; but if any man is a worshipper of God, 
and doeth his will, him he heareth” (John ix. 31). “ If ye know 

these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John xiii. 17). “ He 
that hath my commandments, and doeth them, he it is that 
loveth me, and I will love him” (John xiv. 21). u Herein is my 
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit” (John xv. 8). “Ye 
are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. I have 
chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that 
your fruit should remain” (John xv. 14, 16). u Make the tree 
good and his fruit good ; for the tree is known by his fruit” 
(Matt. xii. 33). u Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance” (Matt, 
iii. 8). “ He that receiveth seed into the good ground, is he 

that heareth the Word, and also beareth fruit and bringeth 
forth” (Matt. xiii. 23). “ And he that reapeth receiveth wages, 

and gathereth fruit unto eternal life” (John iv. 36). “Wash 
you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings ; learn 
to do good” (Isaiah i. 16, 17). The Son of Man will come in 
the glory of his Father, and then he will reward every man ac- 
cording to his works” (Matt. xvi. 27). “ They that have done 

good, will come forth unto the resurrection of life” (John v. 29). 
“ And they were judged every man according to their works” (Rev. 
xx. 12, 13). “ Behold, I come quickly, and my reward with me, 

to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. xxii. 12). 
“ According to our ways, and according to our dealings, so hath 
Jehovah de^t with us” (Zech. i. 6). The Lord teaches the same 
509 


4:83, 484 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


thing in his parables, in several of which it is insisted, that 
those who do good are accepted, and those who do evil are re- 
jected ; as in the parable concerning the husbandmen and the 
vineyard (Matt. xxi. 33 — 44) ; and in those concerning the 
talents and pounds to trade with (Matt. xxv. 14 — 31 ; Luke 
xix. 13 — 25). Respecting Faith, which is inculcated in like 
manner, it is said, “ He that believeth in me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, 
shall never die” (John xi. 25, 26). “ This is the will of him that 

sent me, that every one that believeth on the Son should have 
eternal life” (John vi. 40). “ He that believeth in the Son hath 

eternal life ; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, 
but the anger of God abideth on him” (John iii. 36). “ God so 

loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that all 
who believe in him should not perish, but should have eternal 
life” (John iii. 15, 16). And further : “ Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself : on these two command- 
ments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. xxii. 37 — 40). 
But these are only a very few of the passages which might be 
adduced to the same purpose, and are as a few cups of water taken 
out of the body of the ocean. 

484. Who does not see the emptiness, not to say the folly, of 
the passages above quoted, n. 464, from the canonical book en- 
titled Formula Concordia, while he reads these and other similar 
declarations in the Word? If the doctrine asserted in that book 
be true, that a man has no free-determination in spiritual things, 
would not any one naturally ask, “ What then is religion, which 
consists in doing good, but an empty sound ? And what is the 
church without religion, but like the bark about a piece of wood, 
which. is of no use but to burn ? And if, as it would thus appear, 
the church is a nonentity, because religion is so, what then are 
heaven and hell but fabulous devices invented by priests and 
prelates, in order to catch the ears of the vulgar, and to raise 
themselves to superior honors and emoluments ?” Hence arise 
those detestable sayings, so common in many men’s mouths, 
“ Who can do good of himself? Or who can acquire faith of 
himself?” the consequence of which is, they become regardless 
of both, and live like pagans. 

But do you, my friend, flee from evil, and do good, and be- 
lieve in the Lord with your whole heart and your whole soul, and 
the Lord will love you, and will give you love as a principle of 
action, and faith as a principle of belief, and then you will do 
good from love, and will believe from faith amounting to trust 
and confidence ; and if you persevere in this course, reciprocal 
conjunction will be effected between you and the Lord, which 
will be rendered perpetual ; and this is the essence of salvation and 
eternal life. If a man does not employ the powers with which 
51 C 


FREE-DETERMIN ATION. 


4S4— 486 


ho is endowed, in doing good, and believing in the Lord, what 
is he but a wilderness and a desert, being in fact altogether like 
dry parched ground, which does not imbibe the rain which falls 
upon it, but shoots it off again ; or like a sandy plain where there 
are sheep* but no pasture for them ; or like a fountain whose 
spring is dried up ; or like water stagnated from the obstruction 
of its current ; or like a country to dwell in, where no corn grows, 
and where there is no water, from which, unless a man instantly 
lemove and seek an abode in a more propitious soil, he must 
necessarily die with hunger and thirst. 

YI. That without free-determination in spiritual things, a 

MAN WOULD HAVE NOTHING WHICH COULD ENABLE HIM TO CONJOIN 

HIMSELF BY RECIPROCATION WITH THE LORD *, AND CONSEQUENTLY 

THERE WOULD BE NO IMPUTATION, BUT MERE PREDESTINATION, 

WHICH IS A SHOCKING AND DETESTABLE DOCTRINE. 

485. Without free-determination in spiritual things a man w T ould 
be incapable of receiving either charity or faith, and still more in- 
capable of becoming a subject of their conjunction, as was fully 
shown in the chapter concerning faith ; hence it follows, that 
without free-determination in spiritual things he would not have 
any thing by which the Lord might conjoin himself to him, and 
yet without reciprocal conjunction there can be no reformation 
and regeneration, and consequently no salvation. That without 
the reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord, and of the Lord 
with him, there could be no such thing as imputation, is an un- 
deniable consequence. There are many conclusions that follow 
from a confirmation of the belief, that there is no imputation of 
good and evil, which results from the denial of man’s free-de- 
termination in spiritual things : and we intend to expose the enor- 
mous opinions which have been broached on this subject, in the 
last part of this work, which is designed to treat of the heresies, 
paradoxes, and contradictions which flow from the faith prevail- 
ing at this day, which regards the merit and righteousness of 
the Lord God the Saviour as imputable to man.* 

486. Predestination is a birth conceived and brought forth 
by the faith of the present church, because it springs from the 
belief of man’s absolute impotence, and total want of free-determi- 
nation, in spiritual things; to which may be added, as a further 
cause of its production, the supposition that on man’s part the con- 
version to God is inanimate, in which he is acted upon like a 
stock or a stone, and that after conversion he knows not from any 
feeling of consciousness whether he is a stock quickened by grace 
or not: for it is asserted, that election is of God’s mere grace, 
exclusive of any activity on man’s part, either of the powers of 
nature or of reason; and that election is effected where, and 
whenever, God wills, thus solely according to his good pleasure : 

* This would have formed part of the Coronis or Appendix to this work, but 
the author died before it was completed. 

511 


FREE-DET SEMINATION. 


486, 487 

the works which follow faith as the evidences of its existence, 
appear to the reflecting mind like the works of the flesh, while 
the spirit which operates them does not make known from what 
origin they proceed, but produces them as faith itself is supposed 
to be produced, of free grace and the good pleasure of God. 
Hence it is plain, that the tenet of the present church, in regard 
to predestination, has sprung from those notions, like a shoot or 
twig from the vegetating seed ; and I can venture to assert, that 
such a tenet must follow almost unavoidably as the natural con- 
sequence of such faith. This tenet was first broached by the 
Peedestinarians, and afterwards espoused by Godosciialcus, 
then by Calvin and his followers ; and lastly, it was established 
and confirmed by the Synod of Dort, whence it was conveyed 
into the church by the Supralapsarians and ’ Infealapsarians, 
as the palladium of religion, or rather as the head of Gorgon or 
Medusa, engraven on the shield of Pallas. But what more 
pernicious doctrine could have been devised, or what more Cruel 
notion in regard to God could have been conceived, than that 
any of the human race are damned by a positive predetermined 
decree ? How cruel is a faith which maintains, that the Lord, 
who is love itself and mercy itself, can cause a multitude oi 
men to be born, and devoted to hell ; or that thousands and tens 
of thousands are brought into the world with an inevitable curse 
on their heads, being in fact born devils and satans ; and that in 
his infinite divine wisdom, he never did and never does provide 
some method of deliverance for those who lead good lives, and 
acknowledge the being of a God, that 'they might escape ever- 
lasting fire and punishment ! Is not the Lord the Creator of all, 
and the Saviour of all ? And does not he alone guide and govern 
all his creatures, not desiring the death of any ? What then can 
be believed or conceived more inhuman than that whole tribes of 
nations and people should under his auspices and intention be 
delivered up, by a positive predetermined decree, as a prey to 
the devil, and to glut his voracious appetite ? This, however, is 
a birth conceived and brought forth by the faith of the present 
church : the faith of the Hew Church abhors it as a monster. 

487. As I could never conceive how such an extravagant doc- 
trine as that of predestination could be devised by any Christian, 
much less how it could be maintained and published to the world, 
which nevertheless was done by the Synod of Dort, where great 
numbers of the clergy were collected, whose decision in its favoi 
was afterwards carefully drawn up and diligently circulated, 
therefore, in order to convince me of the fact, some of the mem- 
bers who composed that Synod were sent to visit me. When I 
saw them standing near me, I said, “ How is it possible that 
any one, possessing any share of sound reason should conclude 
in favor of predestination ? Must not that doctrine necessarily 
give rise to cruel notions res^^.g God, and to the most shock 
512 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


487 


ing opinions respecting religion ? Must not a man who has en 
graved the belief of predestination on his heart by confirmations 
in its favor, necessarily conceive that all church doctrines and in- 
stitutions, and the Word too, are mere vanity and foolishness ? and 
must not his idea of God, in consequence of his predestinating so 
many myriads of men to hell, be that he is a tyrant ?” As I thus 
spoke, they gave me a satanical look, and said, “We were once 
members, by appointment, of the Synod of Dort, and had at that 
time, and still more since that time, confirmed ourselves in 
many opinions regarding God, the Word, and religion, which 
we durst not make public ; but in all our conversations and dis- 
courses from the pulpit on such subjects, we wove and twisted 
a web of various-colored threads, which we covered over with 
feathers borrowed from peacocks’ wings.” They were then pro- 
ceeding to w’eave a like web, when the angels, by a power given 
them from the Lord, closed up the externals of their minds, and 
opened their internals, compelling them to speak according to 
the dictates of their internals ; and then they said, “ Our faith, 
which we have formed from a regular series of conclusions, 
always was, and still is, the following: 1. What is called the 
Word of Jehovah God is not really so ; but it is an empty breath 
proceeding from the mouths of the prophets; for the Word pre- 
destinates all to heaven, and teaches that man alone is in fault 
if he does not walk in the ways that lead thither. 2. There is 
such a thing as religion, because it is expedient there should be ; 
but it is only like a gale of wind conveying a fragrant perfume 
to the nostrils of the vulgar ; in consequence of which it ought 
to be taught by all ministers, and enforced from the Word, 
because the Word is generally received : we are led to embrace 
this opinion, because where predestination is maintained, there 
religion is annihilated. 3. The laws of civil justice constitute 
religion ; but predestination does not depend on a life conforma- 
ble to those laws, but merely on God’s good pleasure, as the 
favors of an arbitrary monarch depend on his caprice. 4. All 
church doctrines and tenets ought to be exploded as groundless, 
and be rejected as trash, except this, There is a God. 5. 
Spiritual things, so much boasted of, consist merely of etherial 
matters, collected under the sun, which, in case they penetrate 
deeply into the mind, affect it with dizziness and stupor, and 
make a man a detestable monster in God’s sight.” 6. 0*n being 
questioned respecting the faith from which the doctrine of pre- 
destination is adduced, and asked whether they believed it to be 
spiritual ; they replied, “ Predestination takes place according 
to that faith ; lut when faith is given, the man is like a stock, 
and though h.3 is afterwards quickened, the life he thus receives 
is not spiritual.” After they had uttered these horrid opinions, 
they seemed willing to depart, but I desired them to wait a while, 
and hear me read a passage from Isaiah : I accordingly read as 
513 ld 


437— 489 


FREE-DETERMIN ATI0N. 


follows : u Rejoice not thou, whole Philisthaea, because the rod 
of him that smote thee is broken ; for out of the serpent’s root 
shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying 
serpent” (xiv. 29) : I explained these words according to their 
spiritual sense, showing that Philisthsea means the church sep- 
arate from charity ; the cockatrice which came forth out of the 
serpent’s root means the church’s doctrine concerning three gods, 
and concerning an imputative faith applied to every one of the 
elect singly ; and his fruit, which is a fiery flying serpent, means 
that no imputation of good and evil is allowed, but only im 
mediate mercy without any regard to a man’s life, whether he 
has lived well or ill. On hearing this explanation, they said. 
“ Be it so ; but let us now hear out of that volume, which you cab 
the Holy Word, something regarding predestination.” Then I 
opened the book, and found in the same prophet the following 
pointed passage : “ They hatch cockatrices’ eggs and weave the 
spider’s web : he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and when a per- 
son crusheth one, a viper is hatched” (lix. 5). On hearing this 
passage they could not endure to have it explained ; but some oi 
those w'ho had been sent to me (there were five of them) rushed 
hastily into a cave, about which there was a fiery appearance oi 
a dusky hue, a token that they had neither faith nor charity 
Hence it is very evident, that that synodical decree concerning 
predestination, is not only an insane but also a cruel heresy ; 
and therefore it ought to be eradicated from the brain, till not a 
single root or fibre of it is left remaining. 

488. This shocking faith, that God predestinates men to hell, 
may be compared with the savageness of parents among some 
barbarous nations, w r ho cast out their sucking infants and little 
children, and expose them in th# streets ; or with the savageness 
of some hostile troops, who cast the dead bodies of the slain 
into woods to be devoured by wild beasts. It may also be com- 
pared with the cruelty of a tyrant, who divides his subjects into 
companies, and delivers some to be put to death by the execu 
tioner, some to be cast into the sea, and some to be thrown intc 
the fire. It may also be compared with the furious rage of cer- 
tain wild beasts which devour their own cubs, or with the mad- 
ness of dogs, that attack their own images when seen in a look- 
ing-glass. 

VII. That without free-determination in spiritual things, gof 

WOULD BE CHARGEABLE AS THE CAUSE OF EVIL, AND CONSE- 
QUENTLY THERE WOULD BE NO IMPUTATION. 

489. That God is the cause of evil, follows as a consequence 
from the faith which now prevails, which faith was first devised 
by those who composed the council of Nice. In that council 
the heresy still extant was conceived and brought forth, that 
three divine persons have existed from eternity, each of whom 
is by himself separately God ; the favorers of which scheme 

.514 


FREE-DETERMTNATION. 


489, 490 


must needs approach and address each person as a God. They 
therefore compiled a faith imputative of the merit and righteous- 
ness of the Lord God the Saviour ; and in order to prevent man’s 
entering into a participation of merit with the Lord, they took 
away from him all free-determination in spiritual things, and in- 
sisted on his utter impotence as to the attainment of that faith ; 
and as they deduced from that faith alone all that was spiritual 
in the church, they maintained the like impotence as to every 
point that the church teaches concerning salvation. Hence have 
sprung many dreadful heresies, one after another, grounded on 
that faith and on man’s impotence in spiritual things, among 
which was that most horrible one on predestination discussed 
in the foregoing article. All these heresies imply that God is 
the cause of evil, or that he created both good and evil. But do 
not you, my friend, depend on any council of men, but on the 
Word of the Lord, which is above all councils ; for what opinions 
have not the Roman Catholic councils espoused and taught ? 
What did not the Council of Dort espouse and teach, which reared 
and let loose into the world that horrid viper, predestination ? It 
may possibly be imagined that the free-determination with which 
man is gifted in spiritual things, was the mediate cause of evil ; 
consequently, that if it had not been given him, he could not 
have transgressed : but, my friend, pause here a while and con- 
sider with yourself, w T hether any man could possibly have been 
created without free-determination in spiritual things, and still 
be a man ; if you take from him that freedom, he is no longer 
a man, but a statue only. For what is man’s free-determination, 
but a power of willing and acting, of thinking and speaking, to 
all appearance as from himself? And as he was gifted with this 
power that he might become a living man, therefore two trees 
were placed in the garden of Eden, the tree of life and the 
tree of the knowledge of good and evil ; by which is signified, 
that man, in consequence of the freedom with which he was 
endowed, had ability to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, and of 
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

490. Every thing that God created was good, as is plain 
from the first chapter of Genesis, where it is said, verses 10, 12, 
18, 21, 25, “ God saw T that it was good and verse 31, “ God 
saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” The 
same truth is evident also from the primeval state of man in 
paradise ; but that evil had its origin from man, appears from 
the state of Adam which succeeded his fall, when he was driven 
out of paradise. Hence it is manifest, that had he not been 
endowed with free-determination in spiritual things, God himself, 
and not man, would have been the cause of evil, and conse- 
quently God must have created both good and evil, and to ima- 
gine that he created evil is both wicked and blasphemous. It 
cannot be considered that God is the author of evil, notwith 
515 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


490, 491 

standing his having endowed man with free-determination in 
spiritual things ; or that he inspired him with any evil, because 
he is good itself, and in this he is omnipresent, perpetually striving 
and urging to be received ; and though he is not received, still he 
does not remove himself away ; for should he do so, the man 
would instantly die, yea, he would be reduced to a nonentity, 
since his life, and the subsistence of whatever enters into his 
composition, is from God. Evil then was not created by God, 
but was introduced by man after creation: the cause of this is, 
that he turns the good which proceeds continually by influx from 
God, into evil, in consequence of averting himself from God, and 
turning himself towards himself, in which case the delight ot 
good remains and becomes the delight of evil ; for unless a delight 
apparently similar to the former remained, it would be impossible 
for a man to live, since delight constitutes the life of his love. 
These two delights are, nevertheless, diametrically opposed to 
each other, with which circumstance, however, the man is unac- 
quainted during his life on earth ; but after death he comes to 
the knowledge and even clear perception of it, the delight of the 
love of good being then changed into celestial blessedness, but the 
delight of the love of evil into infernal horrors. From what has 
been said it is evident that every man is predestinated to heaven 
and none to hell, but that he consigns himself to hell from the 
abuse of his free-determination in spiritual things, by choosing and 
embracing such things as exhale from hell ; for, as was said above, 
every man is held in the midst between heaven and hell, in order 
that he may be in equilibrium between good and evil, and hence 
in the enjoyment of free-determination in spiritual things. 

491. God has given freedom not only to man, but also to 
every beast, and something analogous to it even to inanimate 
subjects, imparting to every thing a faculty to receive it accord- 
ing to its nature ; and he likewise provides and offers good to all 
creatures and things, — but the recipient objects turn it into 
evil, as may be illustrated by the following comparisons : — The 
atmosphere gives to every man the power of respiration, in like 
manner to every tame and wild beast, and also to every bird, 
both to the owl and to the dove, affording to these in addition 
the means of flying; and yet the atmosphere is not the cause ot 
the different modes in which that power is received by creatures 
of different natures and dispositions. The ocean too affords in 
itselt a habitation, and also provides food and nourishment, for 
all kinds of fish ; but it is not on this account the cause of one 
fish devouring another, and of the crocodile’s turning its food 
into poison, and thereby becoming fatal to man. The sun again 
dispenses his fight and heat to all recipient objects, but those 
objects, which are the various vegetables of the earth, receive 
them in different manners ; a useful tree and shrub differently 
from a thorn or a bramble, and an innocent herb differently from 
516 


FKEE-DETERMINATION. 


491—493 


a poisonous one. The rain in like manner descends from the 
higher regions of the atmosphere upon all parts of the earth, and 
the earth presents the water thus received to all kinds of shrubs, 
herbs, and grass, each of which applies it to itself according to 
its necessities*, and this may be considered as something analo- 
gous to free-determination, since all vegetables imbibe it freely 
by their little mouths, pores, and ducts, which stand open when 
the weather is warm, the earth only offering its moisture and 
elemental particles, while the plants draw them in, according as 
they are influenced by a certain want, answering to hunger and 
thirst. The case is similar with men, with each of whom the 
Lord enters by influx with spiritual heat, which in its essence is 
the good of love, and with spiritual light, which in its essence is 
the truth of wisdom ; but then he receives such influx according 
to the direction in which he is turned, whether it be towards 
God, or towards himself; therefore the Lord says, when he is 
teaching the duty of loving our neighbor, “ that ye may be the 
children of your Father who is in heaven ; for he maketh his sun 
to rise on the evil and' on the good, and sendeth rain on the just 
and on the unjust” (Matt. v. 45) ; and in another place : “ That 
he wulleth all to be saved.” 

492. To the above I will add this memorable circumstance : 
I have at particular times heard expressions relating to the good 
of charity sent down out of heaven, which passed through the 
world of spirits, and penetrated even to the depths of hell ; and 
I have observed that in the course of their descent, those expres- 
sions were changed into such as were wholly opposite to the good 
of charity, and at length into such as breathed hatred against 
the neighbor ; a proof that whatever proceeds from the Lord is 
good, and that it is turned into evil by spirits in hell. The same 
occurred in regard to certain truths of faith, which in the course 
of their descent were changed into the opposite falses ; for the 
recipient form converts whatever it receives into somewhat 
agreeable to its own nature and quality. 

VIII. That EVERY SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE OF THE CHURCH THAT IS 

ADMITTED AND RECEIVED WITH FREEDOM, REMAINS, BUT NOT 

OTHERWISE. 

493. Those things remain with a man which he receives in a 
principle of freedom, because freedom relates to the will, and 
consequently to the love ; we have shown elsewhere that the will 
is the receptacle of love. That whatever is of the love is free, 
and belongs also to the will, must be obvious, for every one com- 
prehends the force of this reasoning, u I will a thing because I 
love it,” and vice versa , u because I love a thing I also will it.” 
But the human will is twofold, interior and exterior, that is, of the 
internal and external man ; so that he can play the sycophant, 
or act and talk in one character before the world, and in another 
before his intimates. Before the world his actions and words 

517 


m , 494 


FREE-DET ERMIN ATIOX . 


proceed from the will of his external man, but before his inti- 
mates from the will* of his internal: in this case, however, we 
mean the will of the internal man where the ruling or governing 
love has its abode. From these few observations it is evident 
that the interior will is the real man, since it is there that both 
the esse and the essence of his life reside, the understanding 
being only the form by which the will renders its love visible. 
All that a man loves, and from a principle of love wills, is free ; 
for whatever proceeds from the love of the internal will is the 
delight of his life ; and as the same is the esse of his life, it is 
also his proprium, which is the true reason that whatever is 
received from the freedom of this will remains, because it adds 
itself to the proprium. The contrary is the case if any thing 
be introduced in a state of mind not free ; for in such case it is 
not received in the manner above described : but on this subject 
we will speak more hereafter. 

494. It should however be carefully observed, that although 
the spiritual things of the Word and the church, which a man 
imbibes from a principle of love, and which the understanding 
confirms, remain with him, yet matters of a civil and political 
nature do not remain in the same manner : the reason of this is, 
because spiritual things ascend into the highest region of the 
mind, and there form and arrange themselves, that being the 
place of the Lord’s entrance into man with his divine truths and 
goods, and as it were the temple in which he dwells ; whereas 
civil and political concerns, as relating to the world, occupy the 
inferior parts of the mind, and some of them are like buildings 
on the outside of the temple, and some like the courts intro- 
ductory to it. Another reason why the spiritual things of the 
church reside in the highest region of the mind is, because they 
belong peculiarly to the soul, and regard its eternal life, and the 
soul is in the supreme regions, and its nourishment consists of 
such food only as is spiritual ; for which reason the Lord calls 
himself bread, as where he says, “ I am the living bread which 
came down from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread, he shall 
live for ever” (John vi. 51). In that region also resides a man’s 
love, which constitutes his blessedness after death ; and in the 
same region likewise his free-determination in spiritual things 
principally resides, from which all the freedom that he enjoys in 
natural things descends, and in consequence of such origin, it 
communicates with all free-determination in natural things, by 
means of which the love that reigns in the supreme regions as- 
sumes to itself whatever is conducive to its purposes. This commu- 
nication between spiritual and natural freedom is like that which 
subsists between the fountain-spring and the waters that flow from 
it, or like that between the prolific principle in the seed and all 
and ever}' part of the tree which it produces, particularly the fruit, 
in which it renews itself by the formation of new seeds. But if 
518 


FREE-DETERMLNATION. 


494—196 


any one denies free-determination in spiritual things, and in con- 
sequence of such denial rejects it, he makes for himself another 
fountain, and opens a communication with it, and changes spirit- 
ual freedom into a freedom merely natural, and at length into 
that which is infernal. This latter freedom is also like the prolific 
principle of seed, which has a free transit through the trunk and 
branches of the tree into the fruit ; but then the fruit is inwardly 
rotten, by reason of the corrupt source from which it is derived. 

495. All freedom which is from the Lord, is freedom indeed, 
but that which a man derives from hell is not freedom, but 
slavery ; still, however, spiritual freedom must appear like slavery 
to one who is in infernal freedom, because they are in opposition 
to each other ; nevertheless all who are in spiritual freedom have 
not only a knowledge, but a clear perception, that infernal free- 
dom is slavery, on which account the angels hold it in the utmost 
aversion, like the stanch arising from a putrid carcass, whereas 
the infernal spirits regale themselves with it as with an aromatic 
perfume. It is an acknowledged truth collected from the Word 
of the Lord, that worship proceeding from freedom is true wor- 
ship, and that the Lord is well pleased with whatever is spon- 
taneous or voluntary : it is therefore said in the Psalms, “ A 
voluntary offering will I sacrifice to thee” (liv. 6) ; and in another 
place: “The willing among the people are gathered together, 
the people of the God of Abraham” (xlvii. 9). Hence among 
the children of Israel, whose worship consisted principally in 
sacrifices, spontaneous or free-will sacrifices were instituted : 
for the same reason it was enjoined, that “every one whose 
heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made will- 
ing,” should bring the Lord’s offering to the work of the taber- 
nacle (Exod. xxxv. 5, 21, 29) ; and the Lord says, “ If ye continue 
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed ; and ye shall know 
the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Whosoever com- 
mitteth sin is the servant of sin. If the Son therefore shall 
make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John viii. 31 — 36). 

496. That which is received in freedom remains, because the 
will of man adopts and appropriates it to itself, and it gains ad- 
mission into the love, and the love acknowledges it as its own, 
and forms and fashions itself by it. This circumstance may be 
illustrated by comparisons taken from natural things, if only in 
the place of love we substitute heat. How it is well known that 
by heat, and according to its degree, the pores are opened in 
every vegetable, and as this is effected, the vegetable returns 
inwardly into the form of its own nature, spontaneously receives 
its nutriment, retains what is suitable and salutary to it, and 
increases by growth. The case is the same with respect to the 
brute creation ; whatever food they choose and eat, from the 
love of nutrition which is called appetite, becomes a part Oi 
their bodies, and thus remains and abides : and the reason ol 

519 


496, 497 


FREE- DETERMINATION . 


such incorporation of suitable and salutary substances is, because 
all things that enter into the composition of the animal body 
are in a perpetual state of renovation ; a circumstance which is 
indeed known, but not to many. Heat also, in its action on 
the brute creation, opens all parts of their bodies, so that their 
natural love can act freely ; and hence in the time of spring 
and summer they experience a return of the instinct of prolifi- 
cation and of the education of their young, which functions they 
perform with the utmost freedom, because they are effects of 
that ruling love implanted in them by creation, for the sake of 
preserving the universe in its created state. The reason why the 
freedom of love may be illustrated by the freedom occasioned by 
heat, is because love produces heat, as is evident from its effects 
in causing a man to take fire, to grow w T arm, and to burst into 
a flame, when the love is exalted into zeal, or kindled into 
anger : this is the true and only source of the heat of the blood, 
or the vital heat of men, and in general of all animals ; and it 
is owing to this correspondence, that the bodily organs, by 
means of heat, are adapted freely to receive such things as 
the love desires and seeks after. All the internal parts of the 
human body are in the same kind of equilibrium, and consequent 
freedom ; the heart in this state of freedom impels its blood 
equally upward and downward, the mesentery its chyle, the 
liver, the kidneys, and the glands perform their several opera- 
tions of separating, secreting, and purifying the blood, &c. : if 
this equilibrium were affected, each member would be disordered, 
and would labor under a paralysis, or an ataxy. Equilibrium 
and freedom are in this case one and the same thing; and there 
is not a substance in the created universe, which has not a ten- 
dency towards an equilibrium that it may be in a state of free- 
dom. 

IX. That the human will and understanding enjoy this 

FREEDOM OF DETERMINATION *, BUT THE COMMISSION OF EVIL, 

BOTH IN THE SPIRITUAL AND THE NATURAL WORLD, IS 

RESTRAINED BY LAWS, OR ELSE SOCIETY IN BOTH WOULD 

PERISH. 

497. Every man may be convinced that he enjoys freedom 
in spiritual things, by attending only to his own thoughts ; for 
who has it not in his power to think of God, of the Trinity, of 
charity and his neighbor, of faith and its operation, of the 
Word and all the subjects which are thence derived? and after 
having studied theology, who is not able to reflect on the partic- 
ulars of the system? Who has not the power to think, and 
even to determine, teach, and write, either in favor of such 
subjects, or against them? If this freedom were to be removed 
from a man but for a moment, must not his thought instantly 
cease, his tongue be dumb, and his hands hang down motionless*? 
Wherefore, my friend, you may if you please, only by observa- 


FREE-DETERMIN ATION. 


497, 498 

tion on your own thoughts, reject and renounce that absurd and 
pernicious heresy, which at this day has brought a lethargy 
over men’s minds throughout all Christendom, in regard to the 
heavenly doctrine of charity and faith, salvation, and eternal 
life. The following are the causes why this freedom of deter- 
mination resides in a man’s will and understanding: 1. Because 
those two faculties are first to be instructed and reformed, and 
by them the *two faculties of the external man, by which he 
speaks and acts : 2. Because those two faculties of the internal 
man constitute his spirit, which continues to live after death, 
and is subject only to the divine law, the first principle of which 
requires that a man should reflect on the law, should practise it 
and obey it, as of himself, and yet from the Lord : 3. Because a 
man as to his spirit is in the midst between heaven and hell, thus 
between good and evil, and thence in equilibrium, which is the 
cause and source of the free-determination he enjoys in spiritual 
things, as was shown above, n. 475 ; so long however as he lives 
in this world, he is as to his spirit in equilibrium between this 
world and heaven, and is little aware that as he withdraws his 
affections from heaven and fixes them on the world, in the same 
proportion he draws near towards hell : this circumstance :s 
partly known to him, and partly unknown, to the end that in 
this, as in other cases, he may be left to his own freedom, and 
so be in a capacity of being reformed : 4. Because these two, the 
will and the understanding, are the receptacles of the Lord, the 
will being the receptacle of love and charity, and the understand- 
ing of wisdom and faith ; and the Lord operates and produces 
each of these graces while the man is in the fullest enjoyment 
of freedom, in order that a mutual and reciprocal conjunction 
may be effected, on which depends salvation : 5. Because all the 
iudgment which a man possesses after death, depends on the 
use he makes of his free-determination in spiritual things. 

498. It follows as a consequence from these considerations, 
that free-determination essentially resides in the human soul in 
the fullest perfection, and thence, as a spring of water flows into 
a fountain, it flows into the mind as to both its parts, the will 
and the understanding, and through these into the bodily senses, 
the words and actions. For there are in every man three de- 
grees of life, — the soul, the mind, and the sensual body ; and 
whatever is in a superior degree is in a state of perfection above 
that which is an inferior. This freedom which he possesses is the 
faculty by which, in which, and with which, the Lord is present 
in him, who, though he is continually urgent to be received, yet 
never puts aside or takes away his freedom, because, as was said 
above, nothing in relation to spiritual matters, which a man does 
not do in a state of freedom, can remain with him : so that it 
may truly be affirmed that this freedom is the faculty in which the 
Lord dwells with him in his soul. But that the outward corn- 
521 


FEE E-DETERMINATION 


498, 499 

mission of evil is restrained by laws, both n the spiritual and in 
the natural worlds, because society could not otherwise subsist, 
is a truth which requires no explication. It may be expedient 
however, to illustrate this position, that without those external 
restraints it would not only be impossible for society to subsist, 
but also that the whole human race would inevitably perish. 
Man is wholly possessed by two kinds of love, the love of ruling 
over all, and the love of possessing the wealth and property of 
all : these two loves, if the reins be given them, are unlimited 
in their career. All the hereditary evils in which a man is 
naturally born are chiefly derived from these two kinds of love. 
The sin of Adam consisted only in his wishing to become as 
God, which evil inclination the serpent infused into him ; hence 
in the curse pronounced against him it is said the earth shall 
bring forth to him thorns and thistles (Gen. iii. 5, 18) : which 
signifies every kind of evil, and its attendant falses. All who 
are enslaved by those two kinds of love regard themselves alone 
as a sort of single central point, in and for which all other 
things and persons were created : they are therefore void of com- 
passion, of the fear of God, and of love towards their neighbor ; 
and of consequence are full of unmercifulness, savageness, and 
cruelty, attended with an infernal covetousness and greedy 
desire of robbing and plundering other people, to effect which 
purposes they stop at no sort of craft and treachery. Such evil 
propensities are not innate in the beasts of the earth, for they 
never kill and devour one another from any other love than that 
of satisfying their hunger, or protecting themselves from danger ; 
so that an evil man, considered as to those loves, is more savage, 
fierce, and vile than any beast. That this is a true description 
of man as to his internal state, is plain from what is observable 
in cases of seditious tumult, when a lawless mob throws off all 
the restraints of obedience to civil authority. It is plain also 
from the horrid butchery and rapine which take place when a 
besieged city is delivered up to pillage ; for when the conquerors 
have full liberty to vent their fury upon their enemies, scarcely 
one is found to abstain, until the drum gives the signal to desist. 
Hence it is evident, that unless men were kept in awe by the 
fear of punishment which the law inflicts, not only would it be 
impossible for society to subsist, but the whole race of mankind 
must inevitably perish. These evils natural to man can only be 
removed by the true use of free-determination in spiritual things, 
which consists in fixing the mind intently on such thoughts as 
relate to its state of life after death. 

499. This subject may be further illustrated by the following 
comparisons : — Unless all created things, both animate and in- 
animate, possessed some kind of free-determination, there could 
be no creation ; for without freedom of determination in natural 
things as respects the brute creation, they would have no choice 
522 


FREE-DETE RMIN ATION . 


490 


of food conducive to their nourishment and preservation, nor 
would they have any power of prolification, or of taking care ot 
their young, consequently they must cease to exist. Supposing 
the fish of the sea, and the shell-fish in its depths, to be deprived 
of this freedom, it is plain there could be neither fish nor shell- 
fish. In like manner unless every insect was gifted with the 
same freedom, there could be no silk-worm to produce silk, or 
bee to produce honey and wax, and no butterfly to sport with its 
partner in the air and feed on the juices of flowers, exhibiting 
an emblem of the blessed state of man in the heavenly atmo- 
sphere, when, like this insect, he casts off his outward terrestrial 
covering. Unless again there was something analogous to free- 
dom of determination in the soil of the earth, in the seed sown 
in it, and in all the parts of the plant or tree thence produced, 
in its fruits, and also in its new seeds, there could be no vegeta- 
ble of any kind. The same must be the case with every metal 
and stone, whether precious or common, yea, with every the 
smallest grain of sand ; for there could be no such thing as 
metal, stone, or grain of sand, unless each possessed somewhat 
analogous to such freedom. Even these mineral substances 
freely imbibe the ethereal particles, and breathe forth their 
native essences, and cast off what is obsolete, and renew them- 
selves with fresh substances, in consequence of which each is 
encompassed with its circumambient sphere, as the magnet with 
a magnetical sphere, iron, copper, silver, gold, stone, nitre, and 
sulphur, each with a sphere according to their respective natures 
and qualities ; even the very dust of the earth exhales also its 
particular sphere, compounded of various properties, by which 
the inmost parts of every seed are impregnated, and its prolific 
principle caused to vegetate. Indeed without such an exhalation 
from every particle of dust, there could be neither beginning nor 
continuance of vegetation ; for the earth cannot possibly pene- 
trate, with its dust and water, into the inmost centre of the 
seed sown in it, otherwise than by the minute particles exhaled 
from it; as into a “ grain of mustard-seed, which is the least of 
all seeds ; but w T hen it is grown it is the greatest among herbs, 
and becometh a tree” (Matt. xiii. 31, 32). Since then all 
created objects are endowed with freedom of determination, each 
according to its nature, how much rather ought a man to be 
endowed with the same freedom, according to his nature, which 
is, to become a spiritual being ! It is a great truth, therefore, 
that a man enjoys free-determination in spiritual things from 
the day of his birth till- the day of his death, and afterwards to 
all eternity. 

X. That if men were destitute of free-determination in spir- 
itual THINGS, IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE FOR ALL MEN THROUGHOUT 
THE WHOLE WORLD, IN A SINGLE DAY, TO BE INDUCED TO BE- 
LIEVE IN THE LORD ; BUT THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE, BECAUSE NOTHING 

523 


500, 501 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


REMAINS WITH A MAN BUT WHAT HE RECEIVES WITH FREE- 

DETERMINATION. 

500. The consequence of not understanding the nature of 
the divine omnipotence is a belief in the truth of this position, 
that God could, without gifting man with free-determi nation in 
spiritual things, induce all the inhabitants of the earth to believe 
in him within the compass of a day. Those who do not conceive 
aright of the divine omnipotence, may imagine either that there 
is no such thing as order, or that God can alike act contrary to 
order and according to it ; when nevertheless without it there 
could have been no creation. It is a primary law of order that a 
man should be an image of God, consequently that he should be 
perfected in love and wisdom, and thus become more and more 
such an image. This is the intent of God’s continual operation 
on him ; but without free-determination in spiritual things, by 
which he has the power to turn himself to God and to enter into 
mutual conjunction with him, such operation would be to no pur- 
pose, because the end designed could not possibly be accom- 
plished ; for it is from and according to order that the whole 
world, with all and every thing it contains, was created ; on which 
account God is called order itself ; so that it is the same thing to 
speak of acting contrary to order, or contrary to God. Even God 
himself cannot possibly act contrary to his own divine order, 
because that would be to act contrary to himself; consequently 
he leads every man according to order, that is, according to him- 
self, endeavoring, as order, to bring the wandering and back- 
sliding into order, and to reduce the disobedient to order. It 
man could have been created without free-determination in spir- 
itual things, what could have been more easy to an Omnipotent 
God than to cause all mankind to believe in the Lord ? Would 
it not have been in his power to have conferred this faith on 
every man, both immediately and mediately ? immediately by 
his absolute power, and by making that operation of it which is 
continually at work to affect man’s salvation, irresistible ; or 
mediately, by exciting the pangs of remorse in his conscience, 
by inflicting mortal convulsions on his body, and keeping him 
under the constant alarms of death if he refused to receive that 
faith ? Might he not also have used other means to produce 
this effect, such as laying open the infernal kingdom, and ter- 
rifying him with the presence of devils holding burning torches 
in their hands, or raising up from the dead his friends and 
acquaintances to alarm him under the shapes of terrible appari- 
tions ? But to this reasoning we may reply in the words of 
Abraham to the rich man in hell : “ If they hear not Moses and 
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose 
from the dead” (Luke xvi. 31). 

501. It may possibly be asked why miracles are not wrought 
ill our days, as they were formerly, from a presumption that il 

524 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


501 


they were wrought, every man would instantly give a hearty assent 
to the truths of religion. But miracles are not wrought now as 
in former times, because they carry compulsion with them, and 
take away a man’s free-determination in spiritual things, and 
change him from a spiritual into a natural agent. Since the time 
of the Lord’s coming into the world, every one that is born in a 
Christian country has a capacity to become spiritual, which is 
effected solely by the Lord through the Word ; but this capacity 
would be destroyed if his faith were influenced by miracles, since 
these, as just observed, carry compulsion with them, and take 
away his free-determination in spiritual things ; and all compul- 
sion in such. matters only influences the natural man, closes up the 
spiritual man, which is the true internal man, as with a door, 
and deprives it of all capacity of seeing any truth in the light : the 
consequence of this is, that the man afterwards reasons respect- 
ing spiritual things from the natural man alone, which sees every 
thing truly spiritual in an inverted view. Miracles indeed were 
wrought previous to the Lord’s coming into the world, because 
the members of the church at that time were merely natural 
men, to whom spiritual things, such as are those of the internal 
church, could not be opened : for if so they would have profaned 
them. Hence too all their divine worship consisted in rituals, 
which represented and signified the internal things of the church, 
and to the exact performance of which there w r as no possible 
method of engaging them but by miracles ; but even these were 
insufficient for the purpose, as those representative rituals con- 
tained within them a spiritual internal, as is plain from the case 
of the children of Israel in the wilderness, who, though they had 
witnessed so many miracles wrought in Egypt, and afterwards 
that greatest of all on mount Sinai, yet when Moses was absent 
from them for about a month, danced around a golden calf, and 
cried aloud that that idol had brought them forth out of Egypt. 
Equally rebellious was their behavior in the land of Canaan, 
notwithstanding the extraordinary miracles wrought by Elijah 
and Elisha, and lastly, the truly divine miracles wrought by the 
Lord. There is also this especial reason why they are not wrought 
at this time, — the church has taken away from man all freedom 
of will, by insisting that he cannot possibly contribute any thing 
towards the reception of faith, towards conversion, or in general 
towards salvation, as may be seen above, n. 464. Such a belief 
renders a man more and more natural ; and the natural man, 
as just observed, beholds every thing of a spiritual nature under 
an inverted aspect, and consequently in thought opposes it. 
Where this is the case, the superior region of the human mind, 
where free-determination in spiritual things principally re- 
sides, is closed up, and if miracles were then to be wrought, 
and spiritual things to appearance confirmed by them, they 
would only occupy the inferior region of the mind, which is 
525 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


501, 502 

merely natural, while ail sorts of false notions respecting faith, 
conversion, and salvation, would remain in the region above ; 
the consequence of which must be that satans would have their 
habitation above, and angels beneath, like vultures above poul- 
try ; and after some time the satans would break down the bar- 
rier, and would furiously rush upon the spiritual things below, 
and would not only deny, but also blaspheme and profane 
them ; hence the latter state of such a man would be worse than 
the first. 

502. The man who is rendered merely natural by imbibing 
false notions respecting the spiritual things of the church, must 
conceive of the divine omnipotence as being above order, conse- 
quently as independent of it ; wherefore in the wildness of imagi- 
nation he would ask, “ To what purpose did the Lord come into 
the world, and adopt this mode of accomplishing the work ot 
redemption, when God, by his omnipotence, might have effected 
the same redeeming work in heaven, without coming down here 
on earth ? Why was not the w r hole race of mankind, without 
exception, saved by redemption, and why is the devil permitted 
to prevail in man over the Redeemer ? Why is there such a 
place as hell ? Has not God, from his omnipotence, power to 
destroy it, to rescue thence its inhabitants, and to make them 
angels of heaven? For what purpose is the final judgment? 
Could not God translate all the goats from the left hand to the 
right, and there change them into sheep ? Why did God cast 
down the angels of the dragon, and the dragon himself from 
heaven, when he might have converted them into angels of 
Michael ? Why does he not give faith alike to all, and impute 
to them his Soil's righteousness, and so remit their sins, justify 
and sanctify them ? Why does he not endow the beasts of the 
earth; the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, with the gift 
of speech, and give them understanding, and introduce them, 
together with men. into heaven ? Why did he not originally, 
or does he not still, make the whole face of the earth a paradise, 
where there should be no tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, and no serpent ; but every hill should run down with gener- 
ous wines, and produce gold and silver, each in its native state, 
and where all the inhabitants might live as images of God in 
Binging and jubilee, and thus in perpetual festivity and joy? 
Would not all this be worthy of an omnipotent God?” These 
are the questions he would ask, with many more of a similar 
kind. But, my friend, these are all vain and futile fancies. The 
divine omnipotence does not exist without order. God himself is 
order : and since a'l things were created from God, they were also 
created from order, in order, and for it. There is likewise a certain 
order from which man was created, and this is, that his blessed- 
ness or misery should depend on free-determination in spiritual 
things ; for, as was observed above, without free-determination it 
526 


FREE-DETERMINATION . 


502. 503 


would have been impossible for men to have been created, or 
even beasts, birds, or fish : the brute creation, however, enjoy 
only natural free-determination, whereas men enjoy both natural 
and spiritual together. 


503. To the above I will add the following memorable rela- 
tions. — First. I was once informed that a meeting was convened 
in the spiritual world in order to deliberate on man’s free-deter- 
mination in spiritual things. The learned from all quarters, who 
had thought much on the subject in the world where they had 
formerly lived, and many of whom had been present at councils, 
either greater or lesser, held both before and since the Council 
of Nice, were there assembled. The place of meeting was a kind 
of round temple, not unlike the Pantheon at Rome, which had 
formerly been consecrated to the worship of all the gods, but was 
afterwards, by the pope’s order, dedicated to the worship of all 
saints and martyrs. By the walls of this temple there were a 
species of altars, and at every one, seats, on which the members 
of the assembly reposed themselves, leaning with their elbows 
on the alters, as on so many tables. There was no president 
appointed to regulate their proceedings, but each person, as his 
fancy directed, stood forth in the midst of the council, and dis- 
closed the sentiments that he cherished in his breast ; and what 
surprised me, all the members of the assembly w T ere full of con- 
firmations in favor of man’s utter impotence in spiritual things, 
and consequently ridiculed the notion of free-determination. 
When all were assembled, a certain person stepped into the mid- 
dle of the meeting, and with a loud voice delivered his opinion 
to the following efiect : “A man possesses no more free-determi 
nation in things spiritual than Lot’s wife did after she was turned 
into a pillar of salt; for if he were to enjoy any greater share ot 
free-determination than this, he would of himself seize and lay 
claim to the faith of our church, which teaches that God the Father 
gives faith gratis , out of his free-determination and good pleasure, 
to such persons and at such times as he sees meet; which good 
pleasure and free grace could in no wise belong to God if any 
freedom or good pleasure be allowed to man, so that he may 
claim that gift to himself ; and the consequence of this must be, 
that our faith, which is a bright star, shining day and night before 
us, would be dissipated, as a falling meteor is dissolved into air.” 
After him another hastily rose from his seat, and said, “A man 
enjoys no more free-determination in spiritual things than a beast, 
yea, than a dog ; for if he were possessed of free-determination, 
he would do good of himself, when nevertheless all good is from 
God, and no one can take any thing except it be given him from 
above.” After him another started from his chair and exclaimed, 
u The free-determination of man in spiritual things, even as to 
527 


503 


FREE-DETERMIN ATION . 


the capacity of discerning, is not greater than the si^ht of an ow. 
in the daytime, or than that of a chicken while it is yet hidden 
in the egg. In such matters he is as blind as a mole ; for il he 
were capable of discerning clearly what belongs to faith, salvation, 
and eternal life, he would believe that he could regenerate and 
save himself, which he would likewise attempt to do, and thus 
would profane his thoughts and actions with his own merits.” 
Then another rushed into the midst of the congregation, and 
delivered this opinion : “ Whoever, since the fall of Adam, 
imagines he has the power either to will or to understand anj 
spiritual matters, is out of his senses, and is a madman : for m 
such a case he must suppose himself a kind of god or deity, 
possessing a share of divine power in his own right.” This person 
was succeeded by another, who ran panting into the midst, with 
a book under his arm called Formula Concordle, whose ortho- 
doxy, as they term it, the Evangelical Protestants bind themselves 
by oath to believe : he opened the book, and read from it the 
following passage : — “ Man is altogether corrupt and dead to what 
is good ; consequently, in the nature of man, since the fall, before 
regeneration, there does not remain a single spark of spiritual 
strength, whereby he may be prepared for the grace of (rod, either 
to apprehend it when offered, or of and by himself to be capable 
of receiving it ; or in spiritual things to understand, believe, em- 
brace, think, will, begin, finish, act, operate, co-operate, or apply, 
or accommodate himself to grace, or contribute any thing of 
himself in the least respect towards conversion. And further, a 
man, in respect to spiritual things, such as regard the salvation 
of the soul, is like the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was 
changed, and like a stock or a stone without life, which has not 
the use of eyes, mouth, or any other senses. Yet still he enjoys a 
locomotive power, whereby he can govern his outward members, 
attend public worship, and hear the Word and the gospel.” (This 
passage occurs in my edition, pp. 656, 658, 661 — 663, 671 — 673). 
After this they unitedly exclaimed, “ This is truly orthodox.” 
I was standing near, listening attentively to all that passed, and 
being much warmed in spirit, I asked aloud, “ If you thus make 
a man a pillar of salt, a beast, blind and mad, in regard to 
spiritual things, what then do you make your theology ? Is not 
this in all and every part of it spiritual ?” To this, after a short 
silence, they replied, “ In our whole system of theology nothing 
at all is spiritual which reason comprehends. Our faith in it is 
alone spiritual ; but this we have carefully closed up to prevent 
its being looked into, and have taken especial care that not a 
single spiritual ray shall proceed thence and appear to the under- 
standing. Moreover, we assert that a man cannot, by any 
determination of his own, contribute at all towards receiving 
that faith. We have also separated charity from all relation to 
what is spiritual, and have made it a merely moral virtue; and 
528 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


503, 504 


bo we have done likewise with the decalogue. With respect to 
justification, remission of sins, regeneration, and consequent 
salvation, we in like manner hold nothing to be spiritual, assert- 
ing them all to be the operations of faith ; but in what manner 
they are produced, we are altogether ignorant. In the place of 
repentance we have adopted contrition ; and lest it should be 
believed that this is of a spiritual nature, we have separated it 
from all connection with faith. On the subject of redemption 
we have likewise adopted none but merely natural ideas, the 
chief of which are that God the Father has included the whole 
race of mankind under the curse; that his Son took that curse 
upon him, and suffered himself to be crucified, and so moved 
his Father t'o compassion ; not to mention other similar doctrines, 
in which you will discover nothing spiritual, but all merely nat- 
ural. 5 ’ When they had thus explained their sentiments, in the 
warmth of zeal with which I was before influenced, I thus con- 
tinued : “ Supposing a man to have no free-determination in spir- 
itual things, what in such a case would he be but a mere brute? 
For is not this the chief distinction which raises a man above a 
brute ? . On this supposition too, would not the church be like 
the black face of a chimney-sweeper, the only white spots about 
which are in his eyes? And what would the Word be but an 
empty volume ? What is more frequently said and insisted on 
in the Word than that a man ought to love God anti his neigh- 
bor, and also to have faith, and that he will receive life and sal- 
vation according to his love and belief? Who has not a capacity 
to understand and do the precepts which are contained in the 
Word and in the decalogue? How could God have prescribed 
and ordained such duties, unless he had given man a capacity ? 
Tell a plain rustic, whose mind is untainted with theological fal- 
lacies, that he has no more power than a stock or a stone to 
understand or will any thing touching faith, charity, and salva- 
tion, and that he cannot apply or accommodate himself to receive 
such gifts, will he not laugh heartily at your information, and 
exclaim, ‘What wilder fancies can be uttered ( What then 
have I to do with either priest or preaching? What is a 
church more to me than a stable, and what the worship of God 
more than the handling of a plough ?’ Oh, what madness is it 
to talk at this rate, what excess of folly ! Who denies that all 
good comes from God ? But is it not granted to man to do good 
of himself from God, and in like manner to believe?” On hear- 
ing this they all exclaimed, u We, whose instructors were ortho- 
dox, deliver orthodox sentiments ; but you, with your rustic tu- 
tor, talk like a rustic.” At that instant a thunderbolt fell from 
heaven, and for fear of being consumed by it, they rushed out 
tumultuously and fled away, each to his own home. 

504. The second memorable relation. — I was once in inte- 
rior spiritual sight, such as the angels of the higher heaven 
529 mm 


504 : 


FREE-DETERMIN A TION . 


enjoy, but at tlie time in the world of spirits ; and I observed 
two spirits not far from me, yet distant from each other, and 
1 apperceived that one of them loved good and truth, and 
so was in conjunction with heaven, and the other loved evil 
and the false, and so was in conjunction with hell. I drew nigh 
and called them both to me, and from their tones of voice 
and answers I collected that they both enjoyed the same power 
of apprehending truths, of acknowledging them when appre- 
hended, consequently of thinking from understanding, and also 
of directing and determining their intellectual powers at pleas- 
ure, and their powers of will as it seemed good to them, and of 
course that they both enjoyed the same free-determination as to 
rational matters. I further observed, that in consequence of that 
freedom in their minds, there appeared a lucidity extending from 
the first seat of vision, which is that of perception, to the last, 
which is the eye. When the spirit who loved evil and the false 
was left to himself, I took notice that a smoke as it were ascended 
from hell and extinguished the lucidity which was above the 
memory, and occasioned a thick darkness there, like that of mid- 
night, and also that the smoke, being kindled into a blaze, burnt 
like flame, and illuminated the region of the mind which was 
below the memory, in consequence of which he conceived in Lis 
thoughts terrible falses, arising from the evils of the love of self : 
but when the other spirit, who loved good and truth, was left to 
himself, I observed as it were a mild gentle flame flowing down 
out of heaven, which illuminated the region of his mind above 
the memory, and likewise the region below it, even to the eye ; 
and the light occasioned by that flame shone brighter and bright- 
er in proportion as, from the love of good, truth influenced his 
perceptions and thoughts. From what I observed it was evident 
to me that every man, whether good or evil, enjoys spiritual free- 
determination, but that with the wicked hell sometimes extin- 
guishes it, and with the good heaven exalts and kindles it. Afrer 
tins I entered into conversation with each, and first with the spir- 
it who loved evil and the false ; and after making some inquiries 
about his condition, I mentioned free-determination ; at which he 
took fire and said, “Ah ! what madness is it to believe that a man 
enjoys free-determination in spiritual things ! For who can apply 
faith to himself, or do good of himself? I)o not the clergy at this 
day teach, and ground their doctrine on the Word, that no one 
can take any thing except it be given him from above? And did 
not the Lord Christ say to his disciples 4 Without me ve can do 
nothing?’ To which I add, that no one can move his foot, 
or hand to do any good, or his tongue to speak any truth from 
good ; therefore the church, under the direction of her wise 
children, has concluded that a man has no more power to will, 
understand, or think any thing spiritual, or indeed to accommo- 
date himself so to will, understand, or think, than a stock or a 
530 


FEEE-DETERMIN ATION. 


504 


stone ; and that therefore faith is inspired by God of his good 
pleasure, he alone possessing the most free and most unbounded 
power, which faith, through the operation of the Holy Ghost, 
without any .abor or exertion on the man’s part, produces all the 
graces and virtues which the unlearned ascribe to him.” I then 
talked with the other spirit, who loved good and truth ; and after 
making some inquiries about his state and condition, when I men- 
tioned free-determination he said, “ What madness is it to deny 
free-determination in spiritual things ! Who has not power to will 
and to do good, and to think and speak truth of himself from the 
Word, consequently from the Lord who is the Word? for the 
Lord has said, Bring forth good fruits, and believe on the light, 
and also, Love one another, and love God. Again, c He that 
heareth and doeth my commandments, loveth me, and I will love 
him not to mention a thousand other passages in the Word to 
the same purpose. Of what use now would the Word be if a 
man had no power to will and think, to do and speak, what is 
commanded in it? Without he had such a power, what would 
religion and the church be but like the wreck of a ship lying at 
the bottom of the sea, with the pilot standing on the top of the 
mast, and crying out. c I have no power to do any thing,’ while 
he sees the other sailors take to the boats, hoist their sails, and 
make their escape ? Was not free power granted to Adam to eat 
either of the tree of life, or of the'tree of the knowledge of good 
and evil ? And as from this freedom he ate of the latter tree, 
therefore smoke arising from the serpent, that is from hell, 
entered into his mind, on which account he was cast out of 
paradise and cursed ; nevertheless he did not lose his free-deter- 
mination, for it is written, the way to the tree of life was guarded 
by a cherub, without which precaution he might still have been 
desirous to eat of it.” As he uttered these sentiments the other 
spirit, who loved evil and the false, said, “ I leave what I have 
heard, and retain what I have asserted ; for who does not know 
that God alone has life, and consequent activity, and that a 
man of himself is dead, and consequently merely passive; how 
then can such a being, who in himself is dead and merely 
passive, take to himself any thing alive and active ?” To this 
I replied, u A man is an organ of life, and God alone is life: 
God infuses his life into the organ and all its parts, as the sun 
infuses its heat into a tree and all its parts ; and God grants 
man a sense that the life in himself is as if it were his own, 
and is desirous that he should have such a sense of it, to the 
intent that he may live as of himself, according to the laws of 
order, which are as many in number as the precepts of the Word, 
and might thus dispose himself to receive the love of God ; never- 
theless God continually with his finger, as it were, holds the per- 
pendicular tongue which is over the balance, in order to moderate 
its motions ; but still he never violates free-determination by 
531 


504, 505 


FREE-DETERMIN ATION . 


compulsion. A tree cannot receive any thing which the heat 
of the sun introduces through the root, unless it acquire a degree 
of warmth and heat in all its filaments ; nor can the elements 
lise through the root, unless all its filaments, from the heat re- 
ceived, also give out heat, and thus contribute to the passage. 
This is precisely the case with a man, in consequence of the 
heat-of life he receives from God ; but still he differs from the 
tree in this respect, that he feels the life in himself as his own, 
although it is not his : so far however as he believes it to be his, 
and not God’s, he receives from God the light of life, though 
not the heat of love, but the heat of love from hell, which being 
of a gross nature, obstructs and closes up the purer branches and 
tibres of the organ, just as impure blood does the capillary vessels 
of the body. Thus a man from a spiritual being makes himself 
a merely natural one. His free-determination is a consequence of 
this circumstance, that he has a sense of life being in himself 
as his own ; and God permits him to have such a sense for the 
sake of conjunction, which cannot be effected unless it be iecip- 
rocal, and it becomes reciprocal when a man acts from freedom 
altogether as of himself. Had not God permitted him to have 
such a sense, he would not have been a man, or a subject of 
eternal life ; for the faculty of reciprocal conjunction with God 
is what makes him a man and not a beast, and is the' true ground 
and cause of his living after death ; and this is an effect of free- 
determination in spiritual things.” As I ended, the evil spirit 
removed himself to a distance from me, and straightway I saw a 
swift-darting serpent, called by the ancients jpr ester ^ upon a tree, 
which held forth some fruit gathered from it to a certain person. 
I went instantly towards the place, and there, instead of the ser- 
pent, appeared a monster of a man, whose face was so covered 
with a beard that no part was visible but his nose ; and instead 
of the tree there was a fiery stump, by which stood the spirit 
into whose mind the smoke from hell had before entered, and-who 
afterwards rejected all belief of free-determination in spiritual 
things. Then on a sudden a like smoke arose from the stump, 
and overspread them both ; and being thus removed from my 
sight, I departed ; but the other spirit, who loved good and 
truth, and asserted man’s free-determination in spiritual things, 
accompanied me home. 

505. The third memorable relation. — I once heard a 
noise like the collision of two mill-stones against each other ; 
but as I approached the place from whence it came it ceased, 
and I saw a narrow gate leading obliquely downward to a cer- 
tain vaulted house, which consisted of many apartments, divided 
into small cells, in each of which sat two persons collecting 
passages from the "Word to confirm the doctrine of justification 
by faith alone. One collected and the other transcribed, and 
this they did alternately. I went towards one of the cells ncai 
532 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


505, 506 


the door, and asked what they were collecting and writing ; they 
said, u On the act of justification, or on faith in act, which 
is essential, justifying, quickening, and saving faith, and the 
chief doctrine of the church in our part of Christendom.” I 
then said, u Tell me some mark or sign of that act, when that 
faith is introduced into a man’s heart and soul.” They, replied, 
“ The sign of that act is momentary or instantaneous, when a 
man under the anguish of condemnation for sin, and contrition 
on that account, thinks of Christ as having taken away the con- 
demnation of the law, and lays hold with confidence of this his 
merit, and keeping it in his thoughts, approaches and prays to 
God the Father.” Then I said, u Suppose it to be so, and that 
this act is instantaneous; yet how am I to conceive what is 
asserted of this act, that the man contributes nothing towards it, 
any more than if he were a stock or a stone, and that he has no 
power to begin, will, understand, think, operate, co-operate, 
apply, and accommodate himself to this act? Tell me, how does 
this agree with what you said, that the act takes place when a 
man is thinking about the justice of the law, and the removal 
of its condemnation by Christ, in consequence of which he lays 
hold with confidence of his merit, and approaches and prays to 
God the Father with this in his thoughts'? Are not all these 
things done by the man ?” They answered, “ Not actively, but 
passively.” I replied, “ How can any one think, have confidence, 
and pray passively? If you at such times take away the man’s 
activity and co-operation, do you not also take away his capacity 
of reception, consequently whatever belongs to him as a man, 
and with it the act itself? And what in this case does the act 
become but something purely ideal, such as is called a merely 
mental entity ? I trust that you do not believe that such an act 
takes place only among the predestinate, who are utterly unac- 
quainted with any infusion of faith in themselves, and who might 
throw a cast of dice, and by that hope to ascertain whether faith 
is infused into them or no : on which account do you, my 
friends, believe that a man, with respect to faith and charity, 
operates of himself from the Lord, and that without this opera- 
tion, your act of faith, which you call the chief doctrine of the 
church in the Christian world, is but a. mere pillar or statue, 
like Lot’s wife, which being touched with a scribe’s pen or finger- 
nail, makes a tinkling noise, because it is composed of nothing 
but salt. (Luke xvii. 32.) I use this comparison, because as to 
that act you make yourselves just like statues.” As I said this, 
one of them took up a candlestick intending to throw it violently 
at my face, but the candle suddenly going out, he threw it 
against the forehead of his companion ; at which I smiled and 
departed. 

506. The fourth memorable relation. — I saw in the spir- 
itual world two flocks, the one of goats, the other of sheep. 
533 


506 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


I wondered who they were ; for I knew that the animals seen in 
the spiritual world are not animals, but correspondences of the 
affections, and the thoughts flowing from thence, of those who 
are on the spot : so I approached nearer, and as I approached, 
the likeness of animals disappeared, and instead of them I saw 
men ; and it was shown me, that those who formed the flock of 
goats were such as had confirmed themselves in the doctrine of 
justification by faith alone, and those who formed the flock ot 
sheep were a company of such as had believed that charity and 
faith were one, even as good and truth are. I then spoke with 
those who had appeared like goats, and said, “ Why are you thus 
assembled ?” The greater part of them were of the clergy, and 
possessed extraordinary notions of themselves on account of the 
fame of their erudition, because they were skilled in the mys- 
teries of justification by faith alone. They informed me that they 
were assembled to form, a council ; for they had heard that it 
had been affirmed that Paul’s saying in Romans, iii. 28, “ There- 
fore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the 
deeds of the law,” was not rightly understood ; for it was 
said that faith in that passage does not mean the faith of the 
present church, which is directed towards three divine persons 
from eternity, but a faith in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus 
Christ, and that the deeds of the law do not mean those of the 
law of the decalogue, but those of the Mosaic law peculiar to the 
Jews; and that by a wrong interpretation of these few words, 
two enormous falsities had been adopted, which were, that the 
faith there mentioned meant the faith of the present church, and 
the deeds of the law, those of the law of the decalogue ; whereas 
Paul did not mean these deeds, but those of the Mosaic law that 
were peculiar to the Jews, which clearly appeared from his own 
words to Peter, whom he accused of Judaizing, when he knew, 
nevertheless, u that a man is not justified by the deeds of the 
law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. ii. 16) ; where the 
faith of Jesus Christ* means a faith directed towards him and 
derived from him : and because the deeds of the law mean the 
deeds of the Mosaic law, he has therefore distinguished between 
the law of faith and the law of works, and between the Jews and 
the gentiles, or the circumcision and the uncircumcision ; and 
the circumcision there means Judaism, as in all other places ; 
and he even closes those sayings by these words, “ Do we then 
make the law void through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish 
the law” (Korn. iii. 31) : he also says in the preceding chapter, 
“ Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers 
of the law shall be justified” (Kom. ii. 13) ; as also verse 6, 
“ God will render unto every man according to his deeds ;” also* 
“We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that 
every one may receive the things done in his body, according to 
* See above, n. 337. 


534 


FREE-DETERMIN ATIOK . 


50b 


what lie hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. v. 10), 
besides many other passages of the same apostle ; from whence 
it appears, that Paul rejected faith without good works, as well 
as James in his Epistle, ii. IT — 26. Paul understood the deeds 
of the Mosaic law, which was made for the Jews, as is further 
affirmed to be evident from this circumstance, that every statute 
passed for the Jews is in Moses called the law, thus the works 
of the law. This appears from the following passages : “ This is 
the law of the sacrifice of peace-offering” (Levit. vii. 11). “This 
is the law of the burnt-offering, of the meat offering, of the 
trespass-offering, for the consecration, for the sacrifice and peace- 
offering” (vii. 37). “This is the law of beasts and of fowls” 
(xi. 46, and following verses). “ This is the law of her that hath 
borne a male or a female” (xii. 7). “This is the law of the 
plague of leprosy” (xiii. 59 ; xiv. 2, 32, 54, 57). “This is the 
law of him that hath an issue” (xv. 32). “This is the law of 
jealousy” (Numb. v. 29, 30). “ This is the law of the Nazarites” 

(vi. 13, 21). “ This is the law when a man dieth in a tent” 

(xix. 14). “This is the law of the red heifer” (xix. 2). “The 
law for a king” (Deut. xvi-i. 15 — 19). Indeed the whole book of 
Moses is called “ the book of the law” (xxxi. 9, 11, 12, 26) ; also 
in Luke ii. '22 ; xxiv. 44 ; John i. 45 ; vii. 22, 23 ; viii. 5. To 
this also it is added, that it might be seen in Paul, that a man 
must live according to the law of the decalogue, and that it is 
fulfilled by charity (Rom. xiii. 8 — 11) ; and also that he says, 
“ Now abide faith, hope, and charity ; but the greatest of these 
is charity” (1 Cor. xiii. 13), and not faith. These assertions, 
they informed me, were what they were assembled to consider. 
So not to disturb them, I withdrew ; and then again afar off, 
they appeared like goats, sometimes lying down, and sometimes 
standing up, but they turned themselves away from the flock of 
sheep : they appeared lying down when they were in deliberation, 
and standing up when drawing their conclusions. I kept my 
sight fixed on their horns, and wondered to see that the horns 
on their foreheads sometimes appeared as projecting forward and 
upward, sometimes as bent towards the back, and at last as 
quite bent back. Then of a sudden they turned towards the flock 
of sheep, yet still they appeared as goats ; so I approached them 
again, and asked what they had determined on. They said, 
“ They had concluded that faith alone produces the goods of 
charity, as a tree produces fruits.” But just then a clap of 
thunder was heard, and a flash of lightning was seen from above ; 
and presently an angel appeared standing between the two 
flocks, wdio cried to the flock of sheep, “ Do not hearken to 
them ; they have not receded from their former faith, which is, 
that faith alone justifies and saves, and that actual charity is of 
no avail ; neither is faith a tree, but man is ; but repent, and 
look to the Lord, and you shall have faith. Faith before repent- 
535 


50b 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


ance is not a faith in which there is any life.” Then the goats, 
with their horns bent backward, were desirous to approach the 
sheep ; but the angel standing between them, divided the sheep 
into two flocks, and said to those on the left, who favored tins 
goats, 44 Adjoin yourselves to the goats, if you will ; but 1 
assure you that a wolf will come, that will seize them, and you 
along with them.” 

After the two flocks of sheep were separated, and those on 
the left had heard the threatening words of the angel, they 
mutually looked at each other, and said, 44 Let us converse with 
our former companions.” Then those on the left spoke to those 
on the right, saying, 44 Why do you separate from our pastors ? 
Are not faith and charity one thing, like a tree and its fruits ? 
For a tree by its branches is continued into its fruit; and if a 
part of the branch, by which the tree by continuation flows into 
its fruit, is broken off*, will not the fruit perish, and along with 
it the seed of the tree that should serve for a future growth ? 
Ask our priests whether it is not so.” They then asked the 
priests, and these looked around to the rest who winked at them 
to say that the flock had spoken well. The priests then answered, 
44 You have spoken aright ; but as to what concerns the continu- 
ation of faith into good works, as of a tree into 'its fruit, we 
are acquainted with many mysteries, but this is not the place to 
make them public : for in the band or thread connecting faith 
and charity, there are many little knots, which we who are of 
the priesthood are alone able to untie.” Then one of the priests 
who was among the sheep on the right, arose and said, 44 To you 
they have answered, that this matter is so, but to their own 
party, that it is not so, for they think otherwise.” The first 
inquirers asked therefore, 44 How do they think ? Do they think 
as they teach?” He said, 44 Ho ; for they think that all the 
good of charity, which is called good works, done by a man with 
a view to salvation and eternal life, is not in the least degree 
good, because that in a work done by him he seeks to save 
himself, and arrogate to himself the righteousness and merit of 
the one Saviour as his own, and that this is the case in every 
good work in which he is sensible of the interference of his own 
will ; therefore they assert that there is no sort of conjunction 
whatever between faith and charity, and that faith is not even 
retained or preserved by good works.” But those on the left 
said, 44 What you have asserted of them is not true ; for do 
they not openly preach to us charity and its works, which they 
call the works of faith ?” To this he answered, 44 You do not 
understand their preachings ; for none but such of the clergy as 
may be present attend to and understand their meaning"; foi 
they mean only moral charity, the civil and political goods of 
which are what they call the good works of faith, although they 
are not really so ; for an atheist can do such works in like 
536 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


506 


manner, and under the same form : therefore they maintain 
unanimously, that no man is saved by any works, but by faith 
alone. But I will illustrate this by comparisons, thus : an apple- 
tree produces apples ; but they assert, that if a man does good 
works for the sake of salvation, as this tree produces apples by 
continuity, then the apples are inwardly rotten, and full of worms. 
Again : a vine produces grapes ; but they assert, that if a man 
should do spiritual good, as a vine produces grapes, he would 
produce only wild grapes.” But then they asked, “ What then 
the nature of their goods of charity, or of those works which 
they consider as the fruits of faith?” He answered, “ Perhaps 
*hey are some secret operations, wholly imperceptible, the abode 
of which is somewhere near faith, with which, however, they 
have no coherence, being but like a man’s shadow, which is 
behind him when he looks towards the sun, and is not observable 
to him unless he turns himself backward ; indeed, I may even 
say they are like the tails of horses, which are now commonly 
cut off in many places, from a supposition that there is no use 
in retaining them, and if suffered to continue attached to the 
horse they would be very liable to get defiled.” Having heard 
this, some one in the flock of sheep on the left said, in great 
indignation, “There certainly is some kind of conjunction, or 
else how can they be called the works of faith ? Perhaps the 
goods of charity are insinuated by God into the voluntary works 
of man by some kind of influx, or by some affection, aspiration, 
inspiration, incitement, and excitation of the will, some tacit 
perception in the thought, and hence by exhortation, contrition, 
and so by conscience, with a consequent impulse to action and 
obedience of the decalogue and the Word, either as an infant, 
or as one endowed with wisdom, or by some other means like 
these; for , otherwise how could good works be called fruits ot 
faith ?” To these things the priest answered, “ They do not 
allow this to be the case; and if they say that good works, are 
produced by some such means, yet they so manage it, by other 
expressions in their sermons, as to prove that they are not from 
faith after all. Yet some of them do support such things, but 
then only as signs of faith, and not as the bonds of connection 
between it and chatty. Some nevertheless have contrived a 
conjunction by the Word.” The others then said, “ Is there 
not a conjunction then ?” But he answered, “ They do not 
mean a real conjunction, but only the mere hearing of the Word ; 
for they assert that all a man’s rational and voluntary faculties 
are, in matters of faith, impure and meritorious, because in 
spiritual matters he can no more understand, will, work, and 
co-operate than a block.” But one of them, hearing that a 
man was thought to be in such a predicament as to all that be- 
longs to faith and salvation, said “ I once heard a certain man 
say, ‘ I have planted a vineyard ; now I will drink wine even to 
537 


506, 507 


FREE- DETERMINATION. 


intoxication.’ But another asked him, ‘Will you drink wine 
out of your own cup, held in your own hand V 4 No,’ replied 
he; ‘but out of an invisible cup, in an invisible hand.’ The 
first added, 4 then certainly you will not be intoxicated.’ ” The 
same man said, “But hear me, I pray; I tell you, Drink wine 
from the Word understood: do you not know that the Lord is 
the Word ? Is it not from the Lord, and so is he not in it ? If 
therefore you do good from the Word, do you not do it from the 
Lord, from his own mouth and will ? And if you then look to 
the Lord he will also lead and teach you, and you will do it of 
yourselves from him. Who, that executes any commission by the 
special command of a king, delivered from his own mouth, can 
say, I do this of myself, from my own command, and from my 
own will ?” After this he turned himself to the clergy, and 
said, 44 Ye ministers of. God, do not seduce your flock.” On 
hearing these things, the greater part of the flock on the left 
retired from the goats, and joined itself to the flock on the right 
side. Then some of the clergy said, 44 We have heard what we 
were unacquainted with before; we are the shepherds of our 
sheep and will not forsake them.” And they retired along with 
them. They then said, 44 This man has spoken the truth. Who 
that does any thing from the Word, and thus from the Lord’s 
mouth and will, can say, 4 1 do this of myself?’ Or who can 
say, when doing any thing from a king’s mouth and will, 4 1 do 
this of myself?’ Now we see the Divine Providence, why a 
conjunction of faith and charity has not as yet been found 
which could be acknowledged by the ecclesiastical body. It 
could not be found, because it could not even exist, for there 
was no faith in the Lord, who is the Word, and from thence 
neither was there any faith from the Word.” But the priests 
that were of the flock of goats, went away, waving their 
hats, and crying, “Faith alone, faith alone, shall endure for 
ever.” 

507. The fifth memorable relation. — I was once engaged 
in conversation with the angels, and our closing subject was the 
lust of evil in which every man is born. One of them said, 44 In 
oui- world, those who are under the influence of lust appear to 
us angels as idiots, but to themselves as supremely wise ; there- 
fore in order to draw them out of their infatuation, they are 
alternately let into it, and into the rational principle, which with 
them resides only in their externals : in this state they see, ac- 
knowledge, and confess their insanity, but are still desirous to 
emerge again from their rational into their insane state, and do 
again cast themselves into it, as an escape from a state of com- 
pulsion and dissatisfaction into a state of freedom and delight : 
thus they are inwardly delighted with lust, and not with intelli- 
gence. There are three universal loves of which every man is 
composed by creation ; the love of his neighbor, which is a 
538 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


507 


love of performing uses, and is a spiritual love ; the love of the 
world, which is a love of possessing wealth, and is a material 
love ; and the love of self, which is a love of exercising dominion 
over others, and is a corporeal love. A man is truly a man 
while the love of his neighbor, or the love of performing uses, 
constitutes the head, and the love of the world, or the love of 
possessing wealth, constitutes the breast and the belly, and the 
love of self, or the love of dominion, constitutes the feet and 
soles of the feet ; but if the love of the world constitutes the 
head, he then becomes like a man hunchbacked; and if the 
love of self constitutes the head, he then becomes like a man 
standing not on his feet, but as it were on the palms of his hands, 
with his head downward and his haunches upward. When the 
love of performing uses constitutes the head, and the two other 
loves constitute in order the body and feet, such a man appears 
in heaven of an angelic countenance, with a beautiful rainbow 
about his head ; but if the love of the world or of wealth con* 
stitutes the head, he then appears, when seen from heaven, of 
a pale countenance like a corpse, with a yellow circle about his 
head ; and if the love of self, or of exercising dominion over 
others, constitutes the head, he appears, when seen from heaven, 
of a dusky yet fiery countenance, with a white circle about his 
head.” Hereupon I inquired what was represented by circles 
about the head; they answered, “Intelligence; a white circle 
about the head, where the countenance is dusky and fiery, is a 
representative that the intelligence of such a person is in his 
externals or about him, but insanity in his internals or within 
him : such a person also, when he is in the body is wise, but 
when in the spirit is insane ; and no man is wise in spirit but 
from the Lord, in proportion as he is bom again, and created 
anew by him.” As they uttered this, the ground opened to the 
left, and through the opening I saw a devil arising of a dusky 
and fiery countenance, with a white circle about his head : I asked 
him, “ Who art thou ?” He said, u I am Lucifer, son of the 
morning ; and because I made myself like unto the Llighest, I 
was cast down, according to the description in Isaiah, chap, 
xiv.” (Nevertheless he was not Lucifer, but only fancied that 
he was). I said, a Since you have been cast down, how are you 
able to rise again out of hell ?” He replied, “ There I am a 
devil, but here I am an angel of light : do not you observe my 
head encompassed with a white zone ? You shall see too, if you 
wish, that among the moral I am moral, among the rational I 
am rational, and among the spiritual I am spiritual : I could also 
preach on an occasion.” Then I asked, “ How did you preach ?” 
He answered, “Against cheats, adulterers, and all infernal loves ; 
at such times I have even called myself no longer Lucifer, but 
a devil, and have poured forth curses against self, for which I 
was commended and extolled to the skies : hence it is that I am 
539 


507 


FREE- DETERMINATION. 


called the son of the morning ; and, what I have often wondered 
at, when I was in the pulpit, I thought no other than that I 
was speaking what was right and true ; but the cause of this 
was discovered to me, for I was then in my externals, which 
were at the time separated from my internals ; yet, notwithstand- 
ing this discovery, I was still unable to change myself, for I 
have elevated myself above the Most High, and raised myself 
up against him.” Then I asked him, “ How could you speak 
in such a manner, when you were yourself a cheat and an adul- 
terer?” He replied, “ While I am in externals, or in the body, 
I am one person, but when I am in internals, or in the spirit, I 
am another : in the body I am an angel, but in the spirit a devil ; 
for in the body I am in understanding, but in the spirit in will, 
and understanding raises me upward, but will carries me down- 
ward ; and while I am in understanding a white belt encom- 
passes my head, but when the understanding yields itself subject 
to the will, and is made its servant, which is our last state, then 
the belt blackens and disappears, after which I can no longer 
ascend into this light.” As he said this, on a sudden seeing the 
angels who attended me, his countenance became inflamed, and 
his voice harsh, and he grew r black, even as to the belt about 
his head, and fell down into hell through the opening by which 
he had risen. On seeing and hearing what had passed, those 
who were present drew this conclusion, that a man’s nature and 
quality depend on the nature and quality of his will, and not of 
his understanding ; for the will easily draws over the understand- 
ing to its party and makes a slave of it. I then inquired of the 
angels, whence the devils derive rationality : they said, “ From 
the glory of the love of self ; for this love is encompassed with 
glory, being the splendor of its fire, and this glory raises the 
understanding almost into the light of heaven ; for the under- 
standing in every one is capable of being elevated according to 
the knowledges he possesses, but the will can only be elevated 
by a life in conformity to the truths of the church and of reason. 
Hence it is that even atheists themselves, w T ho from the love of 
self are in the glory of reputation and distinction, and thence 
in the conceit of their own intelligence, enjoy a more sublime 
degree of rationality than many others ; but then this is only 
the case when the thinking principle of the understanding is 
uppermost in them, and not when the love principle of the will 
is uppermost ; and the love principle of the will possesses the 
internal man, but the thinking principle of the understanding 
the external.” The angels further explained the reason why 
man is compounded of the three kinds of love, — the love of uses, 
the love of the world, and the love of self, saying, “ It is in 
order that he may think from God, and yet altogether as of him- 
self ; for in the human mind the highest parts are turned up- 
ward towards God, the middle parts outward towards the world, 
540 


FREE-DETERMINATION. 


50T, 503 

and the lowest parts downward towards the body ; and in con- 
sequence of these being turned downward, he thinks altogether 
as of himself, when nevertheless it is from God.” 

508 The sixth memorable relation. — On a certain day 
there appeared before me a magnificent square temple, whose 
roof was like a crown, arched above, and elevated round about ; 
its walls were continuous windows of crystal, and its gate of a 
pearly substance; within on the south side, verging towards the 
west, was a pulpit, on which, towards the right, lay the Word 
open, encompassed with a sphere of light, whose brightness 
surrounded and illuminated the whole pulpit : in the midst ot 
the temple was a sacred place with a veil to cover it, which at 
that time was removed, and within it stood a cherub of gold, 
wdth a sword in his hand that turned every way. While I was 
taking a view of all these things, and meditating upon them, the 
signification of each object was discovered to me by an influx 
from above : thus I saw that the temple signified a new church; 
the gate of a pearly substance, entrance into it ; the windows of 
crystal, the truths which enlighten it; the pulpit, the priesthood 
and preaching ; the Word, which was open upon the pulpit, 
and illuminated the higher part of it, the revelation of its in- 
ternal sense, which is spiritual ; the sacred place in the midst of 
the temple, the conjunction of that church with the angelic 
heaven ; the cherub of gold within, the Word in its literal sense; 
the sword vibrating in his hand, signified that this sense of the 
letter is capable ©f being turned every way, only that it be applied 
to favor some particular truth ; the removal of the veil before the 
cherub, signified that now the Word is laid open. Afterwards, 
when I approached nearer, I saw written over the gate, Now it 
is allowable ; which signified that now it is allowable to enter 
intellectually into the mysteries of faith. On seeing this writing, 
it occurred to my thoughts how extremely dangerous it is to 
enter intellectually into tenets of faith, formed from a man's 
own intelligence, and consequently consisting of falses ; and how 
much more so to confirm them from the Word, so as to close 
the understanding above, and by degrees below also, and that 
to such a degree, that matters of a theological nature are not 
only held in disgust, but are also obliterated and effaced, just 
like writing on paper by worms, or the nap on cloth by moths, 
while the understanding abides only in political concerns, such 
as regard a man’s life in the state to which he belongs, in civil 
concerns relating to his own particular occupation, and in 
domestic concerns or the business of his own family ; in ail 
which he attaches himself continually to Nature, being smitten 
with the love of her from the fascinating pleasures which she 
presents, and feels as enamored as an idolater when he kisses the 
golden image which he carries in his bosom. Now the tenets 
maintained at this day in all Christian churches are derived, not 
541 


OF REPENTANCE. 


508, 509 

from the Word, but from man’s own intelligence, and conse- 
quently they consist of falses, which yet are confirmed by goine 
passages out of the Word : therefore among the Roman Catholics, 
by the divine providence of the Lord, the Word was taken out 
of the hands of the laity ; and though it was left accessible among 
the Protestants, it was still closed up by the maxim common 
among them, that the understanding is to be kept bound under 
obedience to faith. But in the New Church the case is totally 
reversed : in this it is allowed to enter with the understanding, 
and to penetrate into all its secrets, and likewise to confirm them 
by the Word, and the reason is, because its doctrinals are a 
chain of truths revealed from the Lord by the Word, and their 
confirmation by rational considerations causes the understanding 
to be opened more and more upward, and thus to be elevated 
into the light which the angels of heaven enjoy, which light in 
its essence is truth, and in this light the acknowledgment of 
the Lord as God of heaven and earth is resplendent in all its 
glory. This is meant by the inscription over the gate of the 
temple, Now it is allowable, and also by the veil being re- 
moved from before the cherub in the sacred place ; for it is one 
of the canons of the New Church, that falsities close the under- 
standing, and truths open it. After this I saw as it were an 
infant over my head, holding a paper in his hand, who as he 
approached me grew to the stature of a middle-sized man. He 
was an angel from the third heaven, where all appear, at a dis- 
tance, like infants. When he was come near he presented me 
the paper ; but as it was written with letters of a rounded form, 
such as are used in that heaven, I gave it him back, and requested 
him to explain the meaning of its contents in words adapted to 
the ideas of my thought. Then he replied, “ The contents are 
these : From this time enter into the mysteries of the Word, 

WHICH BEFORE WAS CLOSED UP ; FOR ALL ITS TRUTHS ARE SO MANY 
MIRRORS OF THE LORD.” 


CHAPTER IX. 

REPENTANCE. 

509. After treating on faith, charity, and free-determination, 
repentance comes next in order for consideration, since true faith 
and genuine charity are not attainable without repentance, and 
none can do the work of repentance without free-determination. 
Another reason also for considering the subject of repentance in 
this place is, because the chapter on regeneration immediately suc- 
ceeds it, and none can become regenerate before those more griev 
ous evils, which render a man detestable in the sight of God, are 
542 


OF REPENTANCE. 


509, 510 


lemoved, and the removal of such evils can only he effected by 
repentance. What is an unregenerate man, but an impenitent 
one? And what is an impenitent man, but like a person in a 
lethargy, knowing nothing of the nature of sin, and therefore 
cherishing it in his bosom, and hugging it to his embraces, as an 
adulterer does the partner of his shame ? But in order to un- 
derstand what repentance is, and its effects, it may be expe- 
dient to arrange the consideration of it under separate heads or 
articles. 

I. That repentance is the ptrst constituent of the church 

IN MAN. 

510. The fellowship or communion called the church consists 
of all such persons as have the church abiding in them, and it 
gains admission into every one when he is regenerating ; and 
every one becomes regenerate in proportion as he abstains from 
the evils of sin, and shuns them as he would troops of infernal 
spirits, whom he saw ready to assault him with burning torches, 
to cast him on a pile of fire. There are several things which in 
the first stages of life prepare a man for the church, and intro- 
duce him into it ; but acts of repentance alone effect a formation 
of the church in him. Acts of repentance are all such as make 
a man cease to will, and in consequence cease to practise evils, 
which are sins against God. Before this the man stands in an 
outer place with respect to regeneration, in which case if any 
thought enter his mind about eternal salvation, he turns towards 
it, and presently away from it ; for it penetrates no further than 
the ideas of his thought, thence makes its way into expressions 
of speech, and possibly also into some bodily gestures conform- 
able to his words : but when such thought enters into the will, it 
then gains a place in him, for the will is the very man himself, 
because his love dwells there ; but the thought is without, or 
extraneous to him, unless it proceed from his will : if this be the 
case, then will and thought act as one, and together constitute 
the man. Hence it follows, that repentance, that it may be 
truly such, and become efficacious in a man, must affect the will, 
and thence the thought, and not the thought alone ; it must 
consequently be actual, and not merely of the lips. That repent- 
ance is the first constituent of the church, appears evidently 
from the Word: for John the Baptist, who was sent before to 
prepare men for the church which the Lord was about to estab- 
lish, while he baptized, preached at the same time repentance, 
so that his baptism was called the baptism of repentance, because 
by baptism was signified spiritual washing, which is cleansing 
from sins : this he did in Jordan, because Jordan signified 
introduction into the church, being the first boundary of the 
land of Canaan, where the church was established. The Lord 
himself also preached repentance for the remission of sins, thus 
teaching that repentance is the first constituent of the church, and 
543 


510—513 


OF REPENTANCE. 


that in proportion as a man practises it, his sins are removed, 
and as they are removed, they are forgiven or remitted. More- 
over, the Lord enjoined his twelve apostles, and also the seventy, 
to preach repentance : it is evident therefore, that repentance is 
the first constituent of the church. 

511. That a man cannot possibly have the church in him 
until his sins be removed, must be plain to every considerate 
person, and may also be illustrated by the following comparisons. 
Who can introduce sheep, kids, and lambs, into fields or woods, 
where there are all kinds of wild beasts, until he has first driven 
out those beasts ? Who can form a garden out of a piece of 
ground which is overrun with thorns, briers, and nettles, before 
he has rooted out those noxious plants ?. Who can establish any 
form of administration of justice from judgment, or introduce 
orderly government into a city possessed by enemies, until he 
has first expelled those enemies ? The case is similar with 
respect to a man’s evils, which are like so many wild beasts, or 
like thorns and briers, or like so many enemies ; with which 
the church can no more dwell, than a man could dwell- in a den 
along with tigers and leopards ; or lie in a bed strewed over with 
poisonous and prickly herbs ; or sleep soundly all night in a 
church, under the floor of which were graves full of corpses, 
while under the dread that spectres would arise and infest him 
like so many furies. 

II. That contrition, which at the present day is said to 

PRECEDE FAITH, AND TO BE FOLLOWED BY EVANGELIC CONSO- 
LATION, IS NOT REPENTANCE. 

512. In the reformed parts of the Christian world, mention 
is made of a certain kind of anxiety, grief, and terror, which is 
called contrition, and which with persons about to be regener- 
ated is said to precede faith, and to be succeeded by evangelic 
consolation. It is further said of this contrition, that it arises 
from an apprehension of the just wrath of God, and of eternal 
damnation in consequence, to which every one is exposed by 
reason of Adam’s sin, and the inherent proneness to evils thence 
propagated ; and that without such contrition, the faith which 
is imputative of the merit and righteousness of the Lord the 
Saviour is not bestowed ; but that such as obtain that faith, re- 
ceive evangelic consolation, which implies that they are justified, 
that is, renewed, regenerated, and sanctified, without any co- 
operation on their part, and are thus translated from damnation 
to everlasting blessedness, which is eternal life. But on the 
subject of this contrition, it ought to be inquired, 1. Whether it 
be repentance ; 2. Whether it be of any importance ; 3. Whether 
there be any such thing. 

513. Whether contrition be repentance or not , may be deter- 
mined from a description that will be given of repentance, in 
the following pages ; for it will be seen that it can have no place 

544 


OF REPENTANCE 


513—515 


or existence in a man unless he know himself to be a sinner, not 
only in general, but also in particular, which no one can know 
except he examine himself, and see the evils that are in him, 
and condemn himself on account of them. But the contrition 
which is declared necessary to attain faith has nothing in it 
which tallies with this description ; for it consists only in a man’s 
thinking and confessing that he is born in the sin of Adam, and 
with a nature inclining to all the evils thence resulting, so that 
he is under the wrath of God, and consequently deserving of 
damnation, the curse, and eternal death ; whence it is evident, 
that this contrition is not repentance. 

514. The second point to be considered is, Whether it be of 
any importance. It is said that it contributes to the attainment 
of faith, as that which precedes does to that which follows; but 
still that it does not enter faith, so as to conjoin itself with it. 
Now what is the faith that follows such contrition but this, that 
God the Father imputes his Son’s righteousness, and immediately 
declares a man righteous, new, and holy, although he is not 
conscious of any sin, and thus clothes him with a robe washed 
and made white in the blood of the Lamb ? and when he walks 
in this robe, what are the evils of his life but like stones of sul- 
phur cast into the bottom of the sea? and what the sin of Adam 
but something covered or removed, or taken away by the im- 
puted righteousness of Christ ? When he thus walks, by virtue 
of such a faith, in the righteousness, together with the innocence, 
of God the Saviour, to what purpose does the before-mentioned 
contrition serve, but to inspire confidence that he is in the bosom 
of Abraham, from which place he regards all who have not 
received the contrition which precedes faith, as condemned crim- 
inals in hell, or as dead persons ? for it is insisted that a living 
faith does not abide in those who have not experienced contrition. 
Wherefore it may be affirmed, that should persons so clothed 
have immersed or continue to immerse themselves in damnable 
evils, they take no more heed and have no more perception of 
them than young pigs have of the stench arising from the mire 
in which they wallow. Hence it is evident, that such contrition, 
not being repentance, is of no importance. 

515. The third point to be considered is, Whether there be 
such a thing as contrition without repentance. I have asked 
many in the spiritual world, who have confirmed themselves in 
the faith imputative of the merit of Christ, whether they have 
had any contrition : and they have answered, u What have we 
to do with contrition, when we have firmly believed, from our 
infancy, that Christ by his passion has taken away all our sins ? 
Contrition does not accord with this belief, for it consists in a 
man’s casting himself into hell, and enduring pangs of conscience ; 
whereas we know that we are redeemed, and so rescued out of 
hell, and consequently secure from all danger.” To this they 

545 n n 


OF REPENTANCE. 


515, 516 

/ 

added, “The doctrine of contrition is a mere trick, invented. to 
take place of repentance, which is so often mentioned and in- 
sisted on in the Word ; that possibly, however, some emotion 
may be excited in simple minds, that are but little acquainted 
with the Gospel, 1 when they hear or think of hell-torments.” 
They said, moreover, that the consolation of the Gospel, impressed 
on their minds in their early years, had so far removed contrition, 
that they smiled at the very mention of it, and that hell had no 
more power to strike terror into them, than the fire of V esuvius 
and ^Etna had to alarm the inhabitants of Warsaw and Vienna, 
or the basilisks and serpents in the desert of Arabia, or the tigers 
and lions in the forest of Tartary, to terrify those who live in 
safety, tranquillity, and peace, in some city of Europe; and that 
the w'rath of God affected them no more with fear and contrition, 
than the wrath of the king of Persia did the people of Pennsyl- 
vania. From this relation, and the reasonings which it suggested, 
I am fully persuaded, that contrition, if unconnected with repent- 
ance, such as is described in the following pages, is nothing but 
a sleight and deceit of the imagination. Put the Reformed sub- 
stituted contrition in the place of repentance, that they might be 
separated as far asunder as possible from the Roman Catholics, 
who urged the necessity of repentance together with charity : 
and after they had established justification by faith alone, they 
alleged this as a reason for accepting contrition in the place of 
repentance, — that by repentance, as by charity, something of a 
man's own, which must savor of merit, would enter into his 
faith, and so blacken and defile it. 

III. That the mere lip- confession of being a sinner is not 

REPENTANCE. 

516. On the subject of this lip-confession the Reformed, who 
subscribe to the Augsburg Confession, thus express themselves : — 
“No man can ever possibly know his sins, therefore they cannot 
be enumerated ; they are besides hidden deep in the inner parts, 
therefore confession would be false, uncertain, imperfect, and 
mutilated ; but whoever confesses himself to be altogether mere 
sin, comprehends all sins, excludes none, and forgets none. 
Still, however, the enumeration of sins, although it be not neces- 
sary, ought not to be forbidden, for the sake of tender and 
timid consciences ; but this is only a puerile and common form 
of confession for the simple and ignorant. Formula Concordia:, 
pp. 327, 331, 380. This confession was substituted by the 
Reformed in the place of actual repentance, after they had sepa- 
rated from the Roman Catholics, because it is founded on their 
imputative faith, which alone, without charity, and consequently 
without repentance, is said to produce remission of sins, and 
the whole of man’s regeneration. It is founded also on this 
maxim, which is annexed inseparably to such faith, that in the 
act of justification there is no co-operation on man’s part with 
546 


OF REPENTANCE. 


516-518 


the Holy Ghost ; and on this, that no one enjoys free-deter- 
mination in spiritual things ; and again on this, that every thing 
is an effect of immediate mercy, independent of any mediate 
mercy operating by and through man. 

517. Many reasons might be assigned why the mere lip 
confession of being a sinner is not repentance ; but it may be 
sufficient to mention this : Every man, however wdcked, yea, 
even a very devil, may make such confession, and that with an 
external appearance of much devotion, while the torments of 
hell threaten him, and stare him in the face. But who does not 
see that such a confession, not proceeding from any internal 
principle of devotion, must be imaginative, and thus from the 
lungs, and not voluntary from the interior, and so not from the 
heart? For a wicked man and a devil, notwithstanding such 
confession, still burn inwardly with the lusts of the love of doing 
evil, by which they are agitated and impelled, like the sails of a 
mill in a violent storm. Such a confession, then, is a mere 
contrivance to deceive God for the sake of deliverance, or to im- 
pose upon the simple. For what is easier than to compel the lips 
to pour forth words, and to prepare the breath for that purpose, 
and to raise the eyes and hands ? This is what the Lord observes 
in Mark : “ Well hath Esaias prophesied of you, hypocrites ! 
These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far 
from me” (vii. 6); and in Matthew: u Woe unto you, scribes 
and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outside of the 
cup and of the platter, but within they are full of rapine and 
excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within 
the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” 
(xxiii. 25, 26) ; besides other passages in the same chapter. 

518. The like hypocritical worship is practised by all those 
who have confirmed themselves in the faith now prevalent, that 
the Lord took away all the sins of the world by his passion on 
the cross, by which they understand the sins of every particular 
person who does but put up formulary prayers regarding propi- 
tiation and mediation. Some persons of this character can even 
utter many holy sayings on repentance and charity, with a loud 
voice, and an apparent warmth of zeal from the pulpit, and yet 
believe neither of them of any avail to salvation ; for by repent- 
ance they mean mere lip-confession, and by charity a mere out- 
ward morality in the common business of life ; but the desire of 
popular favor is what influences them on such occasions. These 
are those whom our Lord describes in these words : “ Many will 
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in 
thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name 
done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto 
them, I never knew you ; depart from me, ye that work iniquity” 
(Matt. vii. 22, 23). I once heard in the spiritual world a certain 
person praying thus : u I am full of infection, leprous all over, 

547 


OF REPENTANCE. 


518 , 519 

and defiled from my birth ; there is no part sound in me, from 
the crown of my head to the sole of my foot ; I am not worthy 
to lift up my eyes towards God ; death and eternal damnation 
are my deserved portion : have mercy on me for the sake of thy 
Son ; purify me by his blood : the salvation of all is according 
to thy good pleasure ; I implore thy mercy.” Those who stood 
by and heard him, asked, “ How do you know you are such a one 
as you have described yourself to be?” lie replied, “ I know 
it, because I have been told so.” He was then sent to the ex- 
amining angels, to w r hom he repeated the same declarations ; 
and they, after investigating his real state and character, reported 
that all he had said of himself was true, but still that he was not 
acquainted with a single evil in himself, because he had never 
examined himself, and had fancied that evils, after lip-confession, 
were no longer evils in the sight of God, because he turns away 
his eves from them, and his wrath is appeased. On this account 
he had never repented of any evil, although he was a deliberate 
adulterer, a robber, a deceitful detracter, and one who burnt 
w r ith revenge against those who displeased him, and was such in 
will and heart, and consequently would have been such in words 
and actions had he not been restrained by the fear of the law 
and of the loss of reputation. After it was ascertained that 
this was his real character, he received sentence, and was cast 
down among the hypocrites in hell. 

519. The nature and quality of such persons may be illus- 
trated by comparisons. They are like temples occupied only by 
spirits of the dragon, and by those described in the Revelation 
as locusts; they are like the pulpits in those temples where the 
Word is not to be found, being buried under foot. They are 
also like walls covered over with plaster, beautifully painted in 
fresco , within which are owls, and horrid birds of night, flying 
in at the open windows. They are also like whitened sepulchres 
full of dead men’s bones ; and they are like coins made of tne 
lees of oil, or dried dung, and washed over with gold. They 
are further like the bark and rind about rotten wood, and like 
the garments of Aaron’s sons about a leprous body ; yea, they 
are like sores and ulcers, which are supposed to be healed, but 
which nevertheless are full of corrupt matter, only covered over 
with a thin skin. How plain is it to every one that external 
holiness and internal profaneness cannot agree together ! Such 
persons also are above others fearful of self-examination, so that 
they have no more sense or perception of the vices within them 
than of the fetid unsavory substances contained in the stomach 
and bow T els before they are cast out into the draught. It is to be 
observed, however, that the persons whom we have been de- 
scribing are not to be confounded with those whose actions and 
faith are unblamable, or with those who repent of some partic- 
ular sins, and make a like general confession with their lips 
548 


OF REPENTANCE. 


519—521 


when in worship, and more ardently in private prayer and medi- 
tation when under spiritual temptation, for such general confes- 
sion both precedes and follows reformation and regeneration. 

IV. That every man is born with a propensity to evils of all 

KINDS, AND UNLESS HE REMOVE THEM IN PART BY REPENTANCE 

HE REMAINS IN THEM, AND WHOEVER REMAINS IN THEM CANNOT 

BE SAVED. 

520. It is well known in the church, that every man is born 
with a propensity to evils, and consequently that from his birth 
he is nothing but evil, and the reason of its being known is, 
because a tradition has been handed down by the councils and 
prelates of the various churches, that the sin of Adam has been 
transferred to all his posterity ; that on this account alone every 
man after him, as well as himself, is sentenced to damnation ; 
and that this is the sin inherent in every man from his birth. 
But besides this, several other doctrines of the church are 
grounded on this assertion : as that the washing of regeneration, 
which is called baptism, was instituted by the Lord to remove 
that sin ; that this was the cause of his coming, and that faith 
in his merits is the means for its removal ; not to mention other 
opinions built upon the same idea. But no hereditary evil springs 
from that origin : it was shown above, n. 466, that Adam was 
not the first of men, but by Adam and his wife the first church 
established on this globe is representatively described ; by the 
garden of Eden, -the wisdom of that church : by the tree of life, 
its looking towards the Lord who was to come ; and by the tree 
of the knowledge of good and evil, its looking to itself and not to 
the Lord. That this church was representatively described in 
the first chapters of Genesis, has been fully evinced and confirmed 
by many parallel passages adduced from the Word in the Ar- 
cana Ccelestia, published at London. These things being un* 
derstood and granted, the opinion hitherto received and cherished, 
that the sin of Adam is the cause of that evil which is innate in 
a man from his parents, will fall to the ground, and it will be 
seen that it originates, not from this, but from a different cause. 
That the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil are in every man, and that their being said to be planted in a 
particular garden signified the free-determination which a man 
enjoys of turning himself to the Lord, and away from him, has 
been fully proved in the chapter on Free-determination. 

521. But, my friend, hereditary evil is derived solely from a 
man’s parents ; not indeed that very evil which he actually com- 
mits, but his inclination to it. That this is the case, must be 
obvious to every one who only reflects upon well-known facts 
and common experience. Who cannot see that children by birth 
bear a general resemblance to their parents as to their coun- 
tenances, manners, and dispositions ; and also that the likeness 
of an ancestor frequently returns in his descendants after an 

549 


OF REPENTANCE. 


521, 522 

interval of several generations ; so that the general resemblance 
affords a mark by which many persons can readily distinguish 
different families from each other, and also different nations, as 
Africans from Europeans, Neapolitans from Germans, English- 
men from Frenchmen, &c. How easy it is to discover a Jew 
by his face, eyes, speech, and gestures ! And if you could but 
perceive by sensation the sphere of life which exhales from the 
native disposition of every one, you would in like manner be 
convinced of the similitude of dispositions ( animi ) and minds 
[mentes). Hence it follows that a man is not born in evils 
themselves, but only with an inclination to them, yet with a 
greater or less bias to particular evils ; therefore after death no 
one is judged or condemned for any hereditary evil, but only for 
those which he has actually committed. This also is evident 
from this statute of the Lord : “ The father shall not be put to 
death for the son, neither shall the son be put to death for the 
father: every one shall be put to death for his own sin* 5 (Deut. 
xxiv. 16). This was also confirmed to me in the spiritual world 
by those who die in their infancy, w T ho only incline to evils, and 
thus will them, but still do not commit them, for they are 
educated under the Lord’s auspices, and are saved. The above- 
mentioned inclination and propensity to evils, handed down from 
parents to their children and posterity, can only be broken by a 
new birth from the Lord, which is called regeneration, without 
which such inclination not only continues uninterrupted, but 
acquires new T strength in every succeeding generation, and 
becomes more prone to evils, till at length it tends to all kinds. 
Hence it is that the Jews still resemble their father Judah, who 
took to wife the daughter of a Canaanite, and committed adul- 
tery with his daughter-in-law Thamar, which two connections 
gave birth to three of their families : hence too this hereditary 
disposition, in process of time, has increased to such a height 
that they are unable, with a true faith of heart, to embrace the 
Christian religion. The expression, “they are unable,” is made 
use of, because the interior will of their minds is averse to it, 
and it is this which produces inability. 

522. That all evil, unless it be removed, remains with a man, 
and that he cannot be saved if he remain in his evils, are self- 
evident propositions ; and that no evil can be removed except by 
the Lord, with such as believe on him and love their neighbor, 
may appear plain from what has been said above, particularly in 
the chapter on Faith : The Lord , charity , and faith, make a one , 
like life , will , and understanding , and in case they are divided , 
each perishes like 'a pearl lyruised in powder. And again. 
The Lord is charity and faith in a man, and a man is charity 
and faith in the Lord . But it may be asked, How can a man 
enter into that union? To which it is answered, By no possi- 
bility, unless he in part remove his evils by repentance. We 
550 


OF REPENTANCE . 


522- -524 


speak of the man’s removing them, because the Lord does not 
effect such removal immediately without his co-operation, as was 
fully shown in the same chapter, and in that which followed on 
F REE-DETERMINATION. 

523. It is frequently urged, that none can fulfil the latv, 
especially since he that offends against one commandment of the 
decalogue offends against alh This form of speaking, however, 
is to be taken in a different sense from what it seems to convey ; 
for it is to be understood in this manner, that whoever from 
purpose or confirmation acts in opposition to one commandment, 
acts in opposition to the rest ; for so to act from purpose and 
confirmation is to deny its being sin, and if told that it is, to re- 
ject the consideration as of no moment ; and whoever is guilty 
of such denial and rejection, makes light of whatever is called 
sin. Those who are unwilling to hear any thing about repent- 
ance, naturally fall into such a purposed and deliberate sinfulness ; 
but on the other hand, those who by repentance have removed 
some particular evils, which are sins, are brought to the settled 
purpose of believing in the Lord and of loving their neighbor. 
These latter are kept by the Lord in the purpose of abstaining 
from more sins ; so that if they should sin through ignorance, or 
the prevalence of some particular lust, it is not imputed to them, 
because they did not do it purposely, and they do not confirm it 
in themselves by the denial that it is a sin. This may be exem- 
plified by the following experience : — I have met with several in 
the spiritual world, who had lived in the natural world like other 
people with respect to ornaments of dress, delicacies of food, 
making interest of money by trade and merchandise, frequent- 
ing play-houses, indulging in improper conversation, with several 
other things of a similar nature, and yet the angels charged 
such things as evils of sin on some, but not so on others, declar- 
ing the former criminal, and the latter not. Being asked the 
reason of such distinction, when both had indulged themselves 
in similar practices, they replied, they considered and regarded 
all as to their purpose, intention, and end, and distinguished 
them accordingly, and therefore excused or condemned those 
whom the end excuses or condemns, since a good end is regarded 
by all in heaven, and a bad end by all in hell. 

524. But these points shall be illustrated by comparisons. 
Where sins are suffered to remain in an impenitent man, they 
are like various diseases of the human body, which, unless their 
malignity be removed by the-administration of proper medicines, 
prove fatal: they may especially be compared to the disease 
called gangrene, which, if it be not cured in time, spreads its 
infection all around, and occasions inevitable death. In like 
manner they may be compared with imposthumes and abscesses, 
which, unless they be brought to a head and laid open, collect 
large quantities of putrid matter, so that the neighboring parts 

551 


OF REPENTANCE. 


524, 525 

are first infected, then the adjacent viscera, and lastly the heart, 
the consequence of which is death. Such unremoved sins may 
also be compared with tigers, leopards, lions, wolves, and foxes, 
which, except they be confined in dens, or be bound with chains 
or ropes, the former would assault the flocks and herds, and the 
foxes the poultry, and kill them. They may also be compared 
to venomous serpents, which, if they be not thrust down, and 
crushed with a stick, or deprived of their teeth, will bite, and 
infuse into men their deadly poison. The whole flock must 
perish if it be left in fields where there are poisonous herbs, 
unless the shepherd drive it thence into wholesome pastures. 
The silk-worm too must perish, and all the silk be lost, unless 
all other kinds of worms be shaken off the leaves of the tree on 
which it feeds. Such a state may likewise be compared with 
corn kept in barns or granaries, which must grow musty and 
rancid, and thus unfit for use, unless the air be suffered to pass 
freely through it, to keep it clean from all impurities. A fire 
that is not extinguished on its first breaking out, will quickly 
consume a whole city or forest. A garden that is not kept clear 
of weeds, will soon be entirely overgrown with brambles, thistles, 
and thorns. Skilful gardeners know T that a bad tree communi- 
cates from its root its bad juices into the stem of a good tree 
ingrafted or inoculated upon it, and that the bad juices which 
enter from beneath, are there changed into good juices, and 
produce good fruits. The case is the same with a man, whose 
evils are removed by means of repentance, for by such removal 
he is ingrafted in the Lord, as a branch in a vine, and bears go.od 
fruit (John xv. 4 — 6). 

V. That the knowledge of sin, and the discovery of some 

PARTICULAR SIN IN A MAN’S SELF, IS THE BEGINNING OF 

REPENTANCE. 

525. No one in the Christian world can possibly be without 
the knowledge of sin, for every one is taught from his earliest 
years what is evil, and as he advances in age what is the evil of 
sin. All young people learn this from their parents and masters, 
and likewise from the decalogue, which is the first book put into 
the hands of all Christian children, and in the future stages of life 
from public preaching and private instruction at home, and in ful- 
ness from the Word : they learn it also from the laws of civil jus- 
tice, which teach the same things as the decalogue, and the other 
parts of the Word ; for the evil of sin is evil against a man’s 
neighbor, and evil against a man’s neighbor is also evil against 
Cod, which is sin. But the knowledge of sin is of no avail unless 
a man examine the actions of his life, and consider whether he 
has committed any such thing in private or in public. Prior to 
this his knowledge of sin is merely notional ; and whatever he 
hears from a preacher is but like an empty sound, which enters 
in at his left ear and goes out at his right, and so passes away, 
552 


OF REPENTANCE. 


525—527 


It becomes at last a mere matter of thought, or common-place 
devotional phrase, proceeding only from the lungs, and is at 
length regarded by many persons as all imagination and chimera. 
But the case is altogether different where a man examines him- 
self according to his knowledge of sin, and discovers some par- 
ticular evil in himself, and then says to himself, “ This evil is a 
sin,” and abstains from it through fear of eternal punishment. 
Then for the first time the instruction heard in the church, by 
preaching and by prayer, begins to be received with both ears, 
and is admitted into the heart, and the man from a Pagan be- 
comes a Christian. 

526. Is there any truth more easy to be known throughout 
all Christendom than this, that a man ought to examine himself? 
For in all empires and kingdoms, whether of the Homan Catho- 
lic or the Protestant church, the admonition previous to the cele- 
bration of the holy supper teaches that a man should examine 
himself, and know and acknowledge his sins, and begin to lead 
a new life ; and in the church of England this admonition is 
accompanied with terrible threatenings, where, speaking of the 
qualifications necessary for a worthy communicant, the following 
words are used : — “The way and means thereto is first to examine 
your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments, 
and whereinever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, 
either by will, w T ord, or deed, there to bewail your own sinful- 
ness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full pur- 
pose of amendment of life. And if ye shall perceive your offences 
to be such as are not only against God, but also against your 
neighbor, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being 
ready to make restitution and satisfaction, according to the utter- 
most of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to 
any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have 
offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences at 
God’s hand ; for otherwise the receiving of the holy communion 
does nothing else but increase your damnation. Therefore, it 
any of you be a blasphemer of God, a hinderer or slanderer of 
his Word, an adulterer, or be in malice or envy, or in any other 
grievous crime, repent ye of your sins, or else come not to that 
holy table, lest after the taking of that holy sacrament the devil 
enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all 
iniquity, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.” 

527. Still, however, there are some incapable of examining 
themselves, as infants and young children, before they come to 
maturity of understanding fitted for such examination. The case 
is the same with simple persons, who are incapable of reflection, 
and with all persons who have not the fear of God ; and again, 
w r ith those who labor under certain infirmities of mind and body ; 
and lastly, with those who, in consequence of being confirmed 
in the doctrine of justification by the mere imputative faith of 

553 


OF REPENTANCE. 


527, 528 

Christ’s merit, have persuaded themselves that, by examination 
and consequent repentance, something of a man’s own would 
get admission which would defile faith, and thus cast him out 
and banish him from the only focus of salvation. Lip-confession 
alone is held sufficient by such persons ; but this, as was shown 
above, is not repentance. But those who know what sin is, and 
particularly those who have much knowledge of the Word, and 
teach it to others, and yet do not examine themselves, and con- 
sequently do not see any sin in themselves, may be likened to 
such as scrape together great riches, and store them up in boxes 
and chests, without applying them to any other purpose than 
to look at and count, who are like the traders, one of whom hid 
his talent in the earth, and the other his pound in a napkin 
(Matt. xxv. 25 ; Luke xix. 20). They are also like hard and 
stony ground on which seed falls (Matt. xiii. 5) ; like fig-trees 
full of leaves, but barren of fruit (Mark xi. 13) ; like hearts of 
adamant, which cannot be made fleshy (Zech. vii. 12) ; anji like 
partridges, which sit on their eggs and hatch them not ; they 
get riches, but not with judgment ; in the midst of their days 
they leave them, and in their end they become fools (Jer. xvii. 
11) ; and they are like the five virgins who had lamps and no oil 
(Matt. xxv. 1 — 12). Those who read the Word, and extract 
thence many passages upon charity and repentance, and are 
acquainted with abundance of its precepts, but do not live in 
conformity with them, may -be compared with gluttonous eaters, 
who put into their mouths great lumps of meat, and in conse- 
quence of letting it down into the stomach without proper mas- 
tication, it remains there indigested, vitiating the chyle, and 
occasioning lingering disorders, which at last put a miserable 'end 
to their lives. Such people being void of spiritual heat, however 
exalted in light, may not improperly be called winters, cold 
grounds, arctic climates, yea, even snows, and pieces of ice. 

VI. That actual repentance consists in a man’s examining 

HIMSELF, KNOWING AND ACKNOWLEDGING HIS SINS, SUPPLICATING 

THE LORD, AND BEGINNING A NEW LIFE. 

528. Actual repentance is absolutely necessary, and man’s 
salvation depends on it, as is plain from many passages and 
positive declarations of the Lord in the Word, of which we will 
here adduce the following : John preached the baptism of re- 
pentance, and said, “ Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance” 
(Luke iii. 8 ; Mark i. 4). “ Jesus began to preach, and to 

say, Repent : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. iv. 
17 ; Mark i. 14, 15). “ Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 

perish” (Luke xiii. 3.) Jesus said to his disciples that repentance 
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all 
nations (xxiv. 47). Wherefore Peter preached repentance and 
baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins 
(Acts ii. 38) ; and also said, “ Repent ye, and be converted, that 
554 


OF REPENTANCE.. 


528—630 


Four sins may be blotted out” (iii. 19). And Paul preached 
‘ 4 that all men everywhere should repent” (xvii. 30) ; and “ showed 
first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout 
all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they 
should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repent- 
ance” (Acts xxvi. 20) ; “And testified both to the Jews and also 
to the Greeks, repentance towards God and faith towards our 
Lord Jesus Christ” (xx. 21). The Lord also said to the church 
of Ephesus, “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast 
left thy first love : repent therefore, or else I will remove thy 
candlestick out of its place, except thou repent” (Pev. ii. 4, 5). 
And to the church in Pergamos, “ I know thy works : repent” 
(ii. 13, 16.) And to the church in Thyatira, “ I will give her 
up to affliction, except she repent of her deeds” (ii. 22). And 
to the church of the Laodiceans, “ I know thy works : be zealous, 
therefore, and repent” (iii. 15, 19). And in another place : 
“ There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repen teth” (Luke 
xv. 7) ; with many other passages to the same purpose. Hence 
it is evident that repentance is a duty of absolute necessity ; 
the nature and the manner of performing it we will consider 
presently. 

529. Who cannot understand, from the reason with which 
he is endowed, that it is no repentance for a man to confess with 
his lips only that he is a sinner, and to utter many things about 
sin, like the hypocrite mentioned above, n. 518 ? For what is 
easier for a man, when he is in pain and anguish, than by breath- 
ing from his lungs to pour forth sighs and groans through his 
lips, and also to beat his breast and make himself guilty of every 
sin, when yet he is not conscious of a single one in himself? 
But doc'8 the crowd of devils, which reside in his loves, depart 
with his sighing? Will they not rather make a mockery of it, 
and still remain in him as in their own habitation? From these 
remarks it may be evident that no such lip-repentance is meant 
in the Word, but, as is expressly affirmed, a repentance from 
evil works. 

530. Is it asked, then, “ How is repentance to be performed ?” 
I answer, “Actually; that is, by a man’s examining himself, 
knowing and acknowledging his sins, making supplication to the 
Lord, and beginning a new life.” There can be no repentance 
without self-examination, as was shown in the foregoing article ; 
but to what purpose is 6elf-examination, except that a man may 
know his sins ? And to what purpose is such knowledge,- but 
that he may acknowledge them to be in him ? And to what 
purpose are all these three duties, but that he may confess his 
sins before the Lord, and pray for divine succors, and thus 
begin a new life, which is the end to which every previous step 
has been directed ? This is actual repentance ; and this is the 
method by which it is to be performed, as may appear plain to 

555 


530—532 


OF REPENTANCE. 


every one from the rite of baptism, in which the washing signi- 
fies regeneration ; for at its celebration the sponsors promise for 
the child that he will renounce the devil and all his works. The 
like too may appear from the Lord’s supper, previous to which 
all are admonished to repent of their sins, to turn themselves to 
God, and to begin a new life. It is plain also from the cate- 
chism, or decalogue, which is in the hands of all Christians, 
where in six of the commandments it is only enjoined that a 
man should not commit evil : the reason of this is, because un- 
less he remove evils by repentance, he cannot possibly love his 
neighbor, and much less God ; when nevertheless on thesti 
two duties hang all the law and the prophets, that is, the whole 
Word, and consequently salvation. If actual repentance be 
performed at stated times, especially as often as a man prepares 
himself to partake of the holy supper, supposing him afterwards 
to abstain from one or more sins, which he then discovers in 
himself, it is sufficient to initiate him into the actual practice 
of it ; and when in that state he is then in the way to heaven, 
for he then begins from natural to become spiritual, and to be 
born anew of the Lord. 

531. This may be illustrated by the following comparisons. 
A man, before repentance, is like a desert, in which there are 
terrible wild beasts, dragons, owls, bats, vipers, and venomous 
serpents ; and in the thickets, ochim and tziim ; with satyrs 
dancing here and there ; but when these are cast out by the 
labor and industry of men, the desert may then be tilled and 
cultivated for the reception of seed, and sown first with oats, 
beans, and flax, and afterwards with barley and wheat. The 
case may also be compared with crime, which so much abounds ; 
unless malefactors were chastised and punished with stripes, or 
with death, according to the laws, no city or kingdom could 
possibly subsist. Just so it is with a man, who is like a society 
in miniature ; unless he deal with himself in a spiritual way, as 
is done with evil doers in a great society in a natural way, he, 
after death, will be chastised and punished, which will be con- 
tinued until, through fear of punishment, he commit evil no 
longer, although even then he can never be reduced to do good 
from the love of good. 

VII. That true repentance consists in a man’s examining 

NOT ONLY THE ACTIONS OF HIS LIFE, BUT ALSO THE INTENTIONS 

OF HIS WILL. 

532. The reason why true repentance consists in a man’s 
examining not only the actions of his life, but also the intentions 
of his will, is, because understanding and will produce those 
actions : for a man speaks from thought, and acts from will, so 
that speech is thought-speaking, and action is will-acting : and 
because this is the true source of speech and action, it indis- 
putably follows, that those two principles are in fault when the 

556 


OF REPENTANCE. 


532, 533 


body offends. It is possible also for a man to repent of the evils 
which he has committed with the body, and still to think and 
will evil : but this is like cutting down the trunk of a bad tree, 
and leaving its root in the ground, from which the same bad tree 
grows again and spreads itself in all directions. Far different is 
the case when the root also is plucked up ; and this is effected in 
a man when he examines not only the actions of his life, but 
likewise the intentions of his will, and at the same time removes 
evils by repentance. A man examines the intentions of his will 
at the time he examines his thoughts ; for the intentions manifest 
themselves in the thoughts : thus while his thoughts are busied 
about revenge, adultery, theft, false witness, blasphemy against 
God, the Holy Word, and the church, &c., he also wills and 
intends such evils ; but should he' turn his attention towards his 
thoughts, and ponder in his mind whether he would commit the 
evils he finds there, supposing no obstacle to arise from the fear 
of the law and the loss of reputation, and should he then deter- 
mine not to cherish them in thought or will, because they are 
sins, in such a case he performs true and interior repentance ; 
and especially if he resists and abstains from those evils when 
they present themselves to him with delight, and w T hen he is at 
liberty to commit them. He that practises such repentance 
repeatedly for any time, will perceive the delights of evil, when 
they return, undelightful, and will at length condemn them to 
hell. This is what the Lord meant when he said, u Whosoever 
will find his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for 
my sake shall find it” (Matt. x. 39). He that removes the evils 
of his will by such repentance, is like a man who in good time 
plucks up the tares sown in his ground by the devil, so that the 
seeds implanted by the Lord God the Saviour have free room tc 
shoot forth, and to grow up into a plentiful crop (Matt. xiii. 
25—31). 

533. There are two kinds of love, which for a long time have 
been deeply rooted in the human race, the love of ruling over 
all, and the love of possessing the property of all: the former 
love, if left without restraint, is so boundless in its desires, that 
it would be the God of heaven ; and the latter, if also left without 
restraint, would be the God of the world. All other evil loves 
are marshalled in subordination to these two, and form their 
troops or armies : but to search out these fwo is very difficult, 
because they reside, and conceal themselves in the inmost parts ; 
for they are" like vipers hid in the holes of a rock, which retain 
their poison till some one lies down on the rock, on whom they 
inflict a mortal wound, and then retire into their hiding-places. 
They are also like the fabled syrens of the ancients, which 
ensnared men by the melody of their songs, and then murdered 
them. These two kinds of love also adorn themselves with robes 
and dresses of great splendor, even as the devil by his magic art 
557 


OF REPENTANCE. 


533, 534: 

and phantasy adorns both his own slaves and others on whom he 
would practise his illusions. But it is well to be marked, that 
these two kinds of love may possibly have more sway over the 
little than over the great, over the poor than over the rich, over 
subjects than over kings, the latter being born to dominion and 
wealth, which they come at last to regard just as 4 private indi- 
vidual, as for instance a governor, or a person in office, or the 
captain of a ship, or even as a poor husbandman, regards each 
his own household and possessions : the case however is different 
with such kings as pant after dominion over the kingdoms ol 
other sovereigns. The reason why the intentions of the w T ill 
ought to be searched out is, because the love resides in the will, 
which is its receptacle, as has been shown above : it is from hence 
that every kind of love exhales its delights, and infuses them 
into the perceptions and thoughts of the understanding, which 
do nothing of themselves, but are wholly influenced by the will, 
for they favor its impulses, consenting to and confirming what- 
ever is agreeable to its love; so that the will is the house itself 
in which the man dwells, and the understanding is a court to it, 
through which he goes in and out. This then is the reason why 
it w r as said, that the intentions of the will ought to be searched 
out ; for when this is done, the man is elevated out of the natural 
will, which is possessed by hereditary and actual evils, into a 
spiritual will, by which the Lord reforms and regenerates the 
natural, and thereby the sensual and voluntary principles of the 
body, and thus the whole man. 

534:. Those who never examine themselves may be compared 
to sick people, whose blood is become corrupt, in consequence 
of some obstruction in the very minute vessels, whence arise 
atrophy, sluggishness of the limbs, and acute chronic disorders, 
occasioned by the thickness, tenacity, acrimony, and acidity of 
the humors and consequently of the blood ; but those who 
examine themselves even as to the intentions of the wfill, are like 
those who are cured of such diseases, and restored to the life 
which they enjoyed in their youth. Those who rightly examine 
themselves are like ships laden wdth gold, silver, and precious 
merchandise from Ophir; but before they examine themselves 
they are like ships laden with all kinds of dirt and filth from the 
streets. Those who interiorly examine themselves are like mines 
whose sides glitter with the ores of precious metals ; but before 
they examine themselves they are like stinking bogs, full of 
snakes and poisonous serpents with shining scales, and noxious 
insects with glittering wings. Those who do not examine them- » 
selves, are like the dry bones in the valley ; but when they have 
examined themselves they are like the same bones upon which 
the Lord Jehovah laid sinews, and brought flesh, and which he 
covered with skin, and put breath into, and they lived (Ezek 
xxxvii. 1 — 14:). 

558 


OF REPENTANCE. 


535, 536 

VIII. That THOSE ALSO DO THE WORK OF REPENTANCE, WHO, 
THOUGH THEY DO NOT EXAMINE THEMSELVES, ABSTAIN FROM 
EVILS BECAUSE THEY ARE SINS ; AND THIS KIND OF REPENTANCE 
IS DONE BY THOSE WHO PERFORM WORKS OF CHARITY FROM A 
RELIGIOUS MOTIVE. 

535. Since actual repentance, which consists in self-exami- 
nation, in the knowledge and acknowledgment of sins, in sup- 
plication to the Lord, and in beginning a new life, is exceedingly 
difficult in the Reformed parts of Christendom, for reasons which 
shall be given hereafter, we will here mention an easier kind ol 
repentance ; which is, that, when a man is meditating and intend- 
ing any evil, he should say to himself, “ I meditate and intend 
this ; but as it is a sin I will not do it.” By this means the 
temptation injected from hell is repelled, and its further entrance 
prevented, it is wonderful that every one can chide another who 
intends evil, and say to him, “ Do not give way to it, because it 
is a sin and yet it is with difficulty he can say the same to 
himself ; because in the latter case the will is affected, but in the 
former only the thought which borders next on the organs of 
hearing, inquiry was made in the spiritual world as to who 
could do what is here described ; and so few were found capable 
of doing it, that they might be compared with doves in a wide 
wilderness. Some said they could do it, but they could not 
examine themselves, and confess their sins before God. Still, 
however, all those- who do good from a religious motive avoid 
actual evils ; and yet how rarely do they reflect on the interiors 
that regard the will, imagining that they are not in evils because 
they are in good ; yea, that the good conceals the evil ! But, my 
friend, the first constituent of charity is the shunning of evils, as> 
the Word, the decalogue, baptism, the holy supper, and reason 
too, all teach ; for how can any one flee from evils and put them 
away, unless he look into himself? And how can good become 
good, unless it be inwardly purified ? I am well aware that all 
men of piety, and likewise all men of sound reason, will assent 
to this doctrine, and discern it to be genuine truth, and yet that 
few will practise it. 

536. Still, however, all those who do good from a religious 
motive, whether they be Christians or pagans, are accepted by 
the Lord, and alopted after death ; for the Lord said, u I was 
hungry, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me 
drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; I was naked, and 
ye clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited me ; I was in prison, 
and ye came unto me. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one 
of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 
Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world” (Matt. xxv. 34 to the end). To what 
has been said I shall add this new information, that all those 
who do good from a religious motive, reject after death the doc- 

559 


536, 537 


OF REPENTANCE. 


trine of the present church concerning three divine persons 
existing from eternity, and likewise the faith of that church as 
applied^ to those three persons separately, and turn themselves to 
the Lord God the Saviour, and imbibe with pleasure the doc- 
trines of the New Church. But others, w T ho have not lived in the 
practice of charity from a religious motive, have hearts of adamant 
thus hardened against divine impressions. These first approach 
three gods, afterwards the Father alone, and lastly no God. 
They regard the Lord God the Saviour merely as the Son of 
Mary by her marriage with Joseph, and not as the Son of God ; 
and then they shake off all the goods and truths of the New 
Church, and presently join themselves with the spirits of the 
dragon, and are driven along with them into deserts or caverns, 
which lie in the furthest limits of what is called the Christian 
orb ; and after a time, being separated from the new heaven, 
they rush into the commission of heinous crimes, and are there- 
fore cast down into hell. Such is the lot that awaits those who 
do not practise works of charity from a religious motive, under 
a persuasion that no one can do good of himself but what is 
meritorious, and so omit doing good, associating themselves with 
the goats, who are condemned and cast into everlasting fire pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels, because they never practised 
what the sheep did (Matt. xxv. 41, &c.). It is not there said 
that they did what is evil, but they did not do what is good; and 
those who do not do good from a religious motive do evil ; since 
u no man can serve two masters ; but either he will hate the one 
and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise 
the other” (Matt. vi. 24). And Jehovah saith by Isaiah, “ Wash 
you, make you clean ; put away the evil of you;*, doings from 
before mine eyes cease to do evil ; learn to do good ; and then, 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; 
though they be red like purple, they shall be as wool” (i. 16 — 18) : 
and by Jeremiah, “ Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah, 
and proclaim there this word : Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the 
God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings. Trust ye 
not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, The temple 
of Jehovah is here (that is, the church). Will ye steal, murder, 
and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and come and stand 
before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 
We are delivered to do all those abominations'? Is this house, 
which is called by my name, become a den of robbers ? Behold, 
even I have seen it, saith Jehovah” (vii. 2 — 4, 9 — 11). 

537. It is to be remarked, that such as do good from the 
impulse of mere natural goodness, and not at the same time 
from a religious motive, are not accepted after death, because 
there is notliing but natural good, unaccompanied by spiritual, 
in their charity, and it is spiritual good alone which conjoins 
the Lord to man, and not natural without it. Natural goodness 
560 


OF repentance: 


537, 538 

is of the flesh alone, received by birth from a man’s parents ; but 
spiritual goodness is of the spirit, being received by a new birth 
from the Lord. Those who do good works of charity from a 
religious motive, and consequently do not commit evil, before 
they have received the doctrine of the New Church concerning 
the Lord, may be compared to trees that bear good fruits, al- 
though but few ; likewise to trees that bear excellent fruits, though 
of small size, which nevertheless are preserved with care in our 
gardens. They may also be compared to olive-trees and fig- 
trees growing in forests, and likewise to fragrant herbs and bal- 
samic. plants growing on hills : they are besides like small chapels 
or houses of God, where pious worship is performed ; for they 
are the sheep on the right hand, and the rams which the goats 
assault, according to Daniel, viii. 2 to 14. In heaven they are 
clothed in red garments, and after they are initiated into the 
goods of the New Church, they are clothed in purple garments, 
which, in proportion as they receive truths also, contract a tinge 
of beautiful yellow. 

IX. That confession ought to be made before the lord god 

THE SAVIOUR, AND AT THE SAME TIME SUPPLICATION FOR HELP 

AND POWER TO RESIST EVILS. 

538. The Lord God the Saviour ought to be approached, 
because he is God of heaven and earth, the Eedeemer and 
Saviour, to whom belong omnipotence, omniscience, omnipres- 
ence, mercy itself, and at the same time righteousness ; also 
because man is his creature, and the church his sheepfold, and 
he has over and over in the new covenant enjoined that men 
should approach, worship, and adore him. That he alone ought 
to be approached, is insisted on in these words in John : “ Verily, 
verily, 1 say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the 
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief 
and a robber ; but he that entereth in by the door, is the shep- 
herd of the sheep. I am the door ; by me if any man enter in 
he shall be saved, and shall find pasture. The thief cometh not 
but to steal, to kill, and to destroy ; I am come that they might 
have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am 
the good shepherd” (x. 1, 2, 9 — 11). Man is forbid to climb up 
some other way, to prevent his immediate approach to God the 
Father, who is invisible, and consequently inaccessible, and in- 
capable of conjunction ; on which account he himself came into 
the world and made himself visible, accessible, and capable of 
conjunction, solely for this end, that man might be saved; for 
unless God be approached in thought as a man, all idea of God 
is lost, and becomes like bodily vision when directed towards the 
wide universe ; so that it either fixes itself on an empty nothing, 
or on nature, or on something within nature. That God him- 
self, who from eternity is one, came into the world, is abundantly 
evident from the birth of the Lord the Saviour, who was con- 
561 * o o 


OF repentance 


538, 539 

ceived of the power of the Most High by the Holy Spirit, and 
his humanity was bora of the Virgin Mary in consequence of 
such conception ; whence it follows, since God is indivisible, that 
his soul was the divinity itself, which is called the Father, and 
the humanity thence born was the humanity of God the Father, 
which is called the Son of God (Luke i. 32, 34, 35). Hence it 
further follows, that while the Lord God the Saviour is ap- 
proached, God the Father is also approached at the same time; 
therefore the Lord gave this answer to Philip, wKo desired He 
would show him the Father : “He that seeth me seeth the Fa- 
ther : how sayest thou then, Show us the Father ? Believest 
thou not that 1 am in the Father, and the Father in me ? Believe 
me that I am in the Father and the Father in me” (John xiv. 
9 — 11). But more may be seen on this subject in the chapters con- 
cerning God, the Lord, the Holy Spirit, and the Divine Trinity. 

539. There are two duties incumbent on man after examina- 
tion. — supplication and confession. Supplication should con- 
sist* in prayers for the Lord’s mercy, that he would give power 
to resist the evils repented of, and would supply inclination and 
affection to do good, since without him a man can do nothing 
(John xv. 5). Confession should be to this effect, — that the 
penitent sees, knows, and acknowledges his evils, and discovers 
himself to be a miserable sinner. There is not any need of a 
particular enumeration of sins before the Lord, or of supplication 
for their remission or forgiveness ; for as to the enumeration of 
sins, it must be supposed that the penitent has already searched 
them out, and seen them in himself, — consequently they are 
present before the Lord, because they are present with himself : 
the Lord also was his guide in the work of examination, and dis- 
covered his sins to him, inspired him with sorrow for them, and 
at the same time with the endeavor to desist from them, and 
to begin a new life. There are two reasons why supplication for 
the remission or forgiveness of sins need not be made before the 
Lord: the first is 4 because sins are not annulled, but removed, 
and they are removed in proportion as a man afterwards desists 
from them and enters on a new life ; for there are innumerable 
lusts folded up, as it were, in every evil, which cannot be re- 
moved in a moment, but by degrees, in proportion as a man suf- 
fers himself to be reformed and regenerated. The second reason 
is, because the Lord, as he is mercy himself, remits every one’s 
sins, and does not impute a single one to any man, for he says, 
Forgive them; for they know not what they do:” and on 
Peter’s asking how often he should forgive his brother his tres- 
passes, the Lord replied, “ I say not unto thee, till seven times, 
but until seventy times seven” (Matt, xviii. 21, 22). Where then 
can be the limits of the Lord’s forgiveness ? It is however to be 
observed, that sins are not taken away merely because they are 
remitted and forgiven. But still it cannot be considered as a 
562 


OF REPENTANCE. 


559—561 


hurtful practice, for a person whose conscience is burdened to 
enumerate his sins before a minister of the church for the sake 
of absolution, and to obtain ease of mind ; because by this means 
he is introduced into a habit of examining himself, and of reflect- 
ing on his daily evils : this confession however is of a natural 
kind, whereas that described above is spiritural. 

560. To adore any one as God’s vicar on earth, or to make 
invocation to any saint, is of no more avail in heaven, than 
praying to the sun, the moon, and the stars, and asking an 
answer of a diviner, and believing his word which is altogether 
vain : it is also like worshipping a temple, and not God who dwells 
there ; and it is like entreating a king’s servant who carries the 
sceptre and crown, to grant the honors which belong to dis- 
tinguished services, instead of addressing the king himself; all 
which would be as fruitless as to kiss the splendor of purple, the 
glory, light, and golden rays of the sun, and a mere name, 
instead of the subjects in which they are inherent. It were well 
for all those who act in this manner to ponder on these words of 
John : “We are in him that is true, even in Jesus Christ. This 
is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep your- 
selves from idols” (1 Epistle v. 20, 21). 

X. That actual repentance is an easy duty to those who have 

OCCASIONALLY PRACTISED IT, BUT MEETS WITH VIOLENT OPPOSI- 
TION FROM THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER PRACTISED IT. 

561. Actual repentance consists in self-examination, in the 
knowledge of sins, confession before the Lord, and thus in 
beginning a new life, according to the description given of it 
above. In the Reformed parts of Christendom, which include 
all such as are separate from the Roman Catholic church (to 
whom may be added such as are members of that church, but 
who have never performed any actual repentance), this is a duty 
which is most repugnant to them : the reason is, that some are 
not willing, and some are afraid to look into themselves ; and 
disuse hardens the heart, and begets unwillingness, which is at 
length confirmed by the reasonings of the understanding ; and 
with some it occasions sorrow, dread, and terror at the thoughts 
of it. The principal reason why actual repentance is a duty 
which the Reformed part of the Christian world feel to be most 
repugnant, is to be found in their belief that repentance and 
charity contribute nothing to salvation, which depends wholly 
on faith alone, from the imputation of which follow remission of 
sins, justification, renovation, regeneration, sanctification, and 
eternal salvation, without any regard to man’s co-operating of 
himself, or as of himself. This co-operation the maintainers of 
that faith call a vain thing, utterly contradictory, repugnant, and 
injurious to the merit of Christ ; and this doctrine is propagated 
among the vulgar, who are ignorant of the mysteries of that 
faith, bv the mere sound of these words, “that faith alone brings 

563 


OF REPENTANCE. 


561, 562 

salvation, and how is it possible for a man to do good of him- 
self?” Hence it is that among the Reformed, repentance is like 
a nest of young birds forsaken by the old Ones, which have been 
taken and killed by the hawk. To this reason another may be 
added ; that every one of the 'Reformed, as they are called, is 
associated, as to his spirit in the spiritual world, only with his 
like ; these are continually infusing this doctrine into the ideas 
of his thoughts, and so diverting him from the track of self- 
inspection and examination. 

562. I have asked many of the Reformed in the spiritual 
world, why they never performed actual repentance, when yet it 
is enjoined them as a duty both in the Word and in the or- 
dinance of baptism, and likewise before the participation of the 
holy communion in all their churches ; and they have given me 
various answers. Some have said, that contrition is sufficient, 
attended with a lip-confession of being a sinner ; and some, that 
such repentance being performed by man’s operating from his 
own will, does not coincide with the faith generally received. 
Some said, “ How is it possible for a man to examine himself, 
when he knows that he is nothing but sin? this would be like 
casting a net into a lake full of mud from the bottom to the top, 
and which contains nothing but noxious worms some, “ Who 
can so deeply inspect himself, as to discover in himself the sin of 
Adam, from which all his actual evils take their rise ? Besides, 
are they not all of them washed away with that sin by the 
waters of baptism, and wiped clean and covered by the merit of 
Christ? What then is repentance but an imposition which gives 
grievous disturbance to tender consciences? And are we not 
by the Gospel under grace, and not under the hard law of 
such repentance ?” Some said, that whenever they intended to 
examine themselves, they were seized with a sudden dread and 
terror, as if they saw a monster by their bedside at day-dawn. 
Hence the reasons appeared why actual repentance, in the Re- 
formed parts of the Christian world, is out of use and rejected. 
I have also in their presence inquired of some persons belonging 
to the Roman Catholic communion about their actual confession 
before their ministers, whether it be a duty which they feel 
repugnant to them ; and the answer they gave me was, that 
after they were initiated into it, they were not afraid to recount 
their sins before a confessor who was not severe, and that they 
found a degree of pleasure in recollecting them, and could cheer- 
fully confess those of a lighter nature, but the more heinous not 
without some degree of fear ; and that they freely repeated this 
customary duty every year, and returned after absolution to 
their former states of festivity; also,, that they regard all as 
impure who are unwilling to lay open the defilements of their 
hearts. On hearing this account the Reformed who were present 
walked off, some laughing and deriding, others wondering and 
564 


OF REPENTANCE. 


562 — 564 


yet commending. Afterwards there approached some of the same 
persuasion, but who had been brought up in countries amongst 
the Reformed, and, according to the custom prevalent in those 
countries, had not been used to make particular confession, like 
their brethren in other places, but only a general confession 
before their spiritual guide. These declared that they found it 
impracticable to examine themselves, to search out and bring to 
light their actual evils and the secrets of their thoughts, and that 
they felt as much repugnance and terror at the thought of such 
duties, as they should in passing a ditch to attack a rampart 
guarded by armed soldiers, who warned them not to approach. 
Thus it appears that actual repentance is an easy duty to such 
as have been familiarized to the practice of it, but to such as 
have never practised it, it is painful and difficult. 

563. It is acknowledged that custom forms a second nature, 
and consequently that what is difficult to one is easy to another; 
so it is in the case of self-examination, and a confession of the 
sins that have been discovered. What, for instance, is more 
easy than for n laboring man, a porter, or a husbandman, to 
work with his hands from morning till evening, when yet a gen- 
tleman, or one delicately brought up, could not do the same 
work for the space of half an hour without fatigue and difficulty. 
A running footman, properly habited, finds no difficulty in 
running before a carriage many miles ; and yet the person 
accustomed to ride within would find it painful to run the length 
of a street. Every workman, who is diligent at his work, per- 
forms it easily and with pleasure, and when he leaves it, is glad 
to return again to it ; whereas another, who is perhaps equally 
skilful in his business, but slothful, can scarcely be compelled to 
set about it. The case is the same in every employment and 
pursuit. What is more easy than for a man of pious habits to 
pray to God ? and yet what is more difficult, where a person has 
been long a slave to habits of impiety ? What priest was ever 
without fear and apprehension on his first appearing to preach 
before a king? but when he has been in some degree accustomed 
to it, he proceeds with boldness. What is more easy than for a 
inamangel to raise his eyes towards heaven, and for a man-devil 
to cast down his towards hell ? though if the latter be a hypo- 
crite, he too can lift up his eyes towards heaven, but not his 
heart. It is the end regarded, and the habit thence contracted, 
which determines every one’s particular complexion and con- 
stitution. 

XL That he that never did the work of repentance, and 

NEVER LOOKED INTO AND EXAMINED HIMSELF, COMES AT LAST 

NOT TO KNOW THE NATURE OF EITHER DAMNATORY EVIL OR 

SAVING- GOOD. 

56T. As there are but few persons in the Reformed parts of 
the Christian world who do the work of repentance, it is expe- 
565 


OF REPENTANCE. 


564 , 565 

client here to add this remark : He that never looks mto and 
examines himself, comes at last not to know the nature of either 
damnatory evil or saving good ; for such a one has no religion 
to lead him to that knowledge. The evil which a man does not 
see, know, and acknowledge, remains with him, and whatever 
remains is. rooted in him more and more deeply, until at length 
it closes up and obstructs the interiors of his mind, so that he is 
rendered first natural, then sensual, and lastly corporeal ; in all 
which states he is utterly unconscious of any damnatory evil or 
saving good, and becomes like a tree planted on a hard rock, 
which shoots a few roots between the clefts, and at length withers 
away for want of moisture. Every man rightly educated is ra- 
tional and moral ; but there are two ways which lead to rationality, 
— one from the world, the other from heaven. He that is made 
rational and moral from the world, and not from heaven also, is 
only so as to his outward speech and behavior, but within he is 
a beast, yea, a wild beast, acting in unity with the inhabitants 
of hell, who are all of such a quality ; but whoever is made 
rational and moral from heaven also, is truly rational and moral, 
because he is so in spirit, in speech and body at the same time ; 
for within the two latter dwells a spiritual principle as their soul, 
which is the source of action to what is natural, sensual, and 
corporeal : he also acts in unity with the inhabitants of heaven. 
There is then a spiritual-rational and moral man, and also a 
merely natural-rational and moral man, and in this world the 
latter is not distinguishable from the former, especially if he lias 
acquired by practice the habit of hypocrisy ; but the angels in 
heaven distinguish such as clearly as doves from owls, and as 
sheep from tigers. The merely natural man can see what is evil 
and good in others, and can also reprove them ; but as he never 
looked into and examined himself, he does not see any evil in 
himself, and if any is pointed out to him by another, he masks 
it over by means of his rational faculty, as a serpent hides its 
head in the dust, and immerses himself in it as a hornet buries 
itself in dung. This is occasioned by the delight of evil, which 
envelops him as a thick mist does a bog, and absorbs and suffo- 
cates the rays of light. This, and nothing but this, constitutes 
the delight of hell, which exhaling thence, enters by influx into 
every man, but only by the soles of the feet, the back, and the 
hinder part of the head. If it be received by the head in the 
fore-part, and by the body in the breast, the man is then en 
slaved to hell : the reason is, because that part of the human 
brain called the cerebrum is allotted to the understanding and 
its wisdom, but that part called the cerebellum , to the will and 
its love ; and hence it is that the brain is divided into two 
spheres. This infernal delight can only be amended, reformed, 
and inverted, by means of a spiritual-rational and moral principle. 

565. We shall close what has been said with some description 
566 


OF REPENTANCE. 


565 


of the rational and moral man as being merely natural, and who, 
regarded in himself, is a sensual man, and becomes corporeal 01 
carnal. This description will be but a sketch, digested under 
particular heads. The sensual principle is the last and lowest 
sphere of the life of the human mind, adhering to and cohering 
with the five bodily senses. He is called a sensual man whose 
judgment on all occasions is determined by the bodily senses, 
who believes only what he can see with his eyes and touch with 
his hands, allowing such things to be real, and rejecting all others. 
The interiors of his mind, which see by the light of heaven, are 
closed, so that he has no discernment of any truth relating to 
heaven or the church. Such a person thinks in extremes, that 
is, his thought is confined to the last and lowest sphere of things ; 
for he does not think interiorly from any spiritual light, but 
rests in gross natural light only ; hence it is that he is inwardly 
opposed to the things of heaven and the church, although he can 
outwardly speak in their favor, and that with a degree of zeal 
proportioned to the hope of obtaining authority and opulence by 
their means. Men of learning and eruditiop, who have con- 
firmed themselves deeply in falses, especially those who have 
confirmed themselves against the truths of the Word, are more 
sensual than the rest of mankind. Sensual men reason with 
shrewdness and dexterity, because their thoughts are so near 
their speech as to be almost in it, being, as it were, in their lips ; 
and because they make all intelligence to consist in speaking 
merely from the memory. They are also expert in confirming 
falses, and after confirmation believe them to be true ; and yet 
their reasonings and confirmations are grounded in the fallacies 
of the senses, by which the vulgar are ensnared and persuaded. 
Sensual men are cunning and malicious above all others. The 
covetous, the adulterous, and the deceitful are particularly sen- 
sual, though they may appear men of talent in the eyes of the 
world. The interiors of their minds are foul and filthy, in con- 
sequence of their communication with the hells ; and in the Word 
they are said to be dead. All who inhabit the hells are sensiial, 
and* the more so as they are more deeply immersed. The sphere 
of infernal spirits conjoins itself with the sensual principle of man 
in the back ; and in the light of heaven the hinder part of their 
heads appears hollow. Those who reasoned merely from sensual 
things, the ancients called serpents of the tree of knowledge. 
Sensual things ought to possess the last place, and not the first, 
and with every wise and intelligent man it is so, and they are 
kept in subjection to interior things ; whereas with , an unwise 
man they have the first place, and bear rule. Where sensual 
things are in the lowest place, a passage is opened by them to 
the understanding, and truths are eliminated by the mode of 
extraction. Such sensual things border most closely on the 
world ; they admit whatever flows from the world, and as it were 
567 


565— 567 


OF REPENTANCE. 


sift it. Man by means of sensual tilings communicates with tlie 
world, and by means of rational things with heaven. Sensual 
things form a basis which is subservient to the interiors of the 
mind, some sensual things being subservient to the intellectual 
part, and some to the voluntary. Where the thought is not 
elevated above sensual things, the man attains only to small 
degrees of wisdom ; but where it is, he enters into a clearer light 
(lumen), and at length into heavenly light (lux), and then he 
has a perception of the things which flow from heaven. Natural 
science is the ultimate of the understanding, and sensual delight 
the ultimate of the will. 

566. A man, as to his natural principle, is like a beast, and 
acquires by a natural life the image of a beast ; hence natural 
men in the spiritual world appear surrounded by beasts of all 
kinds, which are correspondences. For the natural principle of 
man, considered in itself, is a mere animal ; but in consequence 
of a spiritual principle being superadded to it, its possessor has 
a capacity of becoming a man, and although he use not the faculty 
for the purposes intended by it, still he can counterfeit the man, 
when yet he is but a talking beast ; for he talks from a natural- 
rational principle, but thinks from a spiritual infatuation : he 
acts from a natural-moral principle, but loves from a spiritual 
principle similar to the lust of a satyr ; thus his actions, in the 
eye of the spiritual-rational man, differ but little from the dan- 
cing of a person bit by a tarantula, or laboring under the disease 
called St. Vitus’s dance. Who is not aware that a hypocrite can 
talk about God, a thief about honesty, an adulterer about chas- 
tity, &c. ? But unless a man had the power of shutting and 
opening the door between his thoughts and words, and between 
his intentions and actions, according to the direction of prudence 
or cunning as the door-keeper, he would rush more furiously 
than any wild beast to the perpetration of every wicked and 
barbarous outrage. That door however is opened in every person 
after death, when his true nature and quality appears ; but still 
the wicked are kept under restraint by punishment and imprison- 
ment in hell. Therefore, kind reader, look into yourself, and 
search out one or other of your evils, and remove it from a prin- 
ciple of religion ; for if you remove them with any other view or 
purpose, you will succeed only so far as to conceal them from 
the world. 


567. To the above I shall add the following memorable re- 
lations. — First. I was once suddenly seized with a disease that 
seemed to threaten my life ; my whole head was oppressed with 
pain ; a pestilential smoke was let in upon me from Jerusalem, 
which is called Sodom and Egypt, Bev. xi. 8 : I was half dead 
with intolerable agonies, and I expected every moment to be 
568 


OF REPENTANCE. 


567 


my last. Thus I lay in my bed three days and a half. My 
spirit was reduced to this state, and in consequence of it my 
body. I then heard about me the voices of persons saying, “ Lo ! 
he that preached repentance for the remission of sins, and ex- 
horted us to look to the man Christ only, lies dead in the streets 
of our city.” On their asking several of the clergy whether he 
w r as worthy of burial, they answered, “No; let him lie to be 
looked at and they passed to and fro, and mocked. All this 
befell me, of a truth, while I was writing the explication of the 
eleventh chapter of the Revelation. Then I heard many shocking 
speeches of scoffers, who said, “ How can repentance be per- 
formed without faith ? And how can the man Christ be adored 
as God ? Since we are saved of free grace without any merit of 
our own, what do we need but this faith, — that God the Father 
sent the Son to take away the curse of the law, to impute his 
merit to us, and so to justify us in his sight, to absolve us from 
our sins by the declaration of a priest, and then to give the Holy 
Ghost to operate all good in us ? Are not these doctrines agree- 
able to Scripture, and also to reason ?” All this the crowd who 
stood by agreed to and applauded. I heard what passed without 
the power of replying, being almost dead. But after three days 
and a half my spirit recovered ; and being in the spirit, I left 
the street and went into the city, and said again, “Do the work 
of repentance, and believe in Christ, and your sins will be re- 
mitted and you will be saved, but otherwise you will perish. Did 
not the Lord himself preach repentance for the remission of sins, 
and that men should believe in him ? Did he not enjoin his 
disciples to preach the same ? Is not a full and fatal security of 
life the sure consequence of your faith ?” To this they replied, 
“ What idle talk ! Has not the Son made satisfaction ? And 
does not the Father impute it to us, and justify us who have be- 
lieved in it \ Thus are we led by the spirit of grace ; how then 
can sin have place in us, and what power has death to hurt us ? 
Do you comprehend this Gospel, you preacher of sin and repent- 
ance ?” At that instant a voice was heard from heaved, saying, 
“ What is the faith of an impenitent man, but a dead faith ? 
The end is come, the end is come upon you that are secure, un- 
blamable in your own eyes, justified in your own faith,- ye sa- 
tans.” And suddenly a gulf was opened in the midst of the 
city, which spread itself far and wide, and the houses one after 
another fell down, and were swallowed up ; and presently water 
began to bubble up from the wide whirlpool, and overflowed the 
waste. 

When they were thus overwhelmed, and to appearance 
drowned, I was desirous to know their condition in the deep, 
and a voice from heaven said to me, “ You shall see and hear.” 
A.nd straightway the waters, in which they seemed to be drowned, 
disappeared ; for waters in the spiritual world are correspond 
569 


567 


OF REPENTANCE. 


ences, and hence appear to surround those who are in falses. 
Then they appeared to me in a sandy place like the bottom of 
the sea, where there were large heaps of stones, among which 
they were running, and lamenting that they were cast out of 
their great city. And they raised their voices and exclaimed, 
“ Why has all this befallen us ? Are we not, through our faith, 
clean, pure, just, and holy ? Are we not, by our faith, cleansed, 
purified, justified, and sanctified?” Others cried out, “ Are we 
not by our faith rendered such as to appear clean, pure, just, 
and holy before God the Father, and to be declared so before 
the angels ? Are we not reconciled, propitiated, atoned for, 
and thus absolved, washed, and cleansed from our sins ? And 
is not the curse of the law taken away by Christ ? Why then 
are we cast out hither as if subject to that curse? We have been 
told by a presumptuous preacher against sin in our great city, 
Believe in Christ , and do the work of repentance. But have we 
not believed in Christ while we believed in his merit? And have 
we not done the work of repentance while we confessed ourselves 
sinners ? Why then has all this befallen us ?” But immediately 
a voice from one side said to them, “ Do you know any one of 
your sins ? Have you ever examined yourselves ? Have you in 
consequence shunned any evil as a sin against God ? He who 
does not shun sin remains in it : and is not sin the devil ? Thus 
it is of you the Lord saith, ‘Then shall ye begin to say, We 
have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in 
our streets : but he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence 
ye are: depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity’ (Luke xiii. 
26, 27 ; Matt. vii. 22, 23). Depart therefore every one to his 
place : you see the openings into those caverns ; enter, and work 
6hall be given each of you to do, and afterwards food in propor- 
tion to your work ; and though you should refuse to enter, the 
calls of hunger will speedily compel you.” 

After this there came a voice from heaven to some on the 
earth,* who were without that great city, and who are described 
also in the Bevelation, xi. 13, crying aloud, “ Take heed to your- 
selves ; take heed how you associate with such persons. Can 
you not understand that evils, which are called sins and iniqui- 
ties, render a man impure and unclean? How can you be 
cleansed and purified from them, but by actual repentance, and 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Actual repentance consists in 
self-examination, in the knowledge and acknowledgment* of sins, 
in owning to their guilt, in confessing them before the Lord, in 
imploring help and power to resist them, thus in desisting from 
them, and in leading a new life, doing all these things as ot 
yourselves. Practise this once or twice a year, when you ap- 
proach the holy communion, and afterwards, when the sins ot 
which you owned yourselves guilty recur, then say to yourselves, 
* In the spiritual world. 

570 


OF REPENTANCE. 


567 


‘We will not consent to them "because they are sins against God.’ 
This is actual repentance. Who cannot perceive that where a 
man does not search out and see his sins, he remains in them? 
For all evil is delightful to a man from his birth : it is delightful 
to him to take revenge, to commit whoredom, to defraud, to 
blaspheme, particularly to rule over others from a principle of 
self-love. Does not the delight arising from these evils prevent 
you from seeing them ; and if you happen to be told that they 
are sins, does not that delight prompt you to make excuses for 
them ? Yea more, do you not strive by false reasonings to make 
it appear that they are not sins, and thus continue in them, and 
practise them afterwards more than before, even till you no longer 
know what sin is, or whether or no there be any such thing ? 
But the case is otherwise with every one who performs actual 
repentance : he knows and acknowledges his evils, and calls them 
sins, and on that account he begins to shun and turn away from 
them, and at last no longer feels satisfaction in their delights ; 
and in proportion as this is the case, he sees and loves what is 
good, and at length feels delight in it, which is the delight of 
the angels of heaven. In short, so far as any one casts the 
devil behind him, he is adopted by the Lord, and by him is 
taught, led, withheld from evil, and kept in good : this is the 
only way which leads from hell to heaven.” It is something 
extraordinary, that Protestants have a certain deep-rooted repug- 
nance, abhorrence, and aversion to actual repentance, which is 
so violent that they cannot force themselves to self-examination, 
neither can they look at their sins, or confess them before God ; 
for they are seized as it were with horror at the bare thought ot 
such a duty. I have inquired of many in the spiritual world 
concerning this circumstance, who all told me that it was not 
in their power ; and when they were informed that the Roman 
Catholics practise such duties, that is, that they examine them- 
selves, and confess their sins openly before a monk, they have 
greatly wondered, more especially as the Reformed cannot do 
the same in private before God, although it is equally enjoined 
them before they approach the Holy Supper. Some of them 
made an investigation into the cause of this, and discovered that 
it was the doctrine of faith alone which induced such an impeni- 
tent state and such a heart ; and then it was granted them to 
see, that such of the Roman Catholics as adore Christ, and do 
not invoke saints, are saved. 

After these events, there was heard as it were a noise of 
thunder, and a voice speaking from heaven, and saying, “ We 
are astonished ! Say to the assembly of Protestants, ‘ Believe 
in Christ, and do the work of repentance, and ye will be saved.’ ” 
I accordingly repeated these words to them ; after which I added, 
“ Is not baptism a sacrament of repentance, and hence an intro- 
duction into the church ? for what else do the sponsors promise 
571 


OF REPENTANCE. 


567 , 568 

for the person to be baptized, but that he will renounce the devil 
and his works ? Is not the holt supper a sacrament of repent- 
ance, and hence an introduction into heaven ? for is it not 
declared to the communicants that they must do the work ot 
repentance before they approach ? Does not the decalogue, 
which is the universal doctrine of the Christian church, insist 
on repentance ? for is it not said in six commandments of the 
second table, 4 Thou shalt not do this and that evil,’ and not, 
4 Thou shalt do this and that good V Hence you may under- 
stand, that in proportion as any one renounces and turns away 
from evil, he desires and loves good ; and that before this he 
does not know what good is, or even what evil is.” 

568. The second memorable relation. — What wise and 
pious person is not desirous to know the condition of his life 
after death ? To gratify such a wish I will here give some gen- 
eral account of it. Every man after death, when he finds that he 
is yet alive, and in another world, and is told that above him is 
heaven where are eternal joys, and beneath him is hell where 
are eternal sorrows, is first let again into his externals as in the 
former world. In this state he believes that he shall certainly 
go to heaven, and talks intelligently, and acts prudently. Then 
6ome begin to profess, “We have lived moral lives, we have 
maintained fair characters, we have never intentionally done 
evil:” others say, “ We have frequented the church, we have 
heard masses, w T e have kissed holy images, we have poured forth 
abundance of prayers on our knees :” others again profess, “ We 
have given to the poor, we have assisted the needy, we have 
read books of devotion, and also the Word:” with much more 
to the same purpose. After making these professions, the angels 
come to them and say, u The things you have mentioned you 
have done in externals, but you are yet ignorant of the quality 
of your internals. You are now spirits in substantial bodies, and 
the spirit is your internal man, which thinks in you according 
to its will, and wills according to its love, and this is the delight 
of its life. Every man from his infancy enters upon life from 
externals, learning to act morally and to speak intelligently ; 
and when he first acquires some idea of heaven and its blessed- 
ness, he begins to pray, to frequent churches, and to perform 
the solemnities of worship ; nevertheless, as evils spring up from 
their native fountain, he harbors them in the recesses of his 
mind, and also ingeniously veils them over by reasonings drawn 
from fallacies, until at length he no longer knows evil to be evil ; 
and after this, his evils being veiled over and covered as it were 
with dust, he no longer thinks any thing of them, only keeping 
on his guard so as to prevent their appearing before the world. 
Thus he studies only to lead a moral life in externals, and so 
becomes a two-fold or double man, being in externals a sheep, 
and in internals a wolf : hence he is like a"box of gold filled with 
572 


OF REPENTANCE. 


566, 569 

poison ; or like a person of a foul breath, who keeps in his mouth 
some sweet-smelling substance, to prevent its being perceived 
by the bystanders ; or he is like a perfumed rat’s skin. You 
profess that you have lived moral lives, and have been attentive 
to the practice of piety ; but let me ask, have you ever examined 
your internal man, and there perceived any lusts prompting you 
to take vengeance even to death, to indulge in libidinous desires 
even to adultery, to defraud others even to the commission ol 
theft, to tell lies even to the bearing of false witness ? In four 
commandments of the decalogue it is said, c Thou shalt not do 
such things,’ and in the last it is said, ‘ Thou shalt not covet 
them.’ Do you suppose that your internal man, with respect to 
those evils, is like your external ? If you suppose so, you may 
possibly find yourselves mistaken.” To this they have replied, 
“ What is the internal man ? Is it not one and the same with 
the external? We have been told by our ministers, that the 
internal man is nothing else but faith, and that pious discourse 
and morality of life are the signs of faith, being its operation.” 
To which the angels have answered, “ Saving faith is in the in- 
ternal man, and so also* is charity, and these are the source ot 
Christian faithfulness and morality in the external ; but if the 
fore-mentioned lusts remain in the internal man, that is, in the 
will and thence in the thought, so that you inwardly love them, 
and yet in externals act and speak otherwise, in this case evil in 
you is above good, and good is beneath evil ; therefore whatever 
appearance of understanding may be in your speech, or of love 
in your actions, evil is within, only covered and concealed, and 
then you are like artful deceivers, who pretend to acts of hu- 
manity, while their hearts breathe a very different spirit. But 
the quality of your internal man, of which you are entirely 
ignorant, in consequence of never examining yourselves, and of 
never performing repentance after examination, you will see 
presently, when stripped of your external man and let into your 
internal ; for then you will no longer be known to your com- 
panions or to yourselves. Indeed we have often observed evil- 
moral persons then become like wild beasts, viewing their neigh- 
bors with ferocious aspect, burning with deadly hatred towards 
them, and blaspheming God, whom in the external man they 
have worshipped.” On hearing this they have retired, and the 
angels have said, “You will see the condition and lot of your life 
presently ; for in a short time your external man will be taken 
away from you, and you will enter into the internal, which is 
now your spirit.” 

569. The third memorable relation. — Every kind of love 
in man exhales its delight, by which it makes itself perceptible : 
it exhales it first into the spirit, and thence into the body : and 
the delight of every one’s love, together with the pleasantness ol 
his thought, constitutes his life. These delights and pleasures 
573 


569 


OF REPENTANCE. 


man perceives but in an obscure manner, so long as be lives in 
the natural body, because it absorbs and dulls them ; but after 
death, when the material body is put oft, and thus the covering 
or clothing of the spirit taken a^way, the delights of his love and 
the pleasures of his thought are then rendered fully sensible and 
perceptible; and what is surprising, they sometimes affect the 
senses as odoriferous smells. Hence it is that all in the spiritua 
world are associated together, according to their loves; in heaven, 
according to the loves that reign their, and in hell, according to 
the loves that reign there. The odors into which the delights of 
love are turned in heaven are all perceived like such fragrances, 
6weet smells, pleasant exhalations, and delightful perceptions, as 
prevail in gardens, shrubberies, fields, and w T oods, early of a 
morning in the spring of the year ; but the odors into which the 
delights of love are turned into hell are perceived as fetid and 
nauseous stenches, such as arise from putrid carcasses, drains, 
and pools full of the runnings from dust heaps and dunghills; 
and yet what is wonderful, to the senses of the devils and satans 
in hell such stenches are like the perfume of balsams, spices, and 
frankincense, refreshing their nostrils and hearts. In the natural 
world also, beasts, birds, and creeping things have the faculty of 
associating according to the odors they exhale ; but it is not so 
with men until they have cast off their mortal covering. Hence 
it is that heaven is arranged in the most distinct order, according 
to all the varieties of the love of good ; and hell, on the con- 
trary, according to all the varieties of the love of evil. Owing 
to this contrariety there is a great chasm between heaven and 
hell, which cannot be passed ; for the inhabitants of heaven can- 
not endure any of the odors of hell, as they occasion loathing 
and sickness, and put the person who inhales them in danger 
of swooning : the case is the same with the inhabitants of hell, 
if they pass the middle of the chasm and imbibe the odors of 
heaven. I once saw a Certain devil, w T ho appeared at a distance 
like a leopard, and who, a few days before, had been seen among 
the angels of the last heaven, having the art to transform himself 
into an angel of light. He had passed the middle of the chasm, 
and was standing between two olive-trees, not yet being sensible 
of any odor offensive to his life ; the reason of which w r as, be- 
cause no angels were present ; but as soon as they approached 
he was seized with convulsions, and fell dowm with all his joints 
contracted ; and then he appeared like a great serpent, folding 
and writhing himself, till at length he made his escape through 
a cleft in the ground, and being received by his associates, be 
was conveyed down into a cavern, where he presently revived by 
the stinking odor of his own delight. I once also saw a certain 
satan punished by his associates, and on inquiring into the 
reason, was informed that he had stopped his nostrils and ap- 
proached the heavenly odors, and on his return had brought 
5 U 


OP REPENTANCE. 


569, 570 

some taint of them along with him in his clothes. It has some- 
times happened that a stench like that of a dead body, exhaling 
from some open cavern of hell, has slightly touched my nostrils, 
and brought on a vomiting. Hence the true reason may appear 
why smelling, in the Word, signifies perception, and why it is 
frequently * said that Jehovah smelt a grateful odor from the 
burnt-offerings ; also why the anointing oil and frankincense 
were prepared with fragrant spices ; and on the other hand, why 
the children of Israel were commanded to carry all unclean 
things out of the camp, and also to dig a hole for their excre- 
ments, and to cover them in the ground (Dent, xxiii. 10 — 14) ; 
because the camp of Israel was representative of heaven, and 
the wilderness without the camp, of hell. 

570. The fourth memorable relation. — I was once en- 
gaged in conversation with a novitiate spirit, who, during his 
abode in the world, had meditated much about heaven and hell. 
By novitiate spirits, we mean men lately deceased, who being 
then spiritual men, are called spirits. When he first entered the 
spiritual world he began in like manner to meditate about heaven 
and hell, and while he was meditating about heaven he felt him- 
self in a state of gladness, but while about hell in a state of 
sorrow. Upon calling to mind that he was in the spiritual world, 
he immediately inquired where heaven and hell were, and also 
about their nature and qualit} r . The answer he received was, 
“ Heaven is over your head, and hell is under your feet, for you 
are now in the world of spirits, which is in the midst between 
heaven and hell ; but with respect to their nature and quality, 
they cannot be so briefly described.” Then, from the burning 
desire he had to get information, he fell on his knees, and prayed 
earnestly to the Lord to be instructed ; and lo ! an angel ap- 
peared on his right hand, and raised him, and said, “ You have 
prayed to be instructed about heaven and hell : inquire and 
LEARN WHAT DELIGHT IS, AND YOU WILL KNOW.” Having said 

this, the angel was taken up from him. Then the novitiate spirit 
said within himself, “ What can this mean ? Inquire and learn 
what delight is , and you will know the nature and quality of 
heaven and hell?” So presently departing from the place where 
he stood, he wandered about, and addressed all that he met, say- 
ing, u I pray you be so kind as to inform me what delight is ?” 
Some replied, “ What a strange question ! Who does not know 
what delight is ? Is it not joy and gladness ? Delight then is de- 
light, and one delight is like another : we know no difference.” 
Others said, “ Delight is the mind’s laughter ; for while the mind 
laughs, the countenance is merry, the discourse jocular, the ges- 
tures sportive, and the whole man is in the enjoyment of delight.” 
But some said, “ Delight is the gratification of feasting, eating 
all kinds of dainties, and drinking generous wines to intoxication, 
and at the same time conversing on various subjects, particularly 
575 


570 


OF REPENTANCE 


on such as relate to the indulgences of Yenus and Cupid.” . On 
hearing these descriptions of delight, the novitiate spirit in 
some warmth said within himself, “ These are the answers of 
cIowtls, and not of sensible men. These delights do not consti- 
tute either heaven or hell. O that I could meet with some wise 
persons !” So he left these and began to inquire for wise men. 
Then a certain angelic spirit observed him, and said, “ I perceive 
you have a desire kindled in you to know what is the universal 
constituent of heaven, and the universal constituent of hell, and 
since delight is that universal constituent, I will conduct you 
to the top of a hill, where a daily assembly is held of ‘those who 
inquire into effects, of those who investigate causes, and of those 
who explore ends. Those who inquire into effects are there called 
spirits of the sciences, and in the abstract, sciences ; those who 
investigate causes are called spirits of intelligence, and in the 
abstract, intelligences ; and those who explore ends are called 
spirits of wisdom, and in the abstract, wisdoms. Directly over 
them, in heaven, are angels who from ends see causes, and from 
causes effects, and from these the three companies receive illus- 
tration.” Immediately taking the novitiate spirit by the hand, 
he led him to the top of a hill, and introduced him to the 
assembly of those who explore ends, and who are abstractedly 
called wisdoms ; and the novitiate spirit said, “ Pardon, I entreat 
you, my intrusion : the cause of my coming hither is to inquire 
about heaven and hell, this being a subject which from my 
childhood has engaged my attention and thought ; and on enter- 
ing lately into this world, I was informed by some with whom I 
was then associated, that heaven is over my head and hell 
beneath my feet ; but as they did not acquaint me with their 
nature and quality, I was brought into a state of anxiety by 
continual thought on the subject : then I prayed to God for 
information, and immediately an angel presented himself before 
me, who said, inquire and learn what delight is, and 
you will know what you desire. Accordingly I have made 
inquiry, but hitherto in vain; therefore I entreat you to be 
so kind as to teach me what is meant by delight.” To this the 
wisdoms replied, “ Delight is the all of iife to every one in hea- 
ven, and the all of life to every one in hell : those who are in 
heaven perceive the delight of what is good and true, while those 
who are in hell, the delight of what is evil and false : for all de- 
light is of love, and love is the esse of a man’s life ; and as a 
man is a man according to the quality of his love, so is he a man 
also according to the quality of his delight. The activity of love 
is what produces the sense of delight, which activity in heaven 
is attended with wisdom, and in hell with insanity, each of which 
in its respective subjects closes in delight; but the heavens and 
the hells are in opposite delights, the heavens being in the 
love of good, and thence in the delight of doing good, whereas 
576 


OF REPENTANCE. 


570 


the hells are in the love ot evil, and thence in the delight of doing 
evil : thus by knowing what delight is, you will know the nature 
and quality of both heaven and hell. Inquire, however, and learn 
further what delight is from those who investigate causes, and are 
called intelligences, who are assembled a little way from this to 
the right.” So he took his leave ; and being admitted among 
those called intelligences, he explained the reason of his coming, 
and entreated them to instruct him what is meant by delight. 
They were rejoiced at his making such an inquiry, and said, “ It 
is true that he who knows what delight is, knows also the nature 
and quality of heaven and hell. The will, by virtue of which a man 
is a man, is never affected, in the smallest instance, but by de- 
light ; for will, considered in itself, is nothing else but the affec- 
tion of some particular love, and consequently of some particular 
delight, the disposition to will being excited by some kind of 
pleasure, and its attendant satisfaction : and as it is the will which 
impels the understanding to think, so there cannot be the least 
excitement of thought but as a consequence of the influent de- 
light of the will ; and the reason of this is, because the Lord, by 
influx from himself, puts into action all things in the soul and in 
the mind, with angels, spirits, and men, and this he does by an 
influx of love and wisdom : this influx is the real activity whence 
all delight is derived ; which in its source or origin is called bless- 
edness, satisfaction, and happiness, and in its derivation delight, 
gratifications, and pleasure, and in a universal sense, good. But 
infernal spirits invert all things in themselves ; thus they turn 
good into evil, and truth into the false, the delight still remain- 
ing ; for without it they would not have either will or sensation, 
and consequently they would have no life. Hence it is plain 
what are the nature and quality, and what the origin, of the de- 
light of hell, and also what are the nature and quality, and what 
the origin of the delight of heaven.” After this he was con- 
ducted to the third company, consisting of those who inquire into 
effects, and who are called sciences. They said, “ Descend to 
the earth below, and ascend to the earth above ;* for there you 
will perceive and be sensible of the delights of heaven and hell.” 
And behold ! at a distance from them, the earth straightway 
opened, and through the opening three devils ascended, having 
a fiery appearance from the delight of their love ; and as the 
angels in consociation with the novitiate spirit perceived that all 
three were sent purposely from hell, they cried out to them, 
“Approach no further ; but from the place where you now stand 
tell us something of your delights.” They replied, “ Know that 
every one, whether he is called good or evil, enjoys his own 
particular delight ; he that is called good is in the enjoyment of 

* The earth or radon below 19 that part of the world of spirits which commu 
nicates with hell, and the earth or region above, that part of the same world which 
communicates with heaven. 

577 


p r 


570, 571 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

his delight, and he that is called evil in the enjoyment of his/’ 
Then the angels inquired, “ What is your delight?” They said, 
“ It is the delight of whoredom, revenge, fraud, and blasphemy.” 
The angel asked further, “ But what are the nature and quality 
of these delights?” They replied, “In others they excite simi- 
lar sensations to the stenches arising from dunghills, putrid 
carcasses, and stagnant urine.” “And are these,” said they, 
“ delightful to you ?” They rejoined, “ Yes, — most delightful.” 
“ Then,” said the angels, “ you are like the unclean beasts which 
live in them.” “ Be it so,” they answered ; “ but such things 
are most grateful to our nostrils.” The angels then asked, 
“ Have you any further information to give respecting your de- 
lights ?” “ Every one,” they replied, “ is allowed the enjoyment 
of his delight, even the most unclean, as they call it, provided 
he does not infest good spirits and angels ; but as in consequence 
of our delight we cannot refrain from infesting them, we are 
confined in workhouses, where we undergo great hardships : the 
restraint laid on our enjoyments by the cessation of our delights 
in such places, is what is called hell-torment, being attended 
with interior pain.” The angels further asked them, “ Why do 
you infest the good ?” “We cannot do otherwise,” they replied ; 
“ it is as if we were seized with rage and madness when we see 
any angel, and perceive about him the divine sphere of the Lord.” 
To this we replied, “ You are then like wild beasts ;” and pres- 
ently afterwards, when they saw the novitiate spirit with the 
angels, a fit of fury came upon them, which appeared like a fire 
of hatred ; therefore, to prevent their doing any mischief, they 
were cast down again into hell. After this appeared the angels 
who from ends see causes, and by causes effects, and who inhab- 
ited the heaven immediately over those three companies ; they 
appeared in a clear bright light, which descending in spiral 
flexures, brought along with it a round garland of flowers, and 
placed it on the head of the novitiate spirit ; and immediately 
these words issuing from the light were addressed to him : “This 
laurel crown is given you, because from your childhood you have 
meditated about heaven and hell.” 


CHAPTEB X. 

REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

571. After treating of repentance, it comes next in order 
to treat of reformation and regeneration, because these follow 
repentance, and are promoted oy it. There are two states into 
which a man must enter, and through which he must pass, that 
he may from natural become spiritual. The first state is called 
B information, and the other Begeneration. In the first he 
looks from his natural state towards the spiritual, with a great 
578 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 571, 572 

desire to attain it ; in the other state he becomes a spiritual' 
natural man. The first state is formed by the truths which be- 
long to faith, by which he looks towards charity ; the other is 
formed by the goods of charity, from which he enters into the 
truths of faith ; or what is the same thing, the first is a state of 
thought from the understanding, the other is a state of love from 
the will. As this latter state commences and advances, a change 
or turning takes place in the mind ; for then the love of the will 
enters by influx into the understanding, acting upon, and leading 
it to think in concord and agreement with its love ; so that in 
proportion as the good of love fills the first station, and the 
truths of faith the second, the man is spiritual, and is a new 
creature. He then acts from charity, and speaks from faith; 
he sensibly feels the good of charity, and perceives the truth of 
faith ; he is then in the Lord, he is in peace, and thus regene- 
rate. The man who, during his abode in this world, has entered 
into the first of these states, is in a capacity after death of being 
introduced into the other ; but he who during the present life 
has not entered into the first state, cannot after death be intro- 
duced into the second, and thus cannot be regenerated. These 
two states may be compared with the daily progression of light 
and heat in the spring season ; the first with the early dawn or 
cock-crowing, the second with morning and sunrise ; and the 
progression of the latter state may be compared with that of the 
day from morning till noon, and thus to light and heat. It may 
also be compared with a crop of corn, which is first a green 
herb, then puts forth spikes and ears, in which lastly grain is 
formed ; and likewise with a tree, which at first sprouts forth 
from a seed in the earth, then forms a stalk, from which branches 
shoot out, and these are adorned with leaves, and afterwards 
with blossoms, in the inmost bosom of which the rudiments of 
fruits are formed, which as they ripen produce new seeds, like 
a new race or progeny. The first state, which is that of reform- 
ation, may also be compared with the state of a silk-worm, 
when it draws forth from itself and unfolds its silken web ; but 
after its industrious toil is over it acquires wings, and flies forth 
into the open air, and then no longer derives its nourishment as 
before from leaves, but from the juices of flowers. 

I. That unless a man be born again, and as it were created 

ANEW, HE CANNOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 

572. That a man cannot enter the kingdom of God except 
he be born again, is the Lord’s doctrine in John, where he said 
to Nicodemus, “ Yerily, verily (Amen), I say unto thee, except 
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God and 
further, “ Yerily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born 
of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom ol 
God : that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is 
born of the spirit is spirit” (iii. 3, 5, 6). The kingdom of God 
579 


572 574 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

signifies both heaven and the church; for the kingdom of God on 
earth is the church ; and the same is meant by the kingdom of 
God in other places where it occurs, as [n Matt. xi. 11 ; xii. 28 \ 
xxi. 43; Luke iv. 43; vi. 20 ; viii. 1, 10; ix. 11, 60, 62 ; xvii. 
21 ; and elsewhere. To be born of water and the spirit, signifies 
by the truths of faith and a life in conformity to them. Water 
signifies truths, as may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, 
n. 50, 614, 615, 685, 932. Spirit signifies a life in conformity 
to divine truths, as is evident from the Lord’s words in John vi. 
63. Verily, verily, signifies that it is the truth ; and because 
the Lord was the truth itself, therefore he so often used that ex- 
pression. He is also called the Amen (Rev. iii. 14). The re- 
generate in the Word are called sons of God, and born of God, 
and regeneration is described by a new heart and a new spirit. 

573. Sitice “ to be created’’ also signifies to be regenerated, 

therefore this term is applied to him who is born again, and as 
it were, created anew. That this is the signification of being 
created is plain from these passages. “ Create in me a clean 
heart, O God ; renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm li. 10). 
“ Thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good ; thou send- 
est forth thy spirit, they are created ” (civ. 28, 30). “ The peo- 
ple that shall be created shall praise the Lord ” (cii. 18). “ Be- 

hold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing” (Isaiah lxv. 18). “Thus 
saith the Lord thy Creator , O Jacob, and' thy Former, O Israel, 
I have redeemed thee.< Every one that is called by my name, 
I have created him for my glory” (xliii. 1, 7). “ That they may 

see and know and consider, and understand together, that the 
Holy One of Israel hath created this” (xli. 20) : besides other 
passages ; as in some where the Lord is called Creator, Former, 
and Maker. Hence it is plain what is meant by these words ot 
the Lord to his disciples : “ Go ye out into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to every creature ” (Mark xvi. 15) : creatures 
mean all who are in a capacity to be regenerated. In like man- 
ner it is used in Rev. iii. 14 ; 2 Cor. v. 17. 

574. It is obvious also to reason that a man ought to be 
regenerated, since he is born with a propensity to evils of every 
kind, derived from his parents, and these reside in his natural 
man, which of itself is diametrically opposed to the spiritual 
man ; and yet he is born to be an inhabitant of heaven, into 
which he cannot be admitted unless he be rendered spiritual, 
which can only be effected by regeneration. Hence it necessarily 
follows, that the natural man with its lusts ought to be conquered, 
subdued, and inverted ; for otherwise the man cannot stir a step 
towards heaven, but must needs c$st himself more and more 
deeply into hell. How plain must this appear to every one who 
believes that he is born with a propensity to evils of every kind, 
and who acknowledges that there are such things as good and 
evil, and that the one is contrary to the other ; also a life after 

580 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 574 570 

6eath, a hell and a heaven ; and that hell is formed by evil, and 
heaven by good ! The natural man, considered in himself, as to 
his nature, differs not at all from the nature of beasts ; indeed, 
with regard to his will to all intents and purposes he is a wild 
beast : he differs however from beasts with respect to his under- 
standing, for this is capable of elevation above the lusts of the 
will, and not only of seeing, but also of regulating them ; hence 
it is that a man is capable of thought from understanding and of 
speech from thought, which beasts are not. What a man’s 
quality is by birth, and what it would be unless he were regen- 
erated, may be seen in savage beasts of all kinds. He would 
be a tiger, a panther, a leopard, a wild boar, a scorpion, a taran- 
tula, a viper, a crocodile, &c. ; so that unless he were transformed 
into a sheep by regeneration, what would he be but a devil 
among devils in hell \ And supposing the innate ferocity of men 
were under no restraint from the laws of civil government, would 
they not assault and murder one another, or at least despoil each 
other of their possessions even to their very clothes ? Are there 
any of the human species who are not by birth satyrs and the 
mere creatures of licentiousness or four-footed reptiles ? and who 
among them, unless he be regenerated, becomes any thing better 
than an ape ? The external morality which a man assumes for 
the purpose of concealing his internals, can make him nothing 
more. 

575. The quality of the unregenerate man may be further 
described by these comparisons and similitudes in Isaiah : “ The 
cormorant and the bittern shall possess it ; the owl also and the 
raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch out upon it the line of 
emptiness and the plummet of desolation ; and the thorn shall 
come up upon its altars, the thistle and bramble in its fortresses ; 
and it shall be a habitation for dragons, and a court for the 
daughters of the owl. The ziim shall also meet with the jiim, 
and the satyr shall encounter his fellow ; the lilith [birds ot 
night,] also shall rest there ; there shall the great owl make her 
nest, and lay, and gather, and hatch under her shadow ; there 
shall the kites also be gathered, every one with her mate” 
(xxxiv. 11, 13 — 15). 

II. That the new birth or creation is effected by the lord 

ALONE, THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF CHARITY AND FAITH, DURING 

MAN’S CO-OPERATION. 

576. That regeneration is effected by the Lord alone, through 
charity and faith, is a consequence of what was proved in the 
chapters on charity and faith, and particularly of what was 
taught in the article, The Lord , charity , and faith make a one, 
like life, will , and understanding ; and if they be divided, each 
'perishes like a pearl bruised to powder. These two, charity and 
faith, are called means or mediums, because they conjoin man 
with the Lord, and cause charity to be -harity, and faith, faith, 

581 


576, 577 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

which could not be the case except man also had some share in 
regeneration ; hence it is said that this work is effected during 
man’s co-operation. In the foregoing chapters we have occa- 
sionally spoken of man’s co-operation with the Lord ; but since 
the human mind is such, as to be led entirely by its perceptions 
to imagine that it works and effects every thing merely by its 
own power and strength, therefore this subject shall be still 
further illustrated. In all motion, and consequently in all action, 
there is an active and a passive, that is, a something which acts 
as an agent, and a something which, being passive, acts from the 
agent; hence one action is effected by both ; comparatively as a 
mill is put into action by a wheel, or a chariot by a horse, or as 
motion is produced by the endeavor to move, or as an effect 
proceeds from its cause, or as a dead power put in activity by a 
living power, and in general as the instrumental is acted upon 
by its principal ; in all which instances it is well known that the 
two together constitute but one action. With respect to charity 
and faith, the Lord is the agent, and man acts from the Lord ; 
for the active [power of energy] of the Lord is in the passive ■ 
[j ground ] of man ; therefore the power of acting well is from the 
Lord, and thence the will to act is as it were man’s, because he 
is in possession of free-will, so that he has the power to act in 
unity with the Lord, and to conjoin himself with him ; or to act 
from the power of hell, which is extraneous to that of the Lord, 
and thus to separate himself from him. Man’s action, when* 
concordant with that of the Lord, is what is here meant by 
co-operation ; but to give the reader a clearer idea of this sub- 
ject, we will further illustrate it presently by comparisons. 

577. From what has been said, this also follows, that the 
Lord is continually in the act of regenerating man, because he is 
continually in the act of saving him, and no one can be saved 
except he be regenerated ; according to the Lord’s words in 
John, “ Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom 
of God” (iii. 3). Regeneration therefore is a means of salvation, 
as charity and faith are means of regeneration. It is the height 
of vanity to suppose that regeneration follows as a necessary 
consequence of the faith now prevalent in the church, which 
excludes man’s co-operation. Action and co-operation, such as 
were described above, are' apparent in every thing that has any 
activity and power of motion : the action and co-operation of the 
heart and the whole of its arterial system, are of this kind ; the 
heart acts, and the arteries, by their coverings and coats, co-oper- 
ate, and in this manner produce the circulation of the blood. The 
case is similar with respect to the lungs and the air : the air acts 
by its weight according to the height of its atmosphere, and at 
first the ribs with the lungs co-operate, and presently afterwards 
the lungs with the ribs ; hence the action of respiration is com- 
municated to every membrane of the body. It is thus that the 
582 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 577 579 

meninges of the brain, the pleura, the peritonaeum, the clia- 
phragm, and the other membranes which cover the viscera, and 
those which inwardly compose them, act and are acted upon, and 
so co-operate ; for they are in their natures elastic, deriving hence 
their existence and subsistence. The case is the same in every 
fibre and nerve, in every muscle, and even in every cartilage, in 
each of which, as is well known, there are action and co-opera- 
tion. Such co-operation exists too in all the senses; for the 
sensories, like the bodily organs of motion, consist of fibres, 
membranes, and muscles. To describe the particular co-opera- 
tion of each would be needless ; for it is well known that light 
acts on the eye, sound on the ear, odor on the nostril, and flavor 
on the tongue, and that the organs adapt themselves to such ac- 
tion, and thence derive sensation. How plain is it to perceive 
from hence, that unless there were in the spiritual organism ot 
the brain such action and co-operation with the influent life, it 
would be impossible for thought and will to exist ! for life from 
the Lord enters by influx into that organism, and as this on its 
part co-operates, all that is thought, weighed, concluded, and 
determined to be done, is made perceptible. If life alone were 
to act, and the man not to co-operate as of himself, he would no 
more be capable of thinking than a stock or a stone, or than a 
church is whilst the minister is preaching in it, which may in- 
deed, by the repercussion of the voice from its doors, repeat the 
words like an echo, but can never be made sensible of the mat- 
ter of tbe discourse ; in such a state would a man be, in respect 
to charity and faith, unless he co-operated with the Lord. 

578. The state and condition of a man, if he were not to 
co-operate with the Lord, may also be illustrated by the fol- 
lowing comparisons : The spiritual things of heaven and the 
church would in such a case excite in him the same perceptions 
and sensations as some discordant or disagreeable object, affect- 
ing him, for instance, as a stench does his nose, dissonance his 
ear, deformity his eye, and a nasty taste his tongue ; and if the 
delight of charity and the pleasantness of faith were to enter by 
influx into the spiritual organism of the minds of those who are 
in the delight of evil and the false, they would be tortured and 
tormented by the intrusion, and at length would fall into a 
swoon ; for the organism of the mind of such persons, by reason 
of the continual spiral foldings and windings of which it consists, 
would twist and writhe itself during the heavenly influx, and 
would be tortured like a serpent on a bed of ants. That this is 
really the case has been proved to me by abundant experience 
in the spiritual world. 

III. That since all are redeemed, all have a capacity to be 

REGENERATED, EVERY ONE ACCORDING TO HIS STATE. 

579. To understand this proposition more clearly, it may be 
expedient to premise something on the subject of redemption, 

583 


579, 580 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

The Lord came into the world principally for these two purposes, 
to remove hell from angels and men, and to glorify his human- 
ity ; for before the Lord’s coming hell had increased from be- 
neath to such a height as to infest the angels of heaven, and also 
by its interposition between heaven and the world, to intercept 
the Lord’s communication with men on earth, in consequence 
of which no divine truth or good could pass from the Lord to 
mankind. Hence a total destruction and damnation threatened 
the whole human race, and also the angels of heaven could not 
long have subsisted in their integrity. In order, therefore, to 
remove hell, and so to avert the impending damnation, the Lord 
came into the world, and did remove and subdue it, and thus 
opened heaven, so that he might afterwards be present with men 
on earth, and save such as live according to his commandments, 
and might consequently regenerate them ; for those who are 
regenerated are saved. Thus the truth of the proposition is 
intelligible, that all have a capacity of being regenerated, be- 
cause all are redeemed ; and as regeneration and salvation are 
a one, it is equally true that all have a capacity of being saved. 
The doctrine therefore which the church maintains, that unless 
the Lord had come into the world no one could have been saved, 
is to be understood in this sense, that unless he had come into 
the world no one could have been regenerated. With respect 
to the other purpose for which the Lord came into the world, 
namely, to glorify his humanity, it was grounded in this circum- 
stance, that he was thus made a Redeemer, Regenerator, and 
Saviour to eternity ; yet it may not be believed that by the 
redemption once wrought in the world all from that time were 
redeemed, but that he is continually redeeming those who believe 
on him and practise his precepts. More however may be seen 
on these subjects in the chapter on Redemption. 

580. The reason why it is said that every one has a capacity 
of being regenerated according to his state, is, because a dif- 
ference of persons and circumstances causes a difference in 
respect to regeneration. The learned and the unlearned, for 
instance, are regenerated in a different manner, and bv different 
processes. The same is true of persons engaged in different 
studies and employments, and of those also who confine their 
researches to the externals of the Word, and those who extend 
them to its internals. There is a difference between those who 
receive from their parents good natural dispositions, and those 
who receive bad ; and likewise in respect to those who from their 
infancy have plunged themselves into the vanities of the world, 
and those who have sooner or later separated themselves from 
them : in short, there is a difference between those who consti- 
tute the external church of the Lord, and those who constitute 
the internal. The variety is infinite, like that of the faces and 
dispositions of mankind ; but still every one has a capacity of 
581 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 580, 5bl 

being regenerated and saved according to his state. That this is 
the case may appear evident from this circumstance, that the 
heavens, into which all the regenerate are received, are three in 
number, the highest, the middle, and the last ; into the highest 
are received those who by regeneration are become receptive of 
love to the Lord ; into the middle, those who are receptive of 
love towards their neighbor ; and into the last, those who live 
only in the practice of external charity, and at the same time 
acknowledge the Lord as God the Redeemer and Saviour. All 
these different descriptions of men are saved, but yet after a 
different manner. The reason why all have a capacity of being 
regenerated, and thus saved, is, because the Lord, with his divine 
good and truth, is present with every man ; from this presence 
is the life of each, and hence also the faculty of understanding 
and willing, together with freedom of determination in spiritual 
concerns. These gifts are denied to no one : there are also means 
supplied, leading to the right use of these gifts. Among Chris- 
tians this supply of means is to be found in the Word, and among 
gentiles in the particular religion of each country, which teaches 
the being of a God, and enforces precepts respecting good and 
evil. From what has been said, it plainly follows that every 
one has a capacity of being saved, so that if he is not saved, it 
is the man, and not the Lord, that is in fault, and his fault 
consists in this, that he does not co-operate. 

581. Redemption and the passion of the cross are two distinct 
things, which ought by no means to be confounded together, 
and the Lord, by both, assumed the power of regenerating and 
saving mankind, as was shown in the chapter on Redemption. 
From the prevailing faith of the present church, that the passion 
of the cross constitutes the sum and substance of redemption, 
have arisen legions of horrible falsities respecting God, faith, 
charity, and other subjects connected in a regular chain with 
those three; and dependent on them ; as for instance, respecting 
God, that he passed sentence of condemnation on all the human 
race, and was willing to be brought back to mercy, in conse- 
quence of that condemnation being laid on his Son, or taken by 
the Son upon himself, and that only those are saved who are 
gifted with the merit of Christ either by the divine foreknowledge 
or predestination. This fallacy has given rise also to another 
tenet of that faith, that all who are gifted with that faith 
are instantly regenerated, without any regard to their own co- 
operation ; yea, that they are thus delivered from the curse of 
the law, being no longer under the law, but under grace : and 
this notwithstanding the Lord’s declaration, that he would not 
take away one jot or tittle of the law (Matt. v. 18, 19 ; Luke 
xvi. 17) ; and his command to his disciples to preach repentance 
for the remission of sins (Luke xxiv. 47 ; Mark vi. 12) ; and 
585 


581, 582 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

his express words, “The kingdom of God is at hand ; repent ye, 
and believe the gospel” (Mark i. 15). By the gospel is meant, 
that they had the power to be regenerated, and thus' saved, which 
power they could not have had unless the Lord had wrought 
redemption, that is, unless he had, by his combats against hell 
and his victories over it, deprived it of its power, and unless he 
had glorified his Humanity, that is, had made it Divine. 

582. Consult your reason, and tell me what sort of creatures, 
in your judgment, men would become, supposing the faith of 
the present church to continue, which teaches that they were 
redeemed solely by the passion of the cross, and that those who 
are gifted with the Lord's merit are not under the curse of the 
law ; and further, that this faith, although a man is altogether 
ignorant whether it be in him or not, remits sins and regener- 
ates, and that his co-operation in its act, that is, while it is 
given and enters into him, would defile it, and make salvation 
void ; for by this he would mix his own merit with Christ’s. 
Consult, I say, your reason, and tell me whether, upon this 
supposition, the whole Word, which insists principally on re- 
generation by a spiritual washing from evils, and by exercises 
of charity, must not of necessity, be rejected ? And then of what 
use is the decalogue, which is the beginning of reformation, or 
what purpose can it serve, but to be applied by a cook as so much 
waste paper to wrap up his confectionery ? In such a case, 
what is religion but a kind of lamentable cry on a man’s part, 
that he is a sinner, joined with supplication to God the Father 
to have mercy on him for the sake of his Son’s sufferings ? And 
what is this but a religion of the lips only, proceeding from the 
lungs, without any thing of act or deed in it proceeding from 
the heart ? And what then is redemption but a papal indulgence ? 
or what more than the whipping of one monk for the offences 
of the whole monastery, as is no uncommon practice? Sup- 
posing this faith alone to regenerate a man, while repentance 
and charity contribute nothing, what is the internal man, which 
is his spirit that lives after death, but like a city on fire, the 
rubbish of which forms the external ? or like cultivated ground 
or a meadow laid waste by caterpillars and locusts ? Such a 
man appears in the sight of angels just like a person who cher- 
ishes a serpent in his bosom, while he covers it with his garment 
to prevent its being seen ; or like one who sleeps ^s a sheep in 
company with a wolf; or like a person who lies down to rest 
under an elegant coverlet in a shirt woven of spiders’ webs. And 
in such case, what is a life after death, when all, according to the 
differences of their advancement in the regeneration, are to be 
arranged in heaven, or according to the differences of their re- 
jection of regeneration, in hell, but a merely carnal life, thus 
like that of a fish or a crab ? 

586 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


533 


IV. That the several stages of man’s regeneration answer 

TO HIS NATURAL CONCEPTION, GESTATION IN THE WOMB, BIRTH, 

AND EDUCATION. 

583. There is with man a constant correspondence between 
natural operations and spiritual, or between what is done in the 
body and what is done in the spirit : and this is because as to 
his soul he is by birth a spiritual being, and is clothed with a 
natural covering, which constitutes his material body : hence 
when this is cast off, his soul, clothed with a spiritual body, 
enters immediately into a world where all things are spiritual, 
and is there associated with its like. Now since the spiritual 
body is to be formed in the material body, and is formed by 
means of truths and goods which are derived by influx from the 
Lord through the spiritual world, and are received by man in- 
teriorly in such of his component principles as are derived from 
the natural world, which are called matters of civil and moral 
import, it is plain what must be the nature of its formation ; 
and since, as just observed, there is with man a constant cor- 
respondence between natural operations and spiritual, it follows 
that the stages of spiritual regeneration answer to the stages of 
natural conception, gestation in the womb, birth, and education. 
It is from this ground that whenever natural births are men- 
tioned in the Word, they always signify spiritual births, such 
as relate to good and truth ; for whatever occurs in the letter of 
the Word, which is natural, involves and signifies something 
spiritual, as was fully proved in the chapter on the Sacred 
Scripture, where it is shown that in all and every part of the 
Word, there is a spiritual sense contained in the letter. Natural 
births, when mentioned in the Word, involve spiritual births, as 
is plain from the following passages: “ YVe have conceived, we 
have come to the birth, we have as it were brought forth wind ; 
we have not wrought any deliverance” (Isaiah xxvi. 18). “ Shall 
the earth be made to bring forth in one day ? Shall I bring to 
the birth, and not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord ; shall 
I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb ?” (lxvi. 7 — 10). u Sin 
shall come to the birth, and shall not be able to bring forth” 
(Ezek. xxx. 15, 16). “ The sorrows of a travailing woman shall 

come upon Ephraim he is an unwise son, for he doth not stay 
his time in the womb of sons” (Hosea xiii. 13) ; not to mention 
several other passages to the same purpose. Since natural 
births, wdieil mentioned in the Word, signify such as are spir- 
itual. and these are from the Lord, therefore he is called the 
Former, and he that bringeth forth from the womb ; as is evi- 
dent from these passages : “ Jehovah is thy Maker, and thy 
Former from the womb” (Isaiah xliv. 2). “ He that brought me 
out from the womb” (Psalm xxii. 9). “ Upon thee have I been 

placed from the womb ; thou art he that brought me forth out 
of my mother’s bowels” (Jxxi. 6). “ Hearken unto me, all the 

587 


583 585 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

remnant of the house of Israel, who were borne by me from tne 
womb, carried from the belly” (Isaiah xlyi. 3) ; and in several 
other places. From this ground the Lord is* called Father, as in 
Isaiah ix. 6 ; lxiii. 16 ; John x. 30 ; xiv. 8, 9 ; and such as are 
in goods and truths from him are called sons, and born of God, 
and brethren one among another (Matt, xxiii. 8) ; and the church 
is called mother (Hosea ii. 2, 5 ; Ezek. xvi. 45). 

584. From what has been said, then, it is evident there is a 
correspondence between natural births and spiritual ; and as there 
is such a correspondence, it follows that conception, gestation 
in the womb, parturition, and education, are not only predicable 
of the new birth, but are states actually attending it, the par- 
ticular nature of which we shall consider presently. It is suffi- 
cient in this place to observe, that the human seed is interiorly 
conceived in the understanding, and is formed in the will, and 
is thence translated into the testes, where it clothes itself with a 
natural covering, and is thus conveyed into the womb, and from 
thence into the world. There is moreover a correspondence be- 
tween the regeneration of man and all the productions of the 
vegetable kingdom ; on which account it is that in the Word a 
man is frequently described by a tree, his truth by seed, and 
his goodness by fruit. A bad tree may be as it were born anew, 
and afterwards bear good fruit and good seed, as is evident from 
the cases of ingrafting and inoculation, where, notwithstanding 
the ascent of the same juice from the root, through the trunk, 
even to the part ingrafted or inoculated, yet it is there changed 
into good juice, and makes a good tree. The case is similar in 
the church with those who are ingrafted in the Lord, as he him- 
self teaches in these words : “ I am the vine, ye are the branches ; 
he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth 
much fruit ; if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a 
branch, and is withered, and men gather them and cast them 
into the fire” (John xv. 5, 6). 

585. It is maintained by many of the learned that the vege- 
tation, not only of trees, but also of all shrubs, corresponds with 
human prolification ; therefore, by way of appendix to what has 
been said, I will add a few observations on this subject. In trees 
and all the other subjects of the vegetable kingdom, there are 
not two sexes, male and female, but each particular subject is 
male, the earth alone, or the ground, being their common 
mother, and thus as it were a female ; for it receives the seeds 
of all plants, causes them to open, carries them as in a womb, at 
the same time provides them with nourishment, and brings them 
forth, that is, teems them from her womb into the open day, and 
afterwards clothes and supports them. When the earth first 
causes the seed to open, it begins from the root, which is like a 
heart, from whence it emits and transmits juice, like blood, and 
thus forms a kind of body furnished with members. The stem 

588 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 585, 5S6 

is the body of the plant, and the branches with their twigs are 
its members. The leaves which it produces immediately after 
its birth are in the place of lungs ; for as the heart without the 
lungs produces neither sense nor motion, and thus does not 
impart life to a man, so neither can the root alone, without the 
leaves, cause a tree or shrub to vegetate. The flowers which 
precede the fruit are the means of purifying the juice or blood, 
and of separating the grosser parts from the purer, and of form- 
ing tor the influx of the latter into their bosoms a new and 
tender stalk, through which the purified juice may flow, and thus 
give the beginning and successive formation to the fruit, which 
may be compared to the testis , in which seeds are perfected. 
The vegetable soul, which reigns universally in the inmost 
ground of every particle of the juice, or in its prolific essence, is 
derived purely from the heat of the spiritual world, which, in 
consequence of its origin from the sun of that world, has a per- 
petual tendency to generation, and thus to a continuance of 
creation ; and as that sun has essentially a tendency towards the 
production of man, therefore it communicates in whatever is 
generated some sort of resemblance to man. Let no one be sur- 
prised to hear it asserted that the subjects of the vegetable king- 
dom are all males, and that the earth alone, or the ground, is as 
a common mother or female ; for according to the testimony of 
Swammerdam, founded on ocular experience, and recorded in 
his Biblia Natures, the same is true of bees, which, he says, 
have but one common mother from whom the family of the 
whole hive is produced ; and if these small animals have only one 
common mother, why may not the same be true with respect to 
all plants ? That the earth is a common mother, may also be 
spiritually illustrated, and indeed is illustrated by this circum- 
stance, that the earth in the Word signifies the church, and the 
church is the common mother of all her. members, as she is also 
styled in the Word. The earth signifies the church, as is proved 
in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 285, 902. The reason why 
the earth or ground has the power of entering into the inmost 
of the seed, even to its prolific essence, and of drawing this forth 
and diffusing it, is, because every grain of dust or mould exhales 
from its essence a sort of subtle sphere, like an effluvium, which 
penetrates the seed and this is owing to the active force of the 
heat that proceeds from the spiritual world. 

586. That a man cannot be regenerated except by successive 
degrees, may be illustrated by the case of all things, even to the 
minutest particulars, which exist in the natural world. A tree 
does not arrive at the maturity of its state, so as to become a 
tree in a single day, but first grows from its seed, afterwards 
from its root, and thence from its shoot, which becomes a stem ; 
from this proceed branches and leaves, and lastly flowers and 
fruits. Neither does a crop of wheat or barlev become fit for the 
589 


586 — 588 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

sickle in one day ; nor is a house built in one day ; nor does a 
man attain to his full bodily stature in one day, much less to the 
stature of wisdom ; so neither is the church established and per- 
fected in one day ; nor is it possible for any progression to arrive 
at its end, unless there be a beginning to set out from. Those 
who form any other notion of regeneration than this, are entirely 
ignorant of the nature of charity and faith, and of the growth of 
each according to man's co-operation with the Lord. Hence it 
is evident that the several stages of man’s regeneration answer 
to his natural conception, gestation in the womb, birth, and 
education. 

Y. That the first act of the new birth, which is an act of 

THE UNDERSTANDING, IS CALLED REFORMATION *, AND THE SECOND, 

WHICH IS AN ACT OF THE WILL, AND THENCE OF THE UNDER- 
STANDING, IS CALLED REGENERATION. 

587. Since it is intended in this and the following articles to 
treat on the subjects of reformation and regeneration, the former 
of which is ascribed to the understanding and the latter to the 
will, it is expedient that the distinctions between the under- 
standing and the will should be known ; and as these are de- 
scribed above, n. 397, the passage should be consulted, that it 
may be read over previous to the contents of this article. That 
the evils in which a man is born are ingenerate in the will of the 
natural man, and that the will inclines the understanding to 
favor its desires by thinking in agreement, was shown in the 
above article ; hence, to effect man’s regeneration it is necessary 
that it be done by the understanding, as by a mediate cause, and 
this is accomplished by the information which the understanding 
receives, first from parents and masters, and afterwards from 
reading the Word, from sermons, books, and conversation. The 
subjects which the understanding thus receives are called truths, 
so that it is the same whether we speak of reformation being 
effected by the understanding, or by the truths which the un- 
derstanding receives ; for truths instruct a man in whom and 
what he is to believe, and also what he ought to do, consequently 
what he ought to will ; for whatever a man does is done from the 
will according to the understanding. Since then the very will 
ot man is by birth evil, and the understanding teaches what is 
evil and what is good, and he has power to will, or not to will, 
either the one or the other, it follows that he must be reformed 
by means of the understanding. So long however as he sees 
and acknowledges in his mind that evil is evil, and good is good, 
and thinks that good ought to be chosen, so long that state is 
called reformation ; but when he actually wills to flee from evil 
and do good, then commences the state of regeneration. 

. 588. For this end man is endowed with a capacity of eleva- 
ting his understanding almost into the light which the angels of 
heaven enjoy, that he may see what it behooves him to will and 
590 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


588, 589 


thence to do, if he would be prosperous in this world for a time, 
and be blessed after death to eternity. lie becomes prosperous 
and blessed in case he procures wisdom for himself, and keeps 
his will in obedience to it; but he becomes unprosperous and 
unhappy in case he submits his understanding to the guidance of 
his wfill. The reason of this is, because the will from its birth 
inclines to evils, even to such as are most enormous. Unless 
then it be restrained by the understanding, a man left to the 
free guidance of his will would rush headlong into all wickedness, 
and from his inherent ferine nature would plunder and massacre, 
for his own gratification, all who did not favor his designs, and 
indulge his lusts. Besides, unless the understanding could be 
perfected separately from the will, and the will by its means, a 
man would not be a man but a beast ; for without such separa- 
tion, and the ascent of the understanding above the will, he 
would have no capacity of thinking or of speaking from thought, 
but would only utter a sound expressive of his affection ; he 
would have no capacity of acting from reason, but only from 
instinct ; much less would he have a capacity of knowing the 
things that are of God, and God by them, and thus of being 
conjoined to God, and living to eternity : for every man thinks 
and wills as of himself; and this circumstance, as of himself \ is 
what renders the conjunction reciprocal ; for there cannot pos- 
sibly be conjunction without reciprocality, as there can be no 
conjunction of what is active with what is passive without mu- 
tual adaptation or application. God alone acts, and man suffers 
himself to be acted upon, and co-operates in all appearance as of 
himself, although interiorly from God. From a right perception 
of these truths may be seen the nature and quality of the love of 
a man’s will, if it be elevated by means of the understanding, as 
w r ell as its nature and quality, if it be not so elevated, thus the 
nature and quality of the man. 

589. It is to be observed, that the faculty of elevating the 
understanding even to that intelligence which the angels of 
heaven enjoy, is inherent by creation in every man, whether he 
be evil or good, yea, even in every devil in hell ; for all that are 
in hell were once men. This fact has often been shown me by 
experience ; but the reason why devils are without intelligence, 
and are insane as to spiritual things, is, because they do not will 
or desire any good, but evil ; they have consequently an aversion 
to know and understand truths, because truths are in favor of 
good, and in opposition to evil. Hence too it appears that the 
first stage of the new birth is the reception of truths in the un- 
derstanding, and the second is a willingness to act according to 
truths, and at length the practice of them. Hone, however, can 
be said to be reformed by the mere knowledges of truths ; for 
every man, from the faculty he enjoys of elevating his under- 
standing above the love of his will, is enabled to apprehend 
591 


589, 590 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

truths, and also to speak, teach, and preacli them ; but he is a 
reformed person who is in the affection of truth for truth’s sake : 
for this affection conjoins itself with the will, and, if it continues 
and increases, conjoins the will with the understanding, and then 
regeneration commences. How regeneration is afterwards ad- 
vanced and perfected, will be the subject of the following articles. 

590. The quality and character of a person whose under- 
standing is in a state of elevation, while the love of his will 
remains unelevated by it, may be illustrated by comparisons. 
He is like an eagle flying aloft, which no sooner spies on the 
ground any kind of prey for food, as poultry, young swans, or 
new-born lambs, than he instantly pounces down upon it, and 
devours it. He is also like an adulterer, who keeps a harlot con- 
cealed below in a secret vault of his house, anc who by turns 
ascends to the highest story, where in his wife’s presence he en- 
ters into sober conversation with those who dwell there on the 
subject of chastity, and then suddenly descending indulges his 
lascivious passions with his harlot. He is also like a swarm of 
gnats in a fenny country, which fly in a column over the head 
of a galloping horse, but which, when he stops, descend and 
immerse themselves in the fen that bred them. Such is the 
man, whose understanding is in a state of elevation, while the 
love of his will remains below immersed in the impure indul- 
gences of nature, and the libidinous propensities of the senses. 
But as persons in such a state seem to have an understanding 
resplendent with wisdom, and yet their will is in opposition to 
it, they may also be compared to serpents with shining scales, 
and to flies called cantharides, that appear of a golden hue, and 
also to that meteor-like appearance in marshy places, called an 
ignis-fatuus , to rotten wood that emits light, and to other phos- 
phoric bodies. They rank among those who have the art of ap- 
pearing like angels of light, both to men on earth, and after death 
to the angels of heaven, but who after a short examination are 
then deprived of their garments, and cast down naked from their 
state of exaltation. This cannot be the case here on earth, be- 
cause their spirits here are not open and apparent, but concealed 
under feigned characters, like the representations of actors on a 
stage. The power they have to appear like angels of light both 
as to their aspect and speech is grounded in this circumstance, 
of which also it is a convincing proof, that they have the faculty, 
as before observed, of elevating their understandings above the 
love of the will, and that almost to angelic wdsdom. How as a 
man’s internal and external may thus be turned contrary ways, 
and as the body is cast off* after death, and the spirit continues 
to exist, it is plain that a dusky spirit may dwell under a fair 
outside, and a fiery one under the cover of soft and courteous 
discourse ; therefore, my friend, form your judgment of men 
not from their lips, but from their hearts, that is, not from theii 
592 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 590- 592 

words, but from their actions ; for the Lord says, “ Beware of 
false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly 
they are ravening wolves : by their fruits ye shall know them” 
(Matt. vii. 15, 16). 

That the internal man is first to be reformed, and by 

it the external, and thus the man is regenerated. 

591. That the internal man is first to be regenerated, and by 
it the external, is a doctrine at the present day commonly insisted 
on in the church ; but then by the internal man nothing else is 
conceived or meant than a faith that God the Father imputes the 
merit and righteousness of his Son, and sends the Holy Ghost. 
It is generally supposed that this faith constitutes the internal 
man, and that the external, which constitutes the natural-moral 
man, flows from it, and is as a sort of appendage to the former, 
just like the tail of a horse or a cow, or that of a peacock, or a 
bird of paradise, which reaches down to the feet, without having 
any coherence with the body ; for it is asserted that charity fol- 
lows that faith, but that should charity enter from a man’s will, 
it proves the destruction of faith. Since, however, the church 
at this day allows of no other internal man than what is here 
described, it has in fact no internal man, since no one can tell 
whether that faith be given to him or not ; that it cannot possibly 
be given, and 'is thus a mere creature of the imagination, was 
shown above. Lienee it follows that at this day, with those who 
have confirmed themselves in that faith, there is no other inter- 
nal than that natural man before described, which by birth is 
replete with all kinds of evils. It is further asserted that regen- 
eration and sanctification are a certain consequence of that faith, 
and that man’s co-operation, by which alone regeneration is effect- 
ed, ought to be excluded. Hence it is that the knowledge of 
regeneration in the present church is not attainable, when yet 
the Lord says, Except a mail be regenerate he cannot see the 
kingdom of God. 

592. But the internal and external man of the Hew Church 
are of a very different nature from what we have been describing. 
The internal man belongs to his will, under whose influence he 
thinks when he is left to himself, as is the case when he is at 
home ; but the external man is the action and conversation in 
which he is engaged when abroad or in company ; so that the 
internal man is charity, because charity belongs to the will, and 
it is at the same time faith, which has relation to the thought. 
Both these together before regeneration constitute the natural 
man, which is thus divided into internal ana external, as is evi- 
dent from this circumstance, that a man does not permit himself 
to act and speak in company, or abroad, as at home, or when 
left to himself: the cause of which division is, that as the laws 
of society prescribe punishments for those who do ill, and rewards 
tor those who do well, men compel themselves to separate the 

593 a a 


592 , 593 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


external man from the internal, for no one is desirous of punish- 
ment, but every one wishes for reward, which he finds in the 
acquisition of wealth and honors; and to avoid punishment and 
attain reward can only be effected by living in conformity to the 
laws of society. Hence it is that morality and benevolence in 
externals are found among those who have none in their inter- 
nals ; and this is also the origin of all hypocrisy, flattery, and 
simulation. 

593. As to what concerns the division of the natural man 
into two forms, it consists in an actual division both of its will 
and of its thought ; for all a man’s actions proceed from the will, 
and all his speech from the thought ; so that a second will is 
formed by him below the first, and in like manner a second 
thought ; but still both these constitute the natural man. This 
second will which he forms may be called his corporeal will, 
because it acts upon and impels the body to conduct itself ac- 
cording to the outward forms of morality; and this second 
thought may be called pulmonary thought, because it acts upon 
and impels the tongue and lips to utter and discourse as may 
seem intelligent. This thought and this will, taken together, 
may be compared to the thin skin which adheres to the inside 
of the bark of a tree, and to the membrane which adheres to 
the shell of an egg, and the internal natural man is within 
them ; which natural man, if evil, may be compared to the wood 
of a rotten tree, about which the bark with its thin skin appears 
entire, and also to a rotten egg within a white shell. But the 
quality of the internal natural man from birth shall be here 
described. His will is prone to evils of every kind, and his 
thought, as originating in the will, is v equally prone to falses of 
every kind. This then is the internal man which is to be re- 
generated ; for unless it be regenerated, there is nothing but 
hatred against all things that respect charity, and wrath, as a 
consequence, against all things that respect faith. Hence it 
follows that the internal natural man is first to be regenerated, 
and by it the external, this being according to order; but to 
regenerate the internal man by the external, is contrary to order ; 
for the internal is as a soul in the external, not only in general, 
but also in the minutest particular ; it is consequently included 
in every single word that the external utters, notwithstanding 
the man be ignorant of such a circumstance. It is from this 
ground that the angels perceive the nature and quality of a 
man’s will by observing only a single action, and the nature and 
quality of his thought by attending only to a single expression, 
and can thus discover whether the will and thought be infernal 
or heavenly ; hence they know at once the whole man, perceiving 
by the tone of his voice the affection that reigns in his thought 
and by his behavior or form of action the love that rules in his 
will. The angels have a clear perception of 6uch things, however 
594 


REFORMATION AN,.. REGENERATION. 


593—595 


a man may strive to conceal hie true character, under an ap- 
pearance of religion and morality. 

594. The regeneration of man is described in Ezekiel by the 
dry bones, which were first covered with sinews, then with flesh 
and skin, and lastly had spirit breathed into them, so that they 
revived, xxxvii. 1 — 14. That regeneration is described by these 
circumstances, 'is evident from the words which follow : “These 
bones are the wdiole house of Israel” (verse 11). It is also coin, 
pared in the same passage with sepulchres, or graves ; for it is 
written, “ I will open your graves, and put my spirit in you, 
and bring you into the land of Israel” (verse 12—14) ; the land 
of Israel, as applied in this and other passages, means the church. 
The reason why regeneration was represented by bones and 
graves, is, because the unregenerate are called dead, and the 
regenerate alive ; for spiritual life is in the latter, but in the 
former, spiritual death. 

595. In every created thing throughout the universe, whether 
living or dead, there is an internal and an external ; the one 
never exists without the other, as no effect can exist without a 
cause. Every created thing too is esteemed in proportion to its 
internal goodness, and is held of little value in proportion to its 
internal vileness : external goodness is of no account, supposing 
it to contain internal vileness : every wise man on earth, and 
every angel in heaven, forms his judgment according to this 
rule. The quality of the unregenerate man, and that of the 
regenerate, may be illustrated by comparisons. The unregene- 
rate man who assumes the appearance of a moral member of 
society and a good Christian, may be compared to a dead body 
wrapt up with spices, which nevertheless spreads around a noi- 
some stench, tainting the perfume of the spices, and insinuating 
itself into the nostrils, and so injuring the brain. He may also 
be compared to a mummy gilded, or laid up in a silver coffin, on 
looking into which, the eyes are shocked at the sight of a black 
corpse. He may also be compared with bones and skeletons 
lying in a sepulchre built of lapis lazuli , and adorned with other 
costly ornaments. He may be compared too with the rich man, 
■who was clothed with purple and fine linen, whose internal 
nevertheless was infernal, Luke xvi. He may further be com- 
pared with poison so sweetened as to taste like sugar ; or with 
hemlock when in bloom ; or with fruits which have shining and 
beautiful rinds, but whose kernels are eaten up by worms ; or 
with a sore covered over with a plaster, and afterwards with a 
thin skin, beneath which there is nothing but corrupt matter. 
It is true that the internal of such a person may be estimated in 
the world by the external, but only by those who are themselves 
void of a good internal, and who, therefore, judge according to 
appearance. The case, however, is different in heaven ; for when 
‘■he changeable body that envelops the spirit, and which is in a 

595 


595, 596 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

state of flexibility from evil to good, is separated by death, the 
internal then remains, as it constitutes the human spirit, and 
then appears at a distance like a serpent that has cast his skin, 
or like rotten wood stripped of its bark, in which before it had a 
shining and bright appearance. But it is otherwise with the 
regenerate man ; his internal is good, and his external is like to 
that of another person, and yet in reality it differs from that of 
the unregenerate man as heaven from hell, a soul of goodness 
being contained within it. It is of little consequence whether 
such a man be a grandee of high rank, living in a palace and 
• attended by a large retinue of servants, or be in low circum- 
stances, dwelling in a cottage with only a boy to attend him ; 
indeed, it is of little consequence whether he be a prelate, clad 
in robes of purple, and wearing an archbishop's mitre, or be 
only the shepherd of a few sheep in a forest, with no other 
clothing than a coarse rustic coat, and no cover for his head but 
an ordinary bonnet. Gold is still gold, whether it glitter by 
being placed near the fire, or contract a blackness on its outer 
surface by being exposed to the smoke ; it is gold whether it be 
cast into a beautiful image like that of an infant, or into an ugly 
one like that of a mouse : mice that were made of gold, and 
placed near the ark, were also accepted, and had a propitiating 
power (1 Sam. vi. 3 — 5, &c.) ; for gold signifies internal good. 
A diamond and a ruby, in like manner, whatever the matrix in 
which they may be found, whether calcareous or of clay, when 
taken out are esteemed for their internal goodness, of equal 
value with the similar precious stones in a queen’s necklace; and 
so in all other instances. Hence it is evident that the external 
derives its value from the internal, and not the contrary. 

VII. That when this takes place there arises a combat be- 
tween THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MAN, AND THEN WHICH- 
EVER CONQUERS HAS DOMINION OVER THE OTHER. 

596. The reason why a combat arises at that time is, because 
the internal man is reformed by means of truths, and from these 
he sees what is evil and false which still abide in the external or 
natural man : hence there now arises, for the first time, a dis- 
agreement between the new will above, and the old will beneath, 
and this disagreement between the two wills is attended with a 
disagreement also between the respective delights of each ; for it 
is an acknowledged truth, that the flesh is contrary to the spirit, 
and the spirit to the flesh, and that the flesh with its lusts must 
first be subdued before the spirit can act, and the man become 
new. After this disagreement of the two wills a combat arises, 
being that which is called spiritual temptation; but this temp- 
tation or combat is not between goods and evils, but between the 
truths of good and the falses of evil ; for good of itself cannot 
fight, but it fights by truths, neither can, evil fight of itself, but 
by its falses, as the will cannot fight of itself, but by the under- 
596 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 596, 597 

standing, in which its truths reside. A man has no other sen- 
sible perception but that this combat is in himself, it being felt 
by him as remorse of conscience ; but yet it is the Lord and the 
devil, that is, hell, which fight in him, and contend for dominion 
over him, or who shall possess him. The devil, or hell, assaults 
him, and calls forth his evils, while the Lord defends him, and 
calls forth his goods. But although this combat is waged in the 
spiritual world, yet still it is waged in the man between the 
truths of good and the falses of evil that are in him ; hence he 
ought to fight altogether as of himself, since he enjoys freedom 
of will to act in favor either of the Lord or of the devil : he acts 
in favor of the Lord if he abides in truths from good, and in 
favor of the devil if he abides in falses from evil. Lienee it 
follows, that whichever obtains the ' victory, whether it be the 
internal man or the external, has dominion over the other ; jusl 
as in the case of two hostile princes, who contend which shall be 
the ruler of the other’s kingdom. He that conquers takes the 
kingdom, and subjects all its inhabitants to his authority : so 
also in the present instance, if the internal man conquers, lie 
bears rule, and subdues all the evils of the external man, and 
regeneration is continued ; but if the external man conquers, 
he then bears rule, and disperses all the goods of the internal 
man, and thus regeneration is made void. 

597. It is allowed at this day that there are such things as 
temptations, but scarcely a.ny one knows their origin and nature, 
and what good they effect. Their origin and nature were shown 
above, and also what good they effect, namely, that when the 
internal man gains the victory, the external is subdued ; in which 
case lusts are dispersed, and affections of good and truth are 
implanted in their stead, and are so disposed that the goods and 
truths which a man wills and thinks he also practises and speaks 
front his heart. Moreover, by means of victory over the external 
man, he is rendered spiritual, and is then associated by the Lord 
with the angels of heaven, who are all spiritual. The reason why 
temptations have heretofore remained unknown, and scarcely 
any one has been acquainted with their origin and nature, and 
what good they effect, is because the church has not hitherto 
been principled in truths, as no one can be unless he approach 
the Lord immediately, and reject the former faith, and embrace 
the new. This is the true cause why no person has been ad- 
mitted into any spiritual temptation since the time when the 
council of Nice introduced the faith of three Gods; for had he 
been admitted, he would instantly have fallen under it, and so 
would have plunged himself more deeply into hell. The con- 
trition which is said to precede the present faith is not tempta- 
tion. I have asked several persons upon this point, and they 
have told me that it is nothing but an unmeaning word, except 
597 


597 599 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

that possibly, with simple minds, it may be attended with a 
timorous apprehension about hell-fire. 

598. After a man has passed through temptation, he is, as 
to his internal man, in heaven, and by means of his external in 
the world ; so that it is by temptations that the conjunction of 
heaven and the world is effected in him, and then the Lord, 
abiding with him, rules his world from heaven, according to 
order. " The reverse takes place where a man remains natural, 
for he is then desirous of ruling heaven from the world. Every 
one who is in the lbve of dominion from the love of self, becomes 
of such a quality. If he be inwardly scrutinized, it will appear 
that he does not believe in any God, but in himself ; and after 
death fancies any spirit who may be more powerful than others 
to be God. Such is the insanity that prevails in hell, which is 
there carried to so great an excess, that some call themselves 
God the Father, some God the Son, and some God the Holy 
Ghost, and among the Jews some call themselves the Messiah. 
Hence it appears what sort of a being a man becomes after death, 
in case his natural man be not regenerated, and what conse 
quently he would become in his own phantasy, unless the Lord 
were to establish a new church, in which genuine truths shall 
be taught. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord : 
“ In the consummation of the age (that is, in the end of the 
present church), shall be tribulation, such as has not been since 
the beginning of the world, neither shall be ; and except those 
days should be shortened, there could no flesh be saved” (Matt, 
xxiv. 21, 22). 

599. In the combats or temptations of individual men the 
Lord works out a particular redemption, as he wrought a general 
one during his abode in the world. By his combats and temp- 
tations in the world the Lord glorified his Humanity, that is, 
made it divine. In like manner at this day, with every individual 
during his state of temptation, lie fights for him and overcomes 
the infernal spirits which infest him, and after temptation glori- 
fies him, that is, renders him spiritual. The Lord, after having 
wrought universal redemption, reduced to order all things both 
in heaven and in hell. In like manner with a man after temp- 
tation, he reduces to order all things in him that belong to 
heaven and the world. The Lord after redemption established 
a new church : in like manner he also establishes in a man the 
principles that belong to the church, and makes him a church 
in particular. The Lord after redemption gave peace to those 
who believed on him; for he said, “ Peace I leave with you, 
my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto 
you” (John xiv. 27). In like manner he gives a man after 
temptation a perception of peace, that is, gladness of mine! 
(animus), and consolation. From these circumstances it is evi- 
dent that the Lord is a Redeemer to eternitv. 

598 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 600, 603 

600. The regeneration of the internal man, without that of 
the external, may be compared with a bird flying in the air, that 
has no habitation on dry ground, but only in some fenny place, 
where it is infested by serpents and frogs, so that it flies away 
and perishes. The internal man may in such case be compared 
also with a swan swimming in the midst of the ocean, that is not 
able to reach the shore to build herself a nest, so that she lays 
her eggs in the water where they are devoured by the fish. He 
may be compared too with a soldier standing on a wall, which 
being undermined, he falls down headlong, and is buried in the 
ruins. He may further be compared with a beautiful tree trans- 
planted to a place where the soil is rotten and where whole 
troops of worms devour its root, so that it withers away and dies. 
He may also be compared to a house without a foundation, and 
likewise to a column without a pedestal. Such is the internal 
man when it alone is reformed without the external ; lor where 
this is the case it has no determination to the practice of good. 
VIII. That the regenerate man has a new will and a new 

UNDERSTANDING. 

601. That the regenerate man is renewed, or made new, is 

a doctrine known to the present church, and is confirmed both 
by the Word of God and also by reason. By the Word of 
God from these passages : u Make ye a new heart and a new 
spirit : why will ye die, O house of Israel ?” (Ezek. xviii. 31.) 
“ A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within 
vou ; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and 
I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within 
you” (xxxvi. 26, 27). “ Henceforth know we no man after the 

flesh ; therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature” 
(2 Cor. v. 16, 17). A new heart in these passages means a new 
will, and a new spirit a new understanding ; for heart in the 
Word signifies the will, and spirit, when it is joined with heart, 
the understanding. It is plain also from reason that the re- 
generate man has a new will and a new understanding, for these 
two faculties constitute man, and these are the faculties that are 
regenerated ; therefore every man’s true quality is determined 
by these faculties. He is a bad man if his will is bad, and much 
more so if his understanding favors the badness of his will ; as 
on the contrary he is a good man if his will is good, and much 
more so if his understanding favors the goodness of his will. It 
is religion alone that renews and regenerates him, for this occu- 
pies the supreme seat in the human mind, having under its ob- 
servation those civil duties which belong to the world, through 
which also it ascends, like the pure juice in a tree, even to its 
top, and from that elevated station beholds all natural concerns, 
as a person standing on a high tower or mountain looks around 
upon the plains beneath. 

599 


602, 603 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

602. It is to be observed, however, that a man, with respect 
to his understanding, may ascend almost to the light which the 
angels of heaven enjoy ; but unless he ascend also as to his will, 
the old man still reigns within him and he is not made new. It 
was shown above how the understanding exalts the will more 
and more to the same elevated station with itself. It is on this 
account that regeneration is predicated of the will primarily, and 
of the understanding secondarily ; for the understanding in man 
is like the light in this world, and the will like heat, and it is 
well known that light without heat produces no life or vegeta- 
tion, but that light' in conjunction with heat produces both. 
The understanding also, with respect to the inferior region in 
the mind, is actually in the light of the world, and with respect 
to the superior region, in the light of heaven ; so that, unless 
the will be elevated from the inferior region to the superior, and 
there be conjoined to the understanding, it remains in the world, 
and in such case the understanding flies upward and downward, 
and during the night descends to the will beneath, and there 
takes up its rest, where they are connected together like a man 
and a harlot, and give birth to a two-headed offspring. Hence 
it is further evident, that a man is not regenerate unless he have 
a new will and a new understanding. 

603. The human mind is divided into three regions : the 
lowest is called natural, the middle spiritual, and the highest 
celestial. A man by regeneration is elevated from the lowest 
region, which is natural, into the superior, which is spiritual, 
and by this into the celestial. That there are three regions of 
the mind, will be proved in the following article. Hence it is 
that the unregenerate man is called natural, and the regenerate 
spiritual ; and hence it is evident that the mind of the regen- 
erate man is elevated into the spiritual region, and there, as from 
a superior station, beholds what passes in the lower or natural 
mind. That there is a superior and inferior region in the human 
mind must be plain to every one from a slight attention to his 
own thoughts ; for he can take a view of what he is thinking 
about, and therefore he says that he has been thinking, or is 
thinking, of this or that, which would not be possible unless 
there existed an interior thought, called perception, which looks 
into the inferior, simply called thought. A judge, when he hears 
or reads a long series of cases quoted by an advocate, collects 
them under one view of the superior region of his mind, and 
thus sees them under a universal idea, and afterwards causing 
this view to descend thence into the inferior region of the mind, 
which is that of natural thought, he arranges his arguments in 
due order, and according to his superior view of the subject, 
delivers bis opinion, and pronounces sentence. Who does not 
know that a man may conceive and conclude in a second or two, 

600 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


603—605 


what he cannot express by the inferior thought in half an hour? 
These instances are adduced to show, that the human mind is 
distinguished into inferior and superior regions. 

604. The new will is in the spiritual region above the old 
will, and in like manner the new understanding, this with that 
and that with this ; in that region they enter into conjunction 
with each other, and conjointly look down into the old or 
natural will and understanding, and dispose all things there to 
obedience. How evident is it that were there only one region in 
the human mind, and if evils and goods, falses and truths, were 
there to be all confined and mingled together, a terrible conflict 
must ensue, just as if wolves and sheep, tigers and calves, hawks 
and doves, were all confined together in one den! And what 
must be the necessary consequence of this, but a cruel slaughter, 
the fierce and savage animals tearing in pieces the meek and 
gentle ? On this account it is provided, that goods with their 
respective truths should be collected into a higher region, that 
they may dwell secure, and repel the assaults of their enemies, 
and likewise by chains and other methods subdue and finally 
disperse evils, with their attendant falses. This then is the 
meaning of what was said in a former article, that the Lord 
through heaven rules whatever belongs to the world in the re- 
generate man. The superior or spiritual region of the human 
mind is also a heaven in miniature, and the inferior or natural 
region is also a world in miniature. This is the reason why man 
was called by the ancients a microcosm or little world ; he may 
also be called a micro uranos or little heaven. 

605. At this day it is known, and yet unknown, that the 
regenerate man, or he who is renewed as to his will and under- 
standing, is in the heat of heaven, that is, in its love, and at the 
same time in the light of heaven, that is, in its wisdom ; and on 
the contrary, that the unregenerate man is in the heat of hell, 
that is, in its love, and at the same time in the darkness of hell, 
that is, in its insanity. The reason of this is, because the present 
church has made regeneration an appendage to its faith, into 
which faith reason is forbidden to look and examine : hence the 
same prohibition is extended to every thing that relates to the 
appendage, which, as was just observed, is regeneration and 
renovation. These three then, regeneration, renovation, and 
faith, are to the present church like a house whose doors and 
windows are closed, so that the members of the church know not 
what is contained within, whether it be altogether empty, or 
whether it be full of genii from hell, or of angels from heaven. 
They have, besides, been confused by the fallacies involved in 
this* circumstance, that a man can ascend with the understanding 
almost into the light of heaven, and can thence think and speak 
on spiritual subjects with intelligence, let the love of his will be 
of what quality it may : an ignorance of this truth has also 

601 


605 — 607 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


buried in oblivion every thing that concerns regeneration and 
renovation. 

606. Hence it may be concluded, that the unregenerate man 
is like a person who sees imaginary objects in the night, and 
believes them to be men ; and afterwards, while he is regener- 
ating, he is like the same person who discerns by the dawning 
light that the objects of the night were fantastical ; and when he 
is regenerate he sees them by the clear light of day to be the 
offspring of delirium. The unregenerate man is like one who is 
in a dream, and the regenerate man like one who is awake, 
according to the representation given in the Word, where 
natural life is compared to sleep, and spiritual life to a state of 
wakefulness. The unregenerate man is understood by the foolish 
virgins, who had lamps and no oil, and the regenerate by the 
wise virgins, who had lamps and oil in them : lamps mean such 
things as relate to understanding, and oil such things as relate 
to love. The regenerate are like the lights of the candlestick in 
the tabernacle ; and they are also like the shew-bread there, with 
the frankincense upon it ; and it is declared of them that “ they 
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars 
for ever and ever” (Dan. xii. 3). An unregenerate man is like 
one who is in the garden of Eden, and eats of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil, and for that reason is cast out of 
the garden ; yea, he is that very tree ; but a regenerate man is 
like one who is in that garden, and eats of the tree of life. That 
he is permitted to eat of it appears from this passage in the 
Revelation : “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the 
tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (ii. 7). 
The garden of Eden means intelligence in things spiritual pro- 
ceeding from the love of truth, as may be seen in the Apoca- 
lypse Revealed, n. 90. In a word, an unregenerate man is a 
child of the wicked one, and a regenerate man is a child of the 
kingdom (Matt. xiii. 38) ; a child of the wicked one there men- 
tioned, is a child of the devil, and a child of the kingdom is a 
child of the Lord. 

IX. That A REGENERATE MAN IS IN COMMUNION WITH THE ANGELS 

OF HEAVEN, AND AN UNREGENERATE MAN IN COMMUNION WITH 

SPIRITS OF HELL. 

607. The reason why every man is in communion, in other 
words in consociation, with angels of heaven or with spirits of 
hell, is, because he is born to become spiritual ; but this is not 
possible, unless he be in some kind of conjunction with those 
who are spiritual. That every man, as to his mind, is in both 
worlds, the natural and the spiritual, is shown in the Treatise on 
Heaven and Hell. But with this conjunction, neither man, 
nor angel, nor spirit is acquainted; for a man, during his life in 
the world, is in a natural state, and angels and spirits are in a 
spiritual state, and on account of the distinction between natural 

602 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 607, 608 

and spiritual, they are invisible to each other. The nature and 
quality of this distinction is described in a memorable relation, 
in the Treatise on Conjugial Love, n. 326 — 329 from which 
it appears, that they are not conjoined as to thoughts, but as tc 
affections, and on these scarcely any one reflects, because they 
are not in the light in which the understanding is, and with it 
its derivative thought, but in the heat in which the will is, toge- 
ther with the affection of its love. This conjunction of men with 
angels and spirits, by the affections of love, is so close, that were 
they plucked asunder, and thus separated from each other, men 
would fall instantly into a swoon, and if the conjunction were 
not presently restored, they would expire. When it is said that 
a man by regeneration is rendered spiritual, it is not meant that 
he is rendered spiritual as an angel, but that he is rendered 
spiritual-natural, in other words, that there is a spiritual prin- 
ciple within his natural, just as thought is in speech, and as will is 
in action ; for when the one ceases the other ceases also. In like 
manner a man’s spirit is in all and every thing that is done in 
Ins body, and it is this which impels the natural to do what it 
does : the natural, considered in itself, is passive, or a dead 
power, but the spiritual is active, or a living power; the passive 
or dead power cannot, act of itself, but must be acted upon by 
the active or living power. As a man lives continually in com- 
munion with the inhabitants of the spiritual world, therefore, 
when he departs out of the natural world, he is immediately 
introduced among his like, with whom he has been associated 
while in the former world r hence it is that every one after death 
seems to himself as if he were still alive in the world ; for he 
then comes into consort with his like as to the affections of his 
will, whom he then acknowledges, just as kinsfolk and relations 
acknowledge each other in the world ; and this is the meaning 
of what is said in the Word concerning those w T ho die, that they 
are taken and gathered to their own. Hence then it may appear, 
that a regenerate man is in communion with angels of heaven, 
and the unregenerate with spirits of hell. 

608. It is to be observed, that there are three heavens, dis- 
tinct from each other, according to the three degrees of love and 
wisdom ; and that a man, according to his regeneration, is in 
communion with the angels of those three heavens ; and it is on 
this account that the human mind is distinguished into three 
degrees or regions, according to the heavens, but of these three • 
heavens, and of their distinction, according to the three degrees 
of love and wisdom, more may be seen in the Treatise on 
Heaven and Hell, n. 29 ; and likewise in the Tract on the 
Intercourse between the Soul and the Body, n. 16, 17. 
We shall at present only illustrate, by a kind of comparison, 

* The greater part of the memorable relation here alluded to is also given 
above, n. 280 . 

603 


608 610 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

the nature of those three degrees, according to which the three 
heavens are distinguished from each other ; they are like the 
head, the body, and the feet in a man, the highest heaven con- 
stituting the head, the middle the body, and the last the feet ; 
for the universal heaven is in the Lord’s sight as one man. That 
this is actually the case, was proved to me by ocular demonstra- 
tion, it being granted me to see one society of heaven, which 
consisted of ten thousand angels, as one man ; how much more 
then must this be the case with the universal heaven when 
viewed by the Lord ! Respecting this ocular demonstration and 
experience, more may be seen in the Treatise on Heaven and 
Hell, n. 59, &e. Hence too it is evident how this truth, ac- 
knowledged in all Christian countries, is to be understood, 
namely, that the church constitutes the body of Christ, and 
Christ is the life of that body. This too will serve to illustrate 
the position that the Lord is the All in All of heaven, for he is 
the life in that body ; in like manner too the Lord is the All in 
All of the church with such as acknowledge him alone to be the 
God of heaven and earth, and believe in him : that he is the 
God of heaven and earth, he himself teaches in Matthew xxviii. 
18 ; and that all people ought to believe in him, John iii. 15, 
36 ; vi. 40 ; xi. 25, 26. 

609. The distinction of the three degrees of the heavens, 
and consequently of tile three ^degrees of the human mind, is 
capable of receiving some illustration from comparisons with 
material things in the world ; for those three degrees, in their 
respective states of excellence, are like gold, silver, and copper ; 
with which metals a comparison also is made in the case of the 
image seen by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. ii. 31, &c.) Those three 
degrees are likewise distinct from each other, in their respective 
purity and goodness, as a ruby, a sapphire, and an agate ; and 
likewise as an olive-tree, a vine, and a fig-tree ; and so in other 
instances. It is to be observed too, that, in the Word, gold, a 
ruby, and an olive-tree, signify celestial good, which is the good 
of the highest heaven ; and silver, a sapphire, and a vine, spir- 
itual good, which is the good of the middle heaven ; and copper, 
an agate, and a fig-tree, natural good, which is that of the last 
heaven. That there are three degrees, the celestial , the spiritual, 
and the natural, was shown above. 

610. To what has been already said this particular shall be 
• added ; that the regeneration of man is not effected in a single 

moment, but by successive degrees from the beginning to the 
end of his life in the world, and is continued and perfected after 
death ; and as he is reformed by combats and victories over the 
evils of his fleshy nature, therefore the Son of man says to each 
of the seven churches, that he will give gifts to him that over- 
cometh; as to the church of Ephesus, “To him that overcometh 
will I give to eat of the tree of life” (Rev. ii. 7) ; to the church 
604 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 610, 811 

% 

of Smyrna, “ He that overcometh shall not he hurt of the second 
death” (verse 11) ; to the church in Pergamos, “To him that 
overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna” (verse 17) ; 
to the church in Thyatira, “To him that overcometh will I give 
power over the nations” (verse 26) ; to the church in Sardis, 
“ He that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment” (iii. 5) ; 
to the church in Philadelphia, “ Him that overcometh will I 
make a pillar in the temple of my God” (verse 12); to the church 
of the Laodiceans, “ To him that overcometh will I grant to sit 
with me in my throne” (verse 21). Lastly, let this further par- 
ticular be added, that in proportion as a man is regenerated, or 
in proportion as regeneration is perfected in him, he does not 
attribute any thing of good and truth, that is of charity and faith 
to himself, but to the Lord ; for the truths which he successively 
imbibes manifestly inculcate that doctrine. 

X. That in proportion as a man is regenerated, iiis sins are 

REMOVED ; AND THIS REMOVAL IS WHAT IS MEANT BY THE RE- 
MISSION OF SINS. 

611. The reason why a man’s sins are removed in proportion 
as he is regenerated, is, because regeneration consists in re- 
straining the flesh that it may not rule, and in subduing the old 
man with his lusts, that he may not rise and destroy the intel- 
lectual principle, for then the man is no longer capable of ref- 
ormation ; and this cannot be effected, unless his spirit, which 
is above the flesh, be instructed and perfected. What person 
whose understanding still remains sound cannot now conclude, 
that all these operations are not to be effected in a single mo- 
ment, but proceed by successive degrees, just as a man is con- 
ceived, carried in the womb, brought forth, and educated, ac- 
cording to what was shown above? For the things of the flesh, 
or the old man, ; re inherent in a man from his birth, and form 
the first habitation of his mind, in which dwell lusts like so many 
wild beasts in their dens, and take up their abode, first in the 
outer courts of the house, from which they enter by degrees, as 
it were, into the rooms which lie under ground, and afterwards 
ascend by stairs, and form to themselves upper chambers. All 
this is effected in succession, as the infant grows up to a child, 
and from a child becomes a young man, and then begins to think 
under the influence of his own understanding, and to act under 
the influence of his own will. How plain is it to see that this 
house of the mind, thus far advanced in the building, where lusts, 
like so many wild men and satyrs, join hands in sporting and 
dancing, cannot be pulled down in a moment, and a new house 
raised in its place? For is it not necessary that those lusts, so 
united in hand and sport, should be first removed, and new de- 
sires, namely those of good and truth, should be introduced in 
place of those lusts which belong to evil and the false ? But 
this process cannot be effected m a moment, as must be plain 
605 


61. <113 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

to On vfj wise person from this single consideration, that every 
evil umsists of innumerable lusts, and is like fruit that within 
its outer rind is full of worms, with white bodies and black 
heads ; and also that evils are numerous, and joined together 
like a race of young spiders when first brought forth by the 
mother ; therefore unless evils be expelled one by one, until the 
chain that holds them together be broken asunder, it is impos- 
sible for a man to be made anew. These arguments are adduced 
in order to show, that in proportion as a man is regenerated his 
sins are removed. 

612. A man by birth is inclined to all kinds of evil, and in 
consequence of such inclination lusts after them, and so far as 
he is left at liberty actually commits them ; for by birth he lusts 
for dominion over others, and to possess their property, which 
two lusts destroy every principle of love towards the neighbor, 
so that he hates every one that opposes him, and from such 
hatred breathes a revengeful spirit, in which murder lies con- 
cealed and is cherished. Hence too it is, that he makes light of 
adultery and fraud, which is a clandestine species of theft, and 
of reviling others, which also is false witness ; and whoever makes 
light of such crimes is, in his heart, an atheist. Such is every 
man by birth ; whence it is evident, that by birth he is a hell 
in miniature. Now since a man, differing from the brute crea- 
tion, is born, as to the interiors of his mind, a spiritual being, 
and of consequence is born for heaven, and yet his natural or 
external man is, as just observed, a hell in miniature, it follows 
of course that heaven cannot be implanted where hell is until 
this be first removed. 

613. Whoever is acquainted with the distinction between 
heaven and hell, and how the one is separated from the other, 
may also know how man is regenerated, and what his quality is 
when regenerate. That this may be understood, we shall men- 
tion this general fact, that all who are in heaven turn their faces 
towards the Lord, and all who are in hell turn their faces away 
from the Lord ; so that in looking out of heaven upon hell, 
naught is seen but the hinder parts of the head and the backs 
of the infernal inhabitants ; indeed, they also appear as if in- 
verted, like antipodes, with their feet upward and their heads 
downward, and this though they walk upright on their feet, 
and turn their faces in every direction, for it is the opposite di- 
rection of the interiors of fkeir minds which produces such an 
appearance. I have myself been an eye-witness of these extra- 
ordinary phenomena. It was thus discovered to me in what 
manner regeneration is effected ; that it is effected altogether 
according to the removal of hell and its consequent separation 
from heaven ; for, as just observed, a man, in respect to the 
first nature which he derives from his birth, is a hell in miniature, 
and as to tha*- other nature which he derives from his second 

606 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


613, 614 

birth, he is a heaven in miniature. Hence it follows that evils 
are removed and separated in a man in like manner as hell and 
heaven, in their greater effigy, are removed and separated from 
one another ; and that evils, as they are removed, turn them- 
selves away from the Lord, and successively invert themselves, 
and that this is effected in the same degree as heaven is im- 
planted, that is, as the man is made new. To this may be added, 
for the sake of illustration, that every evil in a man has con 
junction with such spirits in hell as are in a similar evil, and on 
the contrary, that every good in him has conjunction with such 
in heaven as are in a similar good. 

614. From what has been said, it must appear plain that the 
remission of sins does not consist in their extirpation and wiping 
away, but in their removal and consequent separation ; also, 
that every evil which a man has actually appropriated to himself 
remains. Since then the remission of sins consists in their re- 
moval and separation, it follows that a man is withheld from 
evil and preserved in good by the Lord, and that this is what is 
given him by regeneration. I once heard a certain person in 
the last heaven say that he was free from sins, because they 
were wiped away ; he added, by the blood of Christ ; but as he 
was in heaven, and had erred through ignorance, he was let 
into his own sins, all which he acknowledged as they returned. 
In consequence of this discovery he received a new faith, which 
taught him that every man, as well as every angel, is withheld 
from evils and preserved in goods by the Lord. Hence it is evi- 
dent in what the remission of sins consists, that it is not instan- 
taneous, but that it follows regeneration according to the progress 
of the latter. The removal of sins, which is called their re- 
mission, may be compared with the casting out of all unclean 
things from the camp of the children of Israel into the wilder- 
ness that lay around ; for their camp represented heaven, and 
the wilderness hell. It may also be compared with the removal 
of the nations from the children of Israel in the land of Canaan, 
and of the Jebusites from Jerusalem, which were not cast out, 
but separated. It may be compared with Dagon, the god of 
the Philistines, which, on the introduction of the ark, first fell 
on his face on the ground, and afterwards lay with his head and 
the palms of his hands cut off on the threshold ; he was con- 
sequently not cast out, but removed. It may be compared with 
the legion of devils permitted by the Lord to enter into the herd 
of swine, which were afterwards drowned in the sea. The sea, 
when mentioned in this and other passages of the Word, signi- 
fies hell. It may be compared likewise with the tumultuous as- 
sembly of the dragon, which, on being separated from heaven, 
began to invade the earth, and was afterwards cast down into 
hell. It may lastly be compared with a forest abounding with 
divers kinds of wild beasts, which, when it is cut down, flee into 
607 


614— 616 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


the thickets round about ; and then the land in the midst being 
laid smooth, is cultivated, and becomes a fruitful field. 

XI. That regeneration cannot be effected without free-will 

in spiritual concerns. 

615. Who but an idiot cannot see plainly that a man is not 
to be regenerated without free-will? For how else can he ap- 
proach the Lord, and acknowledge him to be the Redeemer and 
Saviour, and the God of heaven and earth, as he himself teaches, 
Matt, xxviii. 18 ? How is it possible without such free-will, for 
any one to believe, that is, from a principle of faith to look unto 
and worship the Lord, and apply himself to receive the means 
and benefits of salvation from him, and co-operate of himself 
towards their reception? How is it possible, without free-will, 
for him to do any good to his neighbor, to exercise charity, or 
to introduce into his thought and will the various other subjects 
which belong to charity and faith, and. afterwards bring them 
forth and produce them into act? What is regeneration, setting 
these things aside, but a mere word dropt from the mouth of the 
Lord (John iii.), which either penetrates no further than the ear, 
or else entering into the sphere of thought which borders on the 
organs of speech, is conveyed thence into the mouth as an articu- 
late sound of twelve letters, which sound cannot by any meaning 
be elevated into the higher region of the mind, but falls into the 
air, and is dispersed ? 

616. Tell me, if you can, any instance of blinder senseless- 
ness on the subject of regeneration, than what is observable in 
those who confirm themselves in the present belief, which teaches 
that faith is infused into a man when he is like a stock or a stone, 
and that being infused, it is followed by justification, consisting 
in the remission of sins, regeneration, and several other gifts ; 
and that the man’s operation is to be entirely excluded, lest it 
should do any violence to Christ’s merit ; for the firmer estab- 
lishment of which doctrine they take away from man all free- 
will in spiritual concerns, by insisting on his absolute impotence 
in such matters ; so that they allow to God a ; power of operating 
on his part, but none to man of co-operating on his ; and thus 
of conjoining himself with God. But in such a case what is 
a man, as to regeneration, but as one bound hand and foot, 
after the manner of galley slaves, who are punished, and sen- 
tenced to suffer death, if they dare to free themselves from 
their manacles and- fetters ? For according to this doctrine a 
man is exposed to death and damnation should he dare to set 
himself at liberty, that is, if from a principle of free-will he 
should do good to his neighbor, and of himself should believe 
in God for the sake of salvation. A man confirmed in such 
opinions, who yet had a pious longing after heaven, would be 
like a phantom with uplifted eyes, waiting to see whether that 
faith with its benefits had been already infused into him, or it 

608 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 616— 618 

not, whether it would be infused, consequently, whether God 
the Father had had compassion upon him, or whether his Son 
would intercede for him, or whether the Holy Ghost be not 
otherwise so engaged as not to operate in him ; and at length 
from his entire ignorance of the matter, he would depart and 
comfort himself with this reflection, u Possibly that grace may 
abide in the morality of my life, in which I continue as hereto- 
fore ; thus such morality may be holy in me, though in others 
who have not obtained that faith it is profane; to secure them 
the continuance of this holiness in my morality, I will be cau- 
tious for the future not to operate of myself either faith or char- 
ity.” Such a phantom, or if you like the term better, such a 
pillar of'Salt, does every one become who, in his thoughts about 
regeneration, excludes free-will in spiritual concerns. 

617. He that, supposes regeneration is to be attained without 
free-will in spiritual concerns, thus without co-operation, becomes 
as cold as any stone with respect to all the truths of the church, 
or if warm, he is like a brand lighted in the fire, which blazes 
from the combustible matter it contains ; for his heat is inspired 
by lusts. Such a person is comparatively like a palace sinking 
into the ground even to its roof, and overflowed with muddy 
waters, so that afterwards the inhabitant is forced to live on the 
bare roof, and there make himself a tent of reeds and rushes, 
till at length the roof also sinks into the earth, and the man is 
drowned. He may also be compared with a ship laden with all 
kinds of valuable commodities collected from the Word as from 
a treasure-house, which are devoured either by mice or moths, 
or are thrown overboard by the sailors, so that the merchants 
are defrauded of their goods. The learned or those who are rmh 
in the mysteries of that faith, are like pedlers in their stalls, who 
sell images of idols, fruits, and flowers made of wax, sea-shells, 
snakes in vials, and other articles of a similar description. Those 
who are unwilling to look upward, from a belief that no spir- 
itual power is applied and given to man by the Lord, are actually 
like beasts which look with their heads downward, and seek for 
pasture in their forests only; or if they come into gardens they 
are like grubs, which consume the leaves of trees, and if they 
see fruits with their eyes, but especially if they touch them w T ith 
their hands, they fill them with maggots. At length they be- 
come like scaly serpents, their fallacious doctrines sounding and 
glittering like the scales of those animals ; not to mention other 
similitudes. 

XII. That regeneration is not attainable without truths 

BY WHICH FAITH IS FORMED, AND WITH WHICH CHARITY CON- 
JOINS ITSELF. 

61*8. The regeneration of man is effected by means of these 
three efficients, the Lord, faith, and charity. These three effi- 
cients would lie concealed like jewels of the highest price in the 
609 R R 


618, 619 REFORMATION AN.. REGENERATION. 

bowels of the earth, unless they were opened to view by means 
of divine truths collected out of the Word ; yea, they would lie 
concealed from the sight of those who deny co-operation, even 
if they were to read the Word a hundred or a thousand times 
over, notwithstanding the clear light in which they are there 
presented. As to what respects the Lord, what person con- 
firmed in the faith of the present day can see with clearness the 
truths which are declared in the Word, that he and the Father 
are one, that he is the God of heaven and earth, and that it is 
the will of the Father that all should believe on the Son, with 
numberless similar declarations respecting him in both covenants? 
The reason is, because such persons are not in truths, and con- 
sequently not in the light by which subjects of such a nature 
can be seen ; and if light were given them, yet their falses would 
extinguish it, and then the above-mentioned declarations w r ould 
be passed by as words erased and blotted out, or as subterranean 
passages, which are trodden under foot and walked over. This 
may serve to show that without truths this primary efficient of 
regeneration cannot be seen. As to what respects faith, it is 
equally impossible for it to exist without truths ; for faith and 
truth make one thing, the good of faith being like a soul, whose 
body is formed by truths ; so that for a man to say that he be- 
lieves or has faith, and at the same time not to know any of its 
truths, is like extracting the soul from the body, and conversing 
with it in its invisible state. Besides, all truths which form the 
body of faith emit light from them, by which they illustrate 
and render its face visible. The case is the same with charity ; 
this emits from itself heat with which the light of truth enters 
into conjunction, as the heat of the sun is conjoined with its 
light in the time of spring, by which terrestrial animals and 
vegetables are restored to their states of prolification. Even sc 
it is with spiritual heat and light : they in like manner conjoin 
themselves together in man, while he is in the truths of faith, 
and at the same time in the goods of charity ; for, as was said 
above in the chapter on Faith, there proceeds from each particu- 
lar truth of faith an efflux, of light, which illustrates, and from 
each particular good of charity an efflux of heat, which warms 
and kindles. Spiritual light too in its essence is intelligence, 
and spiritual heat in its essence is love, and the Lord alone con- 
joins them both together in man when he regenerates him; for 
the Lord said, u The words which I speak unto you are spirit 
and are life 5 * (John vi. 63). “ Believe in the light, that ye may 

be the children of the light. I am come a light into the world” 
(xii. 36, 46). The Lord is the sun in the spiritual world, whence 
all spiritual light and heat are derived : that light illustrates, and 
that heat warms, and by the conjunction of both he quickens 
man and regenerates him. 

619. From what has been said, it may be concluded that 
610 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION 619 

without truths there can be no knowledge of the Lord, and also 
that without truths there can be no faith, and thus no charity. 
Of course without truths there can be no theology, and where 
there is no theology there can be no church. Yet in this state 
at this day is the mass of the people who call themselves Chris- 
tians, and say that they are in the light of the gospel, when 
nevertheless they are in darkness itself; for truths lie hidden 
under faises, like gold, silver, and precious stones buried among 
the bones in the valley of Hinnom. That this is really the case, 
was clearly made manifest to me by the spheres in the spiritual 
world, which proceed by efflux, and diffuse themselves around, 
from modem Christendom. One sphere is concerning the Lord, 
which exhales and spreads itself from the southern quarter', where 
the learned of the clergy and the erudite of the laity have their 
abodes. Wherever this sphere comes, it penetrates the ideas 
from beneath, and with some altogether takes away the belief in 
the Divinity of the Lord’s Humanity, with some weakens it, 
and with some causes it to appear as foolishness. The reason 
hereof is, because it introduces at the same time a belief in three 
Gods, and thus the belief in the Divinity of the Lord’s Human- 
ity becomes confused. Another sphere, which takes away faith, 
is like a black cloud in winter, which spreads darkness around, 
turns ' the rain into snow, strips the trees of their leaves, freezes 
the water, and deprives the sheep of every kind of pasture. 
This sphere conjoined with the former introduces a kind of leth- 
argy concerning the one God, and concerning regeneration 
and the means of salvation. The third sphere is concerning the 
conjunction of faith and charity, which sphere is so strong as to 
be irresistible, but is at this day so abominable that it infects as 
with a plague whomsoever it touches, and breaks all connection 
between those two means of salvation established from the crea- 
tion of the world, and renewed by the Lord. This sphere even 
invades men in the natural world, extinguishing the conjugial 
torches at the marriage of truths and goods. I have myself 
sensibly perceived this sphere, and at a time when I was think- 
ing of the conjunction of faith , and charity it interposed itself 
between them, and violently strove to separate them. The an- 
gels complain much of these spheres, and pray the Lord that 
they may be dispersed ; but they have received for answer that 
this cannot be, so long as the dragon is on the earth in the world 
of spirits, for they proceed from the spirits of the dragon ; and 
it is written of the dragon that he was cast upon the earth, and 
then it is said,- “ Therefore, rejoice, ye heavens, and woe to the 
inhabitants of the earth !” (Rev. xii. 12). These three spheres 
are like atmospheres arising from the nostrils of the dragon, and 
driven by a violent wind, and being of a spiritual nature, they 
invade and do violence to minds. The spheres of spiritual truths 
in that world are as yet but few, prevailing only in the new 
611 


619 621 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

heaven, and with those under heaven who are separated from the 
spirits of the dragon ; and this is why these truths are at this day 
as invisible to men in the w r orld, as ships in the eastern ocean 
are to pilots and seamen in the western. 

620. That regeneration is not attainable without truths, by 
which faith is formed, may be illustrated by the following com- 
parisons. It is like the case of the human mind, which cannot 
exist without the understanding ; for the understanding is formed 
by truths, and so teaches what is to be believed, and what is to 
be done, also what regeneration is, and how it is effected. Re- 
generation without truths is no more attainable than the quick- 
ening of animals, and the vegetation of trees, without light from 
the sun ; for unless the sun sent forth light at the same time 
that it sends forth heat, it would be as the sun is described in 
the Revelation, like sackcloth of hair (vi. 12) ; and darkened 
(Joel ii. 10) ; and thus mere darkness would be on the earth (iii. 
15). So would it be with a man in case he were without truths, 
.which emit light from them ; for the sun from whence the lights 
of truth flow, is the Lord in the spiritual world ; and unless 
spiritual light descended thence by influx into human minds, 
the church would be in mere darkness, or in the shade of a per- 
petual eclipse. Regeneration, which is effected by faith and 
charity, without truths to teach and lead, would be like sailing 
on a great ocean without a rudder, or without a mariner’s com- 
pass and maps : it would also be like riding in a thick forest at 
midnight. The internal sight of the mind, with such as are 
not in truths, but in falses which they believe to be truths, may 
be compared with the bodily sight of those whose optic nerves 
are obstructed, while the eye still appears sound and perfect, 
although it can see nothing, which disorder physicians call amau- 
rosis and gutta serena / for with such the rational or intellect- 
ual faculty is obstructed above, and open onty beneath; in con- 
sequence of which rational light becomes like the light of the eye 
in the above disease, and thus all the judgments they form are 
imaginary, and composed of mere fallacies ; and when men are 
reduced to such a state, they are like astrologers standing in the 
streets with long telescopes in tfieir hands, publishing their idle 
prophecies. This would be the state of all who apply themselves 
to theology, unless genuine truths from the Word w^ere disclosed 
by the Lord. 


621. To the above I shall subjoin the following memorable 
relations. — First. I once observed a company of spirits on 
their knees, praying to God that he would send angels to them, 
with whom they might converse face to face, and to whom they 
might disclose the thoughts of their hearts. When they arose, 
there appeared three angels in fine linen, standing before them, 
612 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


621 


who said, “ The Lord Jesus Christ has heard your prayers, and 
has therefore sent us to you : disclose to us the thoughts of your 
hearts.” They replied, “ Our priests have told us that in theo- 
logical subjects the understanding is of no avail, but only faith ; 
and that in such matters intellectual faith is altogether unprofit- 
able, because it partakes of man and his wisdom, and not of 
God. We are natives of England, and we have heard many 
things from our sacred ministers, and believed them ; but in 
conversing with some who also called themselves Reformed, and 
with others who called themselves Roman Catholics, and likewise 
with sectaries, they had all the appearance of learning in what 
• they said, and yet in many points they differed totally from each 
other, and still all exclaimed, ‘ Believe us,’ and some, 4 We 

ARE THE MINISTERS OF God, AND WE POSSESS THE REQUISITE 

knowledge.’ But being assured that divine truths, which are 
called truths of faith, and are essential to the church, do not 
become the property of any person merely in consequence of his 
being born in a particular country, or of particular parents, but 
are communicated by God from heaven ; and knowing that such 
truths point out the way to heaven, and have ‘admission into a 
man’s life together with the good of charity, and thus lead to 
eternal life, we became anxious, and fell on our knees in prayer 
to God.” Then the angels said, u Read the Word, and believe 
in the Lord, and you will see the truths that should influence 
your faith and life. All in the Christian world derive their 
doctrinals from the Word, as from their only proper fountain.” 
But two of the company said, “ We have read the Word, but 
cannot understand it.” “ Then you have not approached the 
Lord, who is the Word,” the angels replied; “you have also 
previously confirmed yourselves in falses.” The angels further 
said, “ What is faith without light, and wRat is thinking without 
understanding ? There is nothing human in such thought. A 
magpie even, or a jackdaw, may be taught to speak without 
understanding what it says. We can assure you of a certainty 
that every man, whose soul desires it, is able to see the truths 
of the Word in clear light. There is no animal but that knows 
the food proper for its life as soon as it sees it : now man is a 
rational and spiritual animal, and he too sees the food proper for 
his life, not indeed that of his body, but that of his soul, which 
is the truth of faith, in case he hungers after it, and asks it of 
the Lord. Whatever also is not received by the understanding 
has not any abiding place in the memory as to the thing itself, 
but only as to the words ; and this is the reason that when we 
have at times looked down from heaven into the world we have 
seen nothing, but have only heard sounds, and those for the 
most part unharmonious. Several things might be mentioned 
which the learned among the clergy have withdrawn from the 
control of the understanding, not being aware that there aro 
613 


621 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

two ways to the understanding - , one from the world, and the 
other from heaven, and that the Lord withdraws the under- 
standing from the world when he enlightens it ; but in ease it is 
closed from a principle of religion, then the way to it from 
heaven is closed, and the man sees into the Word no more than 
if he were blind. We have frequently observed such persons 
fall into pits, from which they have never risen again. But let us 
now take some examples for the sake of illustration. Can you 
not understand what charity and faith are ? that charity consists 
in dealing aright with our neighbor, and faith in thinking 
aright of God, and of the essentials of the church ; and conse- 
quently that whoever acts well and thinks aright, in other words, 
whoever lives well and believes aright, will be saved ?” To this 
they replied, they understood it clearly. “Further,” said the 
angels, “ in the case of repentance, can you not understand 
that actual repentance from sins is necessary that a man may be 
saved, and that unless he does the work of repentance, he rests 
in the sins wherein he was born ? and that to do the work of 
repentance consists in not willing what is evil, because all evil is 
contrary to God, and in examining himself once or twice in a 
year, in seeing his evils, confessing them before the Lord, im- 
ploring assistance, desisting from them, and beginning a new 
life ; and that so far as a man does this, and believes in the Lord, 
his sins are remitted?” Then some of the company said, “ We 
understand all this, and thus too what is meant by the remission 
of sins.” And they entreated the angels to give them some 
further instruction, and to inform them next concerning God, 
the immortality of the soul, regeneration, and baptism. To this 
request the angels replied, “We will tell you nothing but what 
you can understand, or else our discourse would fall like rain 
upon sand, and as seeds sown in it, which, though they be 
watered by the showers from above, wither and perish.” They 
began with the following information concerning God : “ All who 
come into heaven have their allotted place, and consequently their 
portion of eternal joy, according to their idea of God, because 
this idea reigns universally in all the constituents of divine 
worship. An idea of God as of a spirit, when spirit is supposed to 
be like ether, or wind, is an empty and false idea ; but an idea 
of God as a Man is a just and right idea; for God is the Divine 
Love and the Divine Wisdom, with all their qualities, and the 
subject of these is man, and not ether or wind. In heaven the 
idea of God is that of the Lord the Savfour : he is the God of 
heaven and earth, as he himself taught. Let your idea of God 
then be like ours, and we shall enter into consociation.” As 
they said this, their faces shone with a bright lustre. On the 
immortality of the soul they spoke to the following purport : 
“ Man, because he is capable of being conjoined with God by 
love and faith, lives to eternity : every one has this capacity • 
614 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


621 


and that it is this which causes the soul’s immortality, you may 
understand clearly, if you will but think a little more deeply 
than common on the subject.” On Regeneration they said, 
u How plain is it to see that every man possesses the liberty 
either to think or not to think about God, if he be only instructed 
that there is a God; consequently every man has the same liberty 
in spiritual concerns that he has in civil and natural. The Lord 
grants this continually to all, therefore a man becomes guilty if 
he does not think about God. It is this power which constitutes 
him a man, whereas a beast is a beast from the want of such 
a power; hence every man is able, as of himself, to reform and 
regenerate himself, only he must acknowledge in heart that the 
ability is from the Lord. Every one who does the work of re- 
pentance, and believes in the Lord, is reformed and regenerated : 
a man must do both as of himself ; but then this as of himself 
is from the Lord. It is true that, of himself, a man cannot 
contribute any thing, not even the most trivial, towards the 
producing of those effects ; but it is equally true that you were 
not created statues, but men, that you might produce those 
effects from the Lord as from yourselves. In this alone consists 
the reciprocality of love and faith, and this is what the Lord ab- 
solutely requires a man to do, with a view to him : in short, act 
of yourselves, and believe that it is from the Lord, and then 
you will act as of yourselves.” But they then asked, “ Is this 
power to act as of himself implanted in man by creation ?” “ It 

is not implanted,” the angel replied, “ because to act of himself 
is the prerogative of God alone, but it is given continually ; in 
other words, it is adjoined continually ; and then in proportion 
as a man does good, and believes truth as of himself, he is an 
angel of heaven ; but in proportion as he does evil, and in con- 
sequence believes what is false, wdiich also is done as of himself, 
in the same proportion he is a spirit of hell. You are surprised 
to hear that in this latter case a man acts also as of himself, but 
still you acknowdedge this to be the case when you pray that you 
may be preserved from the snares of the devil, lest he enter into 
you as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquities, 
and bring you to destruction both of body and soul. Every one 
contracts guilt who believes that of himself he does either good 
or evil, but he does not contract guilt who believes that he acts 
as of himself ; for if he believes that good is from himself, he 
claims to himself what belongs to God ; and if he believes that 
evil is from himself he attributes to himself what belongs to the 
devil.” On the subject of baptism they said, u It is a spiritual 
washing, which is reformation and regeneration ; and an infant 
is reformed and regenerated when, on arriving at adult age, he 
performs what his godfathers and godmothers promised for him, 
wdiich promise includes two things, repentance and faith in God; 
for first, they promise that he should renounce the devil and all 
615 


021 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


his works ; and secondly , that he should believe in God. All 
infants in heaven are initiated into these two, but with them tne 
devil is hell and God is the Lord. Moreover, baptism is a sign 
before the angels that the person baptized is of the church.” 
On hearing this some of the company said, “ We understand it 
all.” But then a voice from one side cried out, “ We do not un- 
derstand it;” and another, “We are not willing to understand 
it and on searching from whence these voices came, it was 
discovered that they proceeded from those who had confirmed in 
themselves the falses of faith, and who wished to be credited as 
oracles, and thus to be adored. Upon this the angels said, “Be 
not surprised, there are abundance of such spirits at this da} T : 
they appear to us from heaven like graven image' , so artfully 
formed, that they can move their lips, and utter sounds like 
organized beings, without knowing whether the breath that 
causes the sound be from hell, or from heaven, because they do 
not know whether what they say be false or true. They multiply 
reasonings upon reasonings, and confirmations upon confirma- 
tions, and yet they are utterly unable to see whether the tenets 
they wish to establish be true or not ; for be it known that 
human ingenuity can confirm whatever it pleases, even so as to 
make it appear like truth ; it is thus heretics can confirm their 
heresies, and the most ungodly men their impieties, yea, even 
atheists can confirm their insane notion that there is no God, 
but only nature.” After this the company of Englishmen, 
inflamed with a desire of becoming wise, said to the angels, 
“We have heard a variety of opinions about the holy supper: 
show us what is the truth.” “ The truth is,” the angels replied, 
“that the man who looks to the Lord, and performs actual 
repentance, is conjoined with the Lord by that most holy sacra- 
ment, and introduced into heaven.” But some of the company 
said, “ This is a mystery ;” and the angels replied, “ It is a 
mystery, but still such a one as may be understood. The bread 
and wine do not produce those effects, for nothing holy comes 
from them ; but material bread and spiritual bread, as well as 
material wine and spiritual wine, have a mutual correspondence 
with each other. Spiritual bread is the holy principle of love, 
and spiritual wine the holy principle of faith, each from the 
Lord, and each the Lord ; hence the conjunction of the Lord 
with man, and of man with the Lord, not indeed with the bread 
and wine, but with love and faith in that person who has actu- 
ally repented ; and conjunction with the Lord is also an intro- 
duction into heaven.” After this the angels gave them some 
instruction on correspondence, and then some of them said, 
“ Now for the first time we are able to understand the mystery 
of the Lord’s Supper.” As they said this, lo ! a flaming light 
descending from heaven united them in consociation with the 
angels, and inspired them with mutual love. 

616 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. $22 

622. Tiie second memorable relation. — All who are pre 
pared for heaven, which is done in the world of spirits, situated 
in the midst between heaven and hell, when the time of prepara- 
tion is over, have a longing desire for heaven ; and presently their 
eyes are opened, and they see a way leading to some particular 
society in heaven, which way they enter and ascend. In the 
ascent there is a gate, and a guard stationed, who opens it, and 
admits the new-comers. An examiner then meets them, who 
informs them from the governor that they are at liberty to enter 
further, and to search whether they can anywhere find houses 
which they can acknowledge to be their own ; for there is a new 
house provided for every novitiate angel : if they find it, they 
make a report of it, and so continue there; but if 'not, they 
return and inform the examiner that they have searched in vain. 
In this case an appointed wise personage examines whether the 
light that is in them agrees with the light in the society, but 
particularly whether their heat agrees therewith ; for the light 
of heaven in its essence is divine truth, and its heat in its essence 
is divine good, both proceeding from the Lord as the sun of 
heaven ; and if their light and heat differ from that of the society, 
that is, if their truth and good be different, they are not re- 
ceived, but depart thence and proceed in the ways which lead 
from one society in heaven to another, continuing their journey 
till they find a society which agrees exactly with their own affec- 
tions : there they take up their* eternal abode ; for there they 
meet with their like, with whom they live as among their rela- 
tions and friends, and whom they love from the heart, as being 
in a similar affection. There also they live in the utmost felicity, 
and in the perception of every heartfelt satisfaction from peace 
and tranquillity of soul ; for in the heat and light of heaven there 
is ineffable delight, which is communicated from one to another. 
Thus it happens to those who become angels. The case is dif- 
ferent with those who are in evils and falses. They are allowed 
indeed to ascend into heaven ; but as soon as they enter they 
begin to draw their breath, and to respire with difficulty. Pres- 
ently their sight is obscured, their understanding darkened, 
thought ceases, and death seems to stare them in the face, and 
thus they become like stocks or stones. Then the heart begins 
to beat, the breast to be straitened, and the mind to be seized 
with anguish, experiencing every moment greater degrees of tor- 
ment : in this state they twist and writhe tnpmselves like snakes 
when brought near a fire ; therefore they soon crawl away, and 
throw themselves down a precipice which is then presented to 
their sight, and never rest till they descend into hell among their 
like, where they are able to breathe, and where the heart begins 
again freely to discharge its functions. They afterwards hate 
and detest heaven, and reject truth, and in their hearts blas- 
pheme the Lord, supposing that the pangs and torments they 
617 


622, 623 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

experienced in Leaven were from him. From these few particu 
lars may be seen what is the lot of those who make light of the 
truths of faith, which nevertheless constitute the light of the 
angels of heaven, and who make light of the goods of love and 
charity, which nevertheless constitute the heat of life among the 
angels. Hence also it may be seen how great is the mistake of 
those who believe that everyone is capable of enjoying heavenly 
blessedness, if he be but admitted into heaven; for it is a pre- 
vailing belief at this day that reception into heaven is an act of 
mere mercy alone like a man’s admission here below to a mar- 
riage feast, where he instantly partakes of the joy and gladness 
which reign there ; but be it known, that in the spiritual world 
there is a* communication of the affections of love, and thence of 
the thoughts, for the man is then a spirit, and the life of a spirit 
is the affection of love and the thought thence proceeding; and 
it is homogeneous affection which conjoins, but heterogeneous 
affection which separates, and this heterogeneity is the cause of 
the torment which a devil experiences in heaven, and an angel 
in hell. On this account they are carefully separated according 
to the diversities, varieties, and differences of the affections 
which belong to their love. 

623. The third memorable relation. — I was once per- 
mitted to see three hundred of the clergy and laity together, all 
reputed men of learning and erudition from their skill in con- 
firming the doctrine of faith alone even to justification, and some 
still further ; and as they entertained a belief that heaven con- 
sists in a mere admission through grace, leave was granted them 
to ascend into a particular society of heaven, which however was 
not one of the higher ; and as they were ascending they appeared 
at a distance like calves. When they entered into heaven they 
were received by the angels with much civility ; but when they 
began to converse with them they were seized with trembling, 
and afterwards with horror, and at length with agony as it were 
of death, in consequence of which they cast themselves down 
headlong, and in their fall they appeared like dead horses. The 
reason of their appearing like calves in their ascent was, because 
the natural affection of seeing and knowing, which is of an ex- 
ulting nature, appears by correspondence like a calf ; and the 
reason of their appearing like dead horses in their descent was, 
because the understanding of truth appears by correspondence 
like a horse, and the understanding of the truth of the church 
annihilated, like a dead horse. 

There were some boys below who saw them in their descent 
when they appeared like dead horses ; and immediately turning 
away their faces, they said to their master who was with them, 
u What strange appearance is this ! we saw men, and now i*n 
their place we see dead horses : as we could not bear to look at 
them, we have turned away our faces. Master, let us not stai 
618 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 623 

longer in this place, but go elsewhere so they departed. Then 
their master, as they went along, instructed them in the mean- 
ing of a dead horse. “ A horse,” said he, “ signifies the under- 
standing of truth derived from the Word : all the horses you 
have seen had that signification ; for when a man is engaged in 
meditating on the Word, his meditation appears at a distance 
like a horse, generous and lively in proportion as he meditates 
spiritually, but on the contrary wretched and dead in proportion 
as he meditates materially.” Then the children asked, “ What 
is meant by meditating on the AVord spiritually and materially ?” 
w I will explain it,” replied the master, u by some particular 
cases. Every one who reads the AVord seriously, thinks inwardly 
in himself about God, about his neighbor, and about heaven. 
In this case, he who thinks about God only from the considera- 
tion of person, and not from that of essence, thinks materially ; 
in like manner, he who thinks of his neighbor only from the 
consideration of his external form, and not from a regard to his 
quality, thinks also materially ; so again, he who thinks of 
heaven only from the consideration of place, and not from that 
of love and wisdom, which are the constituents of heaven, he too 
thinks materially.” But the children replied, “We have thought 
of God from the consideration of person, of our neighbor from 
that of his form as a man, and of heaven from that of place as 
being above us : did we then, while we were reading the AVord, 
appear to anyone like dead horses?” The master answered, 
“No; as yet you are but children, and could not think other- 
wise ; but I have perceived in you an affection of knowing and 
understanding, and as this is of a spiritual nature, you have at 
the same time thought spiritually ; for although you were not 
aware of it, there was a degree of spiritual thought concealed 
in your material thought. But to return to what I was before 
observing, — whoever thinks materially while reading or medi- 
tating on the AVord appears at a distance like a dead horse, but 
he who thinks spiritually appears like a living horse; and' to 
think materially about God is to think of him from the considera- 
tion of person only, and not from that of essence. There are many 
attributes of the Divine Essence, as omnipotence, omniscience, 
omnipresence, eternity, love, wisdom, mercy, grace, and others ; 
and there are attributes proceeding from the Divine Essence, as 
creation and conservation, redemption and salvation, illustration 
and instruction. Bow every one who thinks of God from the 
consideration of person only, makes three Gods, saying, that 
one God is the Creator and Preserver, another the Redeemer 
and Saviour, and the third the Illustrator and Instructor; where- 
as every one who thinks of God from the consideration of essence, 
makes but one God, saying, God has created us, and the sarna 
God redeems and saves, and also illustrates and instructs us. 
This then is the reason whv those who think of the divine trinity 
619 


623 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


from the consideration of person, and thus materially, in the 
ideas of their thought, which is material, cannot but make three 
Gods of one; yet still in contradiction to their thought they are 
constrained to say that those three are united by essence, be- 
cause they too, though by an uncertain glimpse, as through a 
latticed window, have entertained some thoughts of God drawn 
from the consideration of his essence. Therefore, my children, 
frame your thoughts from the consideration of essence, and from 
essence think of person ; for to think from person of essence is 
to think materially not only of person, but of essence also, 
whereas to think from essence of person is to think spiritually of 
person also. The ancient gentiles, in consequence of thinking 
materially about God, and thus too of his attributes, not only 
made three gods, but multiplied the number even to a hundred ; 
for of each attribute they made a separate God. Know then, 
that the material cannot enter into the spiritual, but on the con- 
trary the spiritual enters into the material. The case is similar 
in respect to thinking of our neighbor from the consideration 
of external form, and not from that of quality ; and likewise in 
thinking of heaven from the consideration of place, and not 
from that of love and wisdom, which are the constituents of 
heaven. The case too is similar with all and every thing con- 
tained in the Word ; so that he who entertains a material idea 
of God, of his neighbor, and of heaven, cannot possibly un- 
derstand any part of its contents. It is to him a dead ietter, 
and at a distance, while he is reading or meditating upon it, he 
appears like a dead horse. Those whom you saw descending 
from heaven, who were changed before your eyes into the appear- 
ance of dead horses, were such as had closed up the rational 
sight in respect to theological subjects, or the spiritual things of 
the church, both in themselves and others, by this peculiar tenet, 
‘ The understanding must be kept bound in obedience to faith ;' 
not considering that the understanding, when closed from a 
principle of religion, is rendered as blind as a mole, having noth- 
ing in it but mere darkness, and that of. such a nature as to 
reject all spiritual light, to shut out its influx from the Lord and 
from heaven, and to keep it out by putting a bolt against its en- 
trance into the corporeal-sensual principle, far beneath the seat 
of rationality, in matters of faith ; in other words, it places it 
near the nose, and fixes it in its cartilage. Hence it cannot 
afterwards so much as perceive the odor of spiritual things, so 
that some are reduced to such a state as to fall into a swoon as 
soon as they perceive such an odor ; — by odor I mean perception. 
It is these who make God to be three. They say indeed, from 
the consideration of essence, that God is one; but nevertheless 
when they pray, according to their faith, that God the Fathei 
would have mercy on them for the sake of his Son, and would 
send the Holy Ghost, they manifestly make three Gods ; thev 
620 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 623, 62-1 

cannot do otherwise while they pray to one to be merciful for 
the sake of another, and to send a third.” Then their master 
instructed them concerning the Lord, that he is one God, in 
whom there is a Divine Trinity. 

624. The fourth memorable relation. — Awaking ones 
out ot sleep at midnight I saw, at some height towards the east, 
an angel holding in his hand a paper, which in the sun’s rays 
appeared of a bright white, and in the middle of it was written 
ip golden letters, the marriage of good and truth. From 
the writing a bright radiance issued forth, expanding itself into 
a broad circle around the paper, which radiance, or surrounding 
sphere, appeared like that of day-dawn in the spring. After this 
1 saw the angel descending with the paper in his hand, and in 
his descent the paper appeared less and less lucid, and the writing, 
the marriage of good and truth, changed from a golden to a 
silver tinge, and afterwards to the color of copper, then to that 
of iron, and lastly to a rusty and cankered hue. s At length the 
angel appeared to enter into a dark mist, and passing through 
it, to alight on the earth, and there the paper, although he still 
held it in his hand, was no longer visible. This happened in the 
vrorld of spirits, into which all men are gathered immediately on 
their decease. Then the angel addressing me, said, “ Inquire 
of those who come this way whether they see me, or an} 7 thing 
in my hand.” At that instant a great multitude approached, 
some from the east, some from the south, some from the west, 
and others from the north ; and I asked those who came from 
the east and south, who were such as had applied themselves in 
the world to study and erudition, whether they saw any p'erson 
with me,* or any thing in his hand ; and they all answered in the 
negative. Then I asked the same question of those who came 
from the west and the north, who were such as in the world had 
taken for granted what men of learning had affirmed, and they 
too answered in the negative. And yet some among the last of 
these, being men who in the w T orld had lived in simplicity of faith 
from a principle of charity, or in some degree of truth from good, 
when those before them were gone by, declared they saw a man 
with a paper, the man handsomely dressed, and the paper with 
written characters upon it ; and wdien they inspected it more 
closely, they said they could read the marriage of good and 
truth. These addressed the angel, and desired him to explain 
to them the meaning of the writing ; and he said, u All things 
that exist in the universal heaven and in the universal world are 
by creation nothing but the marriage of good and truth ; for all 
and every thing, whether living or not living, whether animate 
or inanimate, were created from the marriage of good and truth, 
and to be the subjects of that marriage. There is not a single 
thing that was created to be a subject of truth alone, or of good 
alone; for neither without the other can be any thing, but by 
621 


624, 625 REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 

that marriage they exist and become something, the quality ot 
which is determined by the quality of that marriage. In the 
Lord God the Creator divine good and divine truth are in theii 
very substance itself; the me of his substance is divine good, 
and the existere of his substance is divine truth : in him too they 
are in their very union itself, for in him they are infinitely one ; 
and as these two principles are in God the Creator a one, they 
are a one also in all and every thing created by him. By this 
too the Creator is joined in an eternal covenant, like that of 
marriage, with all things of his creation. The angel further said 
that the sacred Scripture, which was dictated by the Lord, is, 
both in general and in particular, a marriage of good and truth 
(according to what was said above, n. 248 — 253) ; and since the 
church, which is formed by truths of doctrine, and religion, 
which is formed by goods of life, according to truths of doctrine, 
are with Christians derived solely from the sacred Scripture, it 
must be evident that the church also, in general and in particular, 
is a marriage of good and truth.” What has been observed 
above, on the marriage of good and truth, was declared also by 
the angel of the marriage of. charity and faith; since good 
has relation to charity and truth to faith. As the angel ended, 
he raised himself from the ground, and piercing through the 
mist, he ascended into heaven, when immediately the paper 
shone as before, according to the degree of his ascent, and be- 
hold ! the circle, which appeared before like the light of dawn, 
was extended downward, and dispelled the mist which caused 
darkness on the earth, and a bright sunshine succeeded. 

625. The fifth memorable relation. — Once while I was 
meditating on the Lord’s second advent, there suddenly 'appeared 
a beam of light, which, darting powerfully upon my eyes, caused 
me to look upward, and lo ! the whole heaven above me appeared 
luminous, and from the east to the west I heard a long continued 
glorification ; and an angel who stood near me said, “ That is 
a glorification of the Lord for his advent by the angels of the 
eastern and western heavens.” From the southern and northern 
heavens nothing was to be heard but a soft and gentle murmur. 
As the angel heard every thing, he first told me that those glo- 
rifications and celebrations of the Lord were taken from the 
Word ; and presently he said, “Now they glorify and celebrate 
the Lord in particular by these words in the prophet Daniel : 
‘ Thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay ; but they shall not 
cohere together ; and in those days shall the God of the heavens 
set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. It shall break 
in pieces and, consume all these kingdoms ; but it shall stand 
lor ever’” (ii. 43, 44). After. this I heard as it were the sound 
of voices singing, and further in the east I saw a glow of light 
far brighter than the former : then I asked the angel what was 
the subject of their glorification in that quarter ? He answered 
62:2 


REFORMATION AND REGENERATION. 


623 


u These words in Daniel : ‘ I saw in the visions of the night, and 
behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven ; 
and there were given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
that all people, nations, and languages should serve him : his 
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, 
and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed’ ” (vii. 13, 14). 
They are further celebrating the Lord by these words in the 
Revelation : ‘ To Jesus Christ be glory and dominion for ever and 
ever. Behold, he cometh with clouds. He is Alpha and Omega, 
the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last ; who is, 
who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. I John heard this 
from the Son of man out of the midst of the seven candlesticks’ ” 
(i. 5 — 7, 10 — 13 ; xxii. 13 ; and also from Matt. xxiv. 30, 31). 
I looked again towards the eastern heaven, and on the right side 
it shone, and the luminous splendor entered into the southern 
expanse. Then I heard a sweet sound, and I asked the angel, 
“ What is the subject of their glorification in that quarter ?” 
He answered^ “ These words in the Revelation : 4 1 saw a new 
heaven and a new earth ; and I saw the holy city, New Jerusa- 
lem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband: and I heard a great voice out of heav- 
en, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he 
will dwell with them. And one of the seven angels talked with 
me, saying, Come hither : I will show thee the Bride , the LcimVs 
Wife : and he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high 
mountain, and showed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem’ 
(xxi. 1, 2, 4, 9, 10). Also these words : M Jesus am the bright 
and morning star: and the Spirit and the Bride say, Come: and 
he saitli, I come quickly , Amen : even so come, Lord Jesus ’ ” 
(xxii. 16, 17, 20). After these and many more there was h&ard 
a general glorification from the east to the west of heaven, and 
also from the south to the north ; and I asked the angel, “ What 
is now the subject?” He answered, “These passages from the 
prophets : ‘ All flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour 
a7id thy Redeemer ’ (Isaiah xlix. 26). ‘Thus saitli Jehovah, the 
King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts, lam the 
First and the Last, and beside me there is no God ’ (xliv. 6). ‘ It 
shall be said in that day, Lo ! this is our God ; we have waited 
for him, and he will save us ; this is Jehovah whom we have ex- 
pected ’ (xxv. 9). 4 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, 
Prepare ye the way of Jehovah. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will 
come with strong hand, and will feed his flock like a Shepherd ’ 
(xl. 3, 10, 11). 1 Unto us a Child is born ; unto us a Son is given ; 
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty 
God, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace’ (ix. 6). ‘Be- 
hold, the days come, saitli' the Lord, that I will raise unto David 
a righteous branch, who shall reign a king ; and this is his name, 
Jehovah our righteousness ’ (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 ; xxxiii. lo, 16). w Je 


625— 627 ' 


OF IMPUTATION. 


hovah is his name , and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel / 
the God of the whole earth shall he he called ’ (Isaiah li v. 5). 4 In 
that day Jehovah shall he Iling over all the earth / in that day 
there shall he one Jehovah , and his name One ’ ” (Zech. xiv. 8, 9). 
On hearing and understanding all these things my heart exulted 
within me, and I went home with joy, and there, from being in 
the spirit, I returned into the body, and wrote down what I had 
seen and heard. 


CHAPTER XI. 

IMPUTATION. 

I. That imputation, and the faith of the present church, 

WHICH ALONE IS SAID TO JUSTIFY, ARE A ONE. 

626. That the faith of the present church, which alone is said 
to justify, is the same thing as imputation, or that faith and im- 
putation in the present church are a one, is a consequence of 
their mutual connection and dependence on each other, or of 
their mutual insertion into each other, whence each derives its 
being; for if faith be spoken of without the addition of imputa- 
tion, it is an empty sound, and if imputation be spoken of with 
out the addition of faith, it is also an empty sound; but if they 
are spoken of conjointly, the result is something articulate, or 
distinct in the expression, yet still without any meaning. In or 
der then that the understanding may have a perception of some 
meaning, there requires the addition of a third ingredient, which 
is the merit of Christ, and hence results a sentiment capable of 
being expressed with some appearance of reason ; for the faith of 
the present church is, that God the Father imputes the righteous - 
ness of his Son, and sends the Holy Ghost to operate its effects. 

627. These three therefore, faith, imputation, and the merit 
of Christ, form in the present church one whole, and may be 
called a triune ; for if one of the three were taken away, modern 
theology would cease to be, for it depends on the three taken and 
perceived as one whole, just as a long chain hangs from a hook 
to which it is fixed. For instance, if you take away either faith, 
imputation, or the merit of Christ, then all that is said of justi- 
fication, the remission of sins, quickening, renovation, regen- 
eration, sanctification, also of the gospel, free-will, charity, and 
good works, and even of life eternal, would be like a desolate 
city, or a temple in ruins ; and faith itself, which is placed in 
front, would be annihilated, and thus the universal church would 
become a wilderness and a desolation. Hence it is evident on 
what pillar the house of God is at this day founded, and that 
if this pillar be pulled down the house must fall, like that build- 
ing in which the lords of the Philistines, with three thousand 

624 


OF IMPUTATION. 


627— 629 


of the people were gathered together to be entertained with 
Bports, who were all slain and destroyed when Sampson pulled 
down the two columns which supported it (Judges xvi. 20). 
These remarks are premised because it has been shown in the 
preceding parts of this work, and it is intended to be further 
shown in the appendix, that such faith is not Christian faith, be- 
cause it is at variance with the Word, and that the imputation of 
such faith is vain, because the merit of Christ is* not imputable. 
II. That the imputation which belongs to the faitii of the 

PRESENT TIMES IS TWO-FOLD, THE ONE PART RELATING TO THE 

MERIT OF CHRIST, AND THE OTHER TO SALVATION AS ITS CON- 
SEQUENCE. 

628. It is maintained throughout the whole Christian church 
that justification and consequent salvation are imputed by God 
the Father, through the imputation of the merit of Christ, his 
Son, and that such imputation is wrought by grace, when and 
where he willeth, consequently of God’s free pleasure ; and 
that those who have the merit of Christ imputed to them are 
adopted into the number of the children of God. Now as the 
leaders of the church have not stirred a step beyond such impu- 
tation, or raised their minds above it, they have, by decreeing 
and establishing God’s election to be merely arbitrary, fallen 
into errors, enormous and fanatical, and at length into that 
detestable one of predestination, and also into this abomination, 
that God does not attend to the actions of a man’s life, but only 
to the faith inscribed on the interiors of his mind ; so that unless 
the error respecting imputation were to be abolished, atheism 
would overrun the whole Christian world, and then the king of 
the bottomless pit would reign over them, whose “ name in the 
Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue Apollyon” 
(Rev. ix. 11). Abaddon and Apollyon signifies a destroyer of 
the church by falses, and the bottomless pit, the place where 
those falses dwell, as may be seen by the Apocalypse Revealed, 
n. 421, 440, 442 ; from which it appears that that one false doc- 
trine, and the falses resulting from it, over which that destroyer 
reigns, are in a long continued series ; for, as was said above, 
the whole system of modern theology depends on the doctrine of 
imputation, just as a long chain hangs from the hook to which 
it is fixed, or as the body with all its members is dependent on 
the head ; and since this doctrine of imputation is everywhere 
prevalent, the words spoken in Isaiah are fulfilled, where it is 
written, “The Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail: the 
ancient and the honorable he is the head, and the prophet that 
teaches lies, he is the tail” (ix. 14, 15). 

629. It is affirmed above, that the imputation of the faith 
now prevailing is two-fold. Its two-fold distinction however is 
not like that of God and his mercy towards all, but of God and 
his mercy towards some ; or not like that of a parent and his 

625 ss 


029—631 


OF IMPUTATION. 


love towards all his offspring, but of a parent and his love 
towards one or the other of them ; or not like the distinction 
of the divine law and its commands extended to all, but of the 
divine law and its commands confined to a few ; so that the 
two-fold distinction in the one case is extended and undivided, 
but in the other restricted and divided : in the latter case there- 
fore it is really two-fold, but in the former it is unity or single- 
ness ; for it is asserted that the imputation of Christ’s merit is 
of arbitrary election, and that to those who are so elected it is 
an imputation of salvation, consequently that some are adopted, 
but the rest rejected, which would be like God’s exalting some 
into Abraham’s bosom, and delivering up some as a prey to the 
devil ; when yet the truth is, that the Lord never rejects or de- 
livers up any man to the devil, but it is the man who delivers 
up himself. 

630. Add to this, that modern imputation takes away from 
man all power in spiritual things from any freedom of determi- 
nation, and does not even leave him the least ability of shaking 
off fire from his clothes, and securing his body from hurt, or of 
applying water to extinguish the flames of his house, and of as- 
sisting his family to make their escape; when yet the Word, 
from beginning to end, teaches that every one should shun evils 
because they are of the devil and from the devil, and should do 
good because it is of God and from God, and that he should so 
act of himself by the Lord’s operation. But modern imputation, 
in order to prevent any thing of man from entering into it, or 
from mixing itself with the merit of Christ, disallows all such 
power of acting as fatal to faith, and consequently to salvation ; 
so that from its establishment this satanical tenet has gushed out 
as a stream, that man is altogether impotent in spiritual things, 
which is the same as saying, “Walk forwards, although you 
have not a foot to walk on ; wash jmurself, though both your 
hands are cut off; do good, but yet lie asleep; feed yourself, 
but without a tongue.” It is also the same as to suppose a will 
given which is not a will ; and might not any one in such a case 
reasonably object, and say, u I am not able to do such things, 
any more than Lot’s wife when she was turned into a pillar of 
salt, or than Dagon, the god of the Philistines, when the ark 
of God was introduced into his temple ? I am afraid that as 
that god lost his head, and the palms of his hands were found 
lying on the threshold (1 Sam. v. 4), so also it . would happen to 
me; and I have no more power to act than Beelzebub the god 
of Ekron had, who, according to the signification of his name, 
could only drive away flies?” That such impotence in spiritual 
things is believed at this day, may be seen from the extracts 
given above, in the chapter on Free-determination, n. 164. 

631. As to what concerns the first part of the two-fold dis- 
tinction in that imputation concerning the salvation of mankind, 

626 


OF IMPUTATION. 


631 , 632 

which, consists in an arbitrary imputation of Christ’s merit, of 
which the imputation of salvation is a consequence, the main- 
tainers of the doctrine are divided in their sentiments. Some 
hold that this imputation is absolute, and of free power, and is 
imparted to those whose external or internal form is well-pleasing; 
others again insist that imputation is of fore knowledge, and Is 
imparted to those into whom grace has been infused, and to whom 
that faith can be applied ; but still these two opinions meet in 
'the same point, and are like the two eyes fixed on the same stone, 
or like the two ears attending to the same song. At first sight, 
indeed,, it appears as if they took different directions, but yet 
they will be found in the end to unite, and to have the same 
scope and intention ; for as they both assert man’s absolute 
impotence in spiritual things, and both exclude from faith all 
human agency, it follows that the grace receptive of faith, whether 
it be infused arbitrarily or of fore-knowledge, equally implies a 
partial election ; for if the grace, which is called preventing 
grace, be universal, man’s application, from some power of his 
own, must be added to it, which nevertheless in both cases is 
rejected as leprous and unclean. . Hence it is that no one knows 
any more than a stock or a stone whether that faith be given him 
of grace, or what were its nature and quality when it was in- 
fused ; for when charity, piety, a purpose to lead a new life, and 
a free pow T er of doing good or evil, are denied to man, there is 
no sign left to testify its presence. The marks generally adduced 
as testifying the existence of that faith in him, are altogether 
ludicrous, and not unlike the auguries of the ancients taken 
from the flight of birds, or the prognostications of astrologers 
drawn from the stars, or those deduced from a cast of dice. 
Such evidences, with other things still more ludicrous, are a 
consequence of the Lord’s imputed righteousness, which, to- 
gether with the faith that is called such righteousness, is infused 
into the subject of election. 

III. That the faith, which is imputative of the merit and 

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST THE REDEEMER, FIRST TOOK ITS RISE 
FROM THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF NICE CONCERNING THREE 
DIVINE PERSONS FROM ETERNITY, AND FROM THAT TIME TO THE 
PRESENT HAS BEEN RECEIVED BY THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN WORLD. 

632. The Council of Nice was called by the Emperor Con- 
stantine the Great, at the instance of Alexander, Bishop of Alex- 
andria. At this council all the bishops in Asia, Africa, and 
Europe were assembled in the emperor’s palace at Nice, a city 
of Bithynia, for the purpose of refuting and condemning, from 
the authority of the holy Scriptures, the heresy of Arius, a pres- 
byter of Alexandria, who denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ. 
This happened in the year of Christ 318.* The members of thi? 

* This council is more usually placed in the year 826 ; but there are several 
ancient writers who date it as above. 

627 


632, 633 


OF IMPUTATION . 


council came to a conclusion that from eternity there have been 
three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as may 
appear evident from the two creeds called the Hicene and the 
Athanasian. In the Hicene Creed it is written, “ I believe in 
one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ; 
and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, 
begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, of one 
substance with the Father, who came down from heaven, and 
was incarnate by the Holy Ghost, of the virgin Mary ; and I 
believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who pro- 
ceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and 
the Son together is worshipped and glorified.” In the Athana- 
sian Creed it is said,' “ This 1 is the Catholic faith, that we worship 
one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding 
the persons, nor dividing the substance ; for there is one person 
of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy 
Ghost. But whereas we are compelled by the Christian verity 
to acknowledge every person by. himself to be God and Lord, so 
we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are three 
Gods, or three Lords that is, it is allowable to acknowledge 
three Gods and three Lords, but not to say there are three Gods 
or three Lords ; and the reason assigned in the latter case is, 
because religion forbids it, and in the former, because verity or 
truth dictates it. This Athanasian Creed was composed, imme- 
diately after the Council of Hice, by one or more of the members 
who were present at that council, and was also received as 
Oecumenical or Catholic. It appears then from hence to have 
been decreed and determined at that time, that the three divine 
persons from eternity ought to be acknowledged, and that al- 
though each person singly by himself is God, yet nevertheless 
they ought not to be called three Gods, or three Lords, but one. 

633. That a belief in three divine persons has been generally 
received since that time, and has been confirmed and preached 
by all bishops, prelates, rulers of the church, and presbyters, 
even to the present day, is a well-known fact ; and since a mental 
persuasion of three Gods has been the result, it was impossible 
for any other system of faith to be conceived or formed, but that 
was applicable to those three persons in their respective stations ; 
as for instance, that God the Father ought to be approached and 
implored to impute the righteousness of his Son, or to be merci- 
ful for the sake of his Son’s sufferings on the cross, and to send 
the Holy Ghost to operate the mediate and ultimate effects of 
salvation. This faith is a birth sprung from the two creeds 
above-mentioned, which, however, when stripped of its swaddling 
clothes, exhibits to view, not one, but three persons, at first, 
indeed, joined together as in close embrace, but presently sepa- 
rated from each other ; for the decree says of them, that they 
are joined in essence, but separated in their particular offices of 
628 


OF IMPUTATION. 


633, 634 


cieation, redemption, and operation ; or of imputation, imputed 
righteousness, and the application of it : and this is the reason 
why, notwithstanding they have compounded one God of three, 
they have yet not made one person out of three, lest the idea of 
three gods should be obliterated ; for so long as each person 
singly is believed to be God, according to the assertion in the 
creed, [the superstructure may stand ; but] supposing the three 
persons to be made one, the whole house, founded as it were 
upon three pillars, must fall to the ground. The reason why 
the above-mentioned council introduced three divine persons 
from eternity, was, because they did not rightly examine the 
Word, and consequently could find no other asylum against the 
Arians ; but the reason why they afterwards compounded into 
one God those three persons, each whereof was declared singly 
by himself to be God, was, because they were fearful of being 
blamed and reproached by every rational and religious person in 
three quarters of the globe, for asserting a belief in three gods. 
The reason why they formed a system of faith applicable to the 
three in successive order, was, because no other system could 
possibly be consistent with the principles they had established • 
moreover, if one of the three were to be omitted in such appli- 
cation, the mission of the third could not take place, and conse- 
quently all the operations of divine grace must be unprofitable. 

634. But the truth must be declared. — When a belief in 
three gods was introduced into the Christian churches, which 
has continued since the time of the council of Nice, all the good 
of charity and all the truth of faith were banished, being utterly 
inconsistent with the mental worship of three gods, and the lip- 
worship of one God at the same time ; for in such case the mind 
denies what the mouth speaks, and the mouth denies what the 
mind thinks, so that at length there is no belief either in three 
gods or in one. Hence it is evident, that the Christian temple, 
since that time, has not only tottered on its foundations, and 
been full of chinks and clefts, but has fallen down and become a 
heap of ruins ; and since that time the well of the bottomless pit 
has been opened, from which the smoke as of a great furnace 
has ascended, and darkened the sun and the air, and from which 
locusts have come forth upon the earth (Rev. ix. 2, 3). (See an 
explanation of these particulars in the Apocalypse Revealed.) 
Yea, from that time the desolation foretold by Daniel has begun 
and increased (Matt xxiv. 15) : and to that faith and its impu- 
tation the eagles have been gathered together (verse 2S of the 
same chapter) : eagles in that passage signify the lynx-eyed, or 
sharp sighted primates of the church.' It may be urged, perhaps, 
in tavor of the doctrine of three divine persons, that the council 
which established it was composed of a great number of bishops 
and persons distinguished for their learning, who were unanimous 
respecting it : but what dependence is to be placed on the authou 
629 


634, 635 


OF IMPUTATION. 


itv and unanimity of a general council, when the Homan 
Catholic councils have been alike unanimous in decreeing and 
establishing the pope’s vicarship, the invocation of saints, the 
veneration of images and bones, the division of the holy eucha- 
rist, purgatory, indulgences, and the like? What dependence 
is to be placed on councils when the council of Dort unanimously 
confirmed the abominable doctrine of predestination, and extolled 
it as the palladium of religion! Do not you then, my reader, 
depend on councils, but on the holy Word, and go to the Lord, 
and you will be enlightened : for he is the Word, that is, the 
Divine Truth itself therein. 

635. I shall conclude the present article with the declaration 
of this arccmum. The consummation of the present church is 
described in seven chapters of the Revelation, in like manner as 
the devastation of Egypt is described, and both by similar plagues, 
each of which spiritually signifies some particular false, which 
brought on its devastation even to its complete destruction : on 
this account too the present church, which is at this day destroyed, 
is in a spiritual sense called Egypt (Rev. xi. 8). The plagues in 
Egypt were the following : The waters were turned into blood, 
so that every fish died, and the river stank (Exod. vii.) ; the like 
is said in the Revelation (viii. 8 ; xvi. 3) : blood signifies divine 
truth falsified, as may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, 
n. 379, 404, 681, 687, 688; and the fish which died, truths in 
the natural man, similarly destroyed, n. 290, 405. Frogs came 
up over all the land of Egypt (Exod. viii.) ; frogs also are men- 
tioned in the Revelation (xvi. 13) : frogs signify reasonings origi- 
nating in the lust of falsifying truths, as may be seen in the 
Apocalypse Revealed, n. 702. In Egypt noxious ulcers or 
sores broke out upon man and beast (Exod. ix) ; the same is said 
in the Revelation (xvii. 2) : ulcers or sores signify interior evils 
and falses destructive of good and truth in the church, as may 
be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 678. In Egypt there 
was great hail mixed with fire (Exod. ix.) ; the same is said in 
the Revelation (viii. 7 ; xvi. 21) : hail signifies the infernal false 
(see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 399, 714). Upon Egypt were 
sent locusts (Exod. x) ; so also in the Revelation (ix. 1 — 11): 
locusts signify falses in the extreme parts (see Apocalypse 
Revealed, n. 424, 430). The land of Egypt was covered with 
grievous darkness (Exod. x.) ; darkness is also spoken of in the 
Revelation (viii. 12) ; darkness signifies falses arising either from 
ignorance or from false principles in religion, or from evils of life, 
(see Apocalypse Revealed, il 110, 413, 695). The Egyptians, 
it is written, perished at last in the Red Sea (Exod. xiv.) ; in the 
Revelation it is said, that the dragon and false prophet perished 
iii the lake of fire and brimstone (xix. 20 ; xx. 10) : both the 
Red Sea and that lake signify hell. The reason why the same 
circumstances are mentioned of Egvpt and of the church, whose 
630 


OF IMPUTATION 


635— 637 


consummation, and end are described in the Revelation, is, 
because Egypt signifies a church, which in its beginning was o\ 
superior excellence ; wherefore Egypt, before its church came to 
devastation, is compared with the garden of Eden, and with the 
garden of Jehovah (Gen. xiii. 10 ; Ezek. xxxi. 8, 9 ) ; and is also 
called the corner-stone of tli& tribes, the son of the wise, and ol 
ancient kings (Isaiah xix. 11, 13). Respecting Egypt in its 
primeval state and in its state of devastation, more may be seen 
in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 503. 

IV. That faith imputative of the merit of oiirist was not 

KNOWN IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH, WHICH PRECEDED THE COUN- 
CIL OF NICE, AND IS NEITHER DECLARED NOR SIGNIFIED IN ANY 

PART OF THE WORD. 

636. The church preceding the council of Nice, which was 
called the Apostolic church, was of considerable magnitude, ex 
tending to three of the quarters of the globe, as appears from 
the territories of the Emperor Constantine the Great, who was 
a Christian, and zealous in favor of religion, and whose empire 
not only embraced the countries of Europe, since divided into 
several kingdoms, but also extended over many regions bordering 
upon Europe ; so that, as was observed above, he convoked the 
bishops of Asia, Africa, and Europe, to his palace at Nice, a city 
of Bithynia, in order to purge his empire of the scandalous 
doctrines of Arius. This was done of the Divine Providence ol 
the Lord, since, if the Lord’s divinity be denied, the Christian 
church expires, and becomes like a monument adorned with this 
epitaph, u Here the church lies buried.” The church which 
existed before this period was called apostolic, its distinguished 
writers were styled fathers, and the true Christians that composed 
it, brethren. 'This church did not acknowledge three divine per- 
sons, and consequently not a Son of God from eternity, but only 
a Son of God born in time, as is plain from the creed received 
in that church, and thence called the Apostles’ Creed, where it 
is said, “ I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven 
and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who 
was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, &e. 
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the com- 
munion of saints,” &c. Here it is evident that no other Son of 
God was acknowledged but what was conceived by the Holy 
Spirit and born of the virgin Mary ; and there is no mention of 
a Son of God born from eternity. This creed, like the two 
others, has been received down to the present times as purely 
catholic by the whole Christian church. 

637. In those primitive times all Christians throughout the 
world acknowledged that the L^rd Jesus Christ was God, to 
whom all power was given in heaven and earth, and who had 
power over all flesh, according to his own express words (Matt, 
xxviii. 18 ; John xvii. 7); and they believed in him, according 

631 


637—639 


OF IMPUTATION. 


to the command which he delivered to them from God the Father 
(John iii. 15, 16, 36 ; vi. 40 ; xi. 25, 26) : this is also very evident 
from the circumstance of the Emperor Constantine the Great 
convening all bishops, for the purpose of refuting and condemning, 
from the sacred Scriptures, the heresy of Anus and his adherents, 
who denied the divinity of the Lord the Saviour, born of the 
virgin Mary. This indeed they effected ; but while endeavoring 
t(. avoid a wolf, they fell into the jaws of a lion ; or, according 
to the proverb, wishing to avoid Charybdis, they werp wrecked 
upon Scylla : for by inventing the fiction of a Son of God from 
eternity, who descended and assumed a humanity, they imagined 
that they should vindicate and re-establish the Lord’s divinity ; 
not knowing that God himself, the Creator of the universe, 
descended that he might become a Redeemer, and thus a Creator 
anew T , according to these plain declarations in the Old Testament : 
Isaiah xxv. 9; xl. 3, 5, 10, 11; xliii. 14; xliv. 6, 24; xlvii. 4; 
xlviii. 17; xlix. 7, 26; lx. 16; lxiii. 16; Jer. i. 19; LIos. xiii. 
4 ; Psalm. xix. 14; to which may be added John ix. 35, 37. 

638. That apostolic church, in consequence of worshipping 
the Lord God Jesus Christ, and God the Father in him at the 
same time, may be compared to the garden of God ; and Arius, 
who arose at that time, to the serpent sent from hell ; and the 
council of Tuce, to the wife of Adam, who offered the fruit to 
her husband, and persuaded him to eat it ; after which they 
appeared to themselves naked, and covered their nakedness with 
fig-leaves. Their nakedness signifies the innocence which they 
before possessed, and fig-leaves the truths of the natural man, 
which were successively falsified. That primitive church may 
also be compared with the dawn of day and with the morning in 
its progression to the tenth hour, when a thick cloud intervened, 
and continued till the evening came, and then the night, at 
which time the moon arose, whose light, appearing to some, gave 
them a partial illustration of the Word, while the rest went on 
even to midnight darkness, till they could see nothing of divinity 
in the Lord’s humanity, notwithstanding the declaration of Paul, 
“ In J esus Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily” 
(Coloss. ii. 9); and that of John, “The Son of God sent into the 
world is the true God and eternal life” (1 Epist. v. 20, 21). 
The primitive or apostolic church could never have conceived 
that a church would succeed, which should worship several gods 
with the heart and one with the lips ; which should separate 
charity from faith, the remission of sins from repentance and 
application to newness of life ; and which should maintain a total 
impotence in spiritual things ; and least of ail that an Arius 
should lift up his head, and when dead rise again, and reign, 
though clandestinely, to the end. 

639. That a faith imputative of Christ’s merit was never 
meaut in the Word, may appear plain from this circumstance, 

632 


OF IMPUTATION. 


639, 640 

■ hat such a faith was never known in the church until the council 
of Nice introduced the doctrine of the three divine persons from 
eternity ; and when this faith was once introduced, and had 
overspread the whole Christian world, all other faith was rejected, 
and shut up in darkness ; so that whoever under such circum- 
stances reads the Word, and sees mention made of faith, impu- 
tation, and the merit of Christ, naturally falls into that notion, 
which he imagines to be the only one : just like a person vrho, on 
reading one page of a book, there stops, without turning over 
to see what is said on the other side ; or like one who, having 
persuaded himself of the truth of some particular opinion, not- 
withstanding it is false, and having confirmed that alone, after- 
wards sees the false as true and the true as false, who would 
deride and hiss at every one that should pretend to oppose his 
favorite notion, and w^ould call him a fool ; for his mind being 
wholly immersed in such persuasion, acquires a callous covering, 
which rejects as heterodox whatever does not square wfith his 
orthodox opinions, so called : his memory too is like a piece of 
paper, with this single ruling point of theology written all over 
it so as not to admit of the insertion of any thing else ; therefore 
if any thiftg else enters, he casts it out as the foaming mouth 
casts out its froth. Tell a confirmed naturalist, for instance, 
who believes either that nature created herself, or that God was 
extant after nature, or that nature and God are one, that the 
truth is directly contrary, and he will consider you either as 
deluded by the fabulous devices, of the clergy, or as a person of 
a simple mind, or of a slow understanding, or as one who has 
lost his senses. The case is the same with all other opinions 
fixed by persuasion and confirmation ; they appear at length like 
painted tapestry fastened with many nails to a wall which has 
been put together with crumbling stones. 

V. That an imputation of the merit and righteousness of 

CHRIST IS IMPOSSIBLE. 

640. In order to know that the imputation of the merit and 
righteousness of Christ is impossible, it is necessary to know 
what his merit and righteousness are. The merit of our Lord 
the Saviour is redemption, the nature and quality of which are 
described above, n. 114 — 133, where it is shown, that it con- 
sisted in the subjugation of the hells, the orderly arrangement 
of the heavens, and the subsequent restoration of the church ; 
thus, that redemption was a work purely divine. In the same 
place it was also shown, that by redemption the Lord took to 
himself the power of regenerating and saving all those who be- 
lieve in him and do his commandments, and that without re- 
demption no fiesh could have been saved. If then redemption 
was a work purely divine, a work of the Lord alone, and if this 
constitutes his merit, it follows that it can no more be applied, 
ascribed, or imputed tc any man than the creation and preser- 
633 


OF IMPUTATION. 


640, 641 

vation of the universe ; for redemption was a kind of creation of 
the angelic heaven anew, and also of the church. The present 
church ascribes this merit of the Lord the Redeemer to those 
who by grace have obtained faith, as is plain from their tenets, 
of which this is one of the chief ; for the dignitaries of this 
church and their dependents, both in the Roman Catholic and 
the Reformed churches assert that by imputation of the merit of 
Christ those who have obtained faith are not only reputed just 
and holy, but in fact are so ; that their sins are not sins in God’s 
sight, because they are forgiven, and themselves justified, that 
is, reconciled, renewed, regenerated, sanctified, and enrolled m 
heaven. The whole Christian church at the present day main- 
tains this same doctrine, as is manifest from the Council of Trent, 
the Augustan and Augsburg confessions, and the annexed com- 
ments which are received along with them. And what, other 
consequence can be drawn from this declaration of the nature of 
the Lord’s merit and righteousness, when transferred to the 
above faith, than that the possession of this faith is the merit 
and righteousness of the Lord, consequently that its possessor is 
Christ in another person ? for it is asserted that Christ himself 
is righteousness and that this faith is righteousness, and that im- 
putation, which also means .addication and application, makes 
the possessors of that faith just and holy, not in appearance only 
but in reality. Add only transcription, to such imputation, 
application, and addication, and you will be a true pope, the 
vicar or vicegerent of Jesus Christ. 

641. Since then the merit and righteousness of Christ are 
purely divine, and things purely divine are such, that if they 
could be applied and ascribed to a man he would instantly die, 
and, like a stake cast into the body of the sun, would be con- 
sumed, so that scarcely his ashes would remain, therefore the 
Lord with his divine principle approaches both angels and men 
by the medium of a light tempered and moderated according to 
the ability and quality of each, thus by one that is suitable and 
accommodated ; he approaches in a similar manner by heat. In 
the spiritual world there is a sun, and in the midst of it the 
Lord. From that sun the Lord, by the medium of light and 
heat, enters by influx into the whole spiritual world, and all that 
dwell there ; and from this source are all the light and heat in 
that world. The Lord from the same sun enters also by influx, 
with the same light and heat, into the souls and minds of men. 
That heat in its essence is his divine love, and that light in its 
essence is his divine wisdom ; which light and heat the Lord 
adapts to the ability and quality of every recipient angel and 
man, and this is effected by means of spiritual airs or atmo- 
spheres, which convey and transfer such light and heat : the 
Divine itself immediately encompassing the Lord is what con- 
stitutes that sun. This sun is distant from the angels as the sun 
634 


OF IMPUTATION. 


641, 6 [2 

•rf the natural world is from men, in order* to prevent its touch- 
ing them with its naked and consequently immediate rays; for 
in such case, as was said above, they would be consumed, like a 
stake cast into the body of the sun. Hence it may appear that 
the Lord’s merit and righteousness being purely divine, cannot 
possibly by imputation be applied to any angel or man ; indeed, 
if even a single.spark of it w T ere to touch them without being tem- 
pered, according to what was said above, they would instantly be 
tortured like persons in the agonies of death, their limbs would 
be convulsed, their eyes wander, and thus they would expire. 
This truth was made known to the Israelitish church by the 
declaration, — Ho one can see God and live. The sun of the 
spiritual world, such as it is since Jehovah God assumed the 
Humanity, and added to it redemption and new righteousness, 
is des-cribed in these words in Isaiah : “The light of the sun shall 
be seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah 
bindeth up the breach of his people” (xxx. 26); in the whole of 
which chapter is described the coming of the Lord. The condi- 
tion of a wicked person, supposing the Lord were to come down 
and draw near to him, is thus described in the Revelation : 
“ They hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the 
mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and 
hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from 
the anger of the Lamb” (vi. 15, 16). It is called the anger of 
the Lamb, because the terror and torment that attend the Lord’s 
approach to the wicked appear to them like anger. This fact 
will admit of still plainer evidence from this circumstance, that 
if any wicked person is admitted into heaven, where charity and 
faith towards the Lord prevail, his eyes are immediately seized 
with dimness, his mind with giddiness and insanity, his body 
with pain and torment, and he becomes like a dying person. 
What then would be the case were the Lord himself, with his 
divine merit, which is redemption, and with his divine righteous- 
ness, to enter into a man ? Even the apostle John could not 
endure the presence of the Lord ; for it is written that, when he 
saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven candlesticks, he 
fell at his feet as dead (Rev. i. 17). 

642. It is said in the decrees of the councils, and in the 
articles of the confessions to which the Reformed' subscribe, that 
God, by the infused merit of Christ, justifies the wicked, when 
yet it is impossible for the goodness of any angel to be commu- 
nicated to a wicked person, fai less to be conjoined to him, but 
it is immediately rejected, and rebounds like an elastic ball 
thrown against a wall, or is swallowed up like a diamond thrown 
into a bog ; indeed, snould any spark of true goodness be in- 
truded, it would be like a pearl fixed in the snout of a hog ; for 
how plain is it to see that mercy cannot be injected into unmer- 
cifulness, innocence into revenge, love into hatred, concord into 
635 


OF IMPUTATION. 


042, 643 

discord, which would be like mixing heaven and hell together ! 
The unregenerate man is, as to his spirit, like a panther or an 
owl, and may be compared to a thorn or a nettle ; but a regen- 
erate man is like a sheep or a dove, and may be compared to an 
olive-tree or a vine. Consider then, I pray, how can a man- 
pan ther be converted into a man-sheep, an owl into a dove, a 
thorn into an olive-tree, or a nettle into a vine, by any imputa- 
tion, addication, or application of divine righteousness, which 
would rather condemn than justify ? In order to such conversion, 
must not the ferine nature of the panther and the owl, or the 
noxious nature of the thorn and nettle, be first removed, and a 
nature truly human and inoffensive be implanted in their stead ? 
How this is effected, the Lord teaches in John xv. 1 — 7. 

YI. That there is such a thing as imputation, but then it is 

AN IMPUTATION OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND AT THE SAME TIME 

OF FAITH. 

643. There is an imputation of good and of evil, which is 
the imputation meant wherever it is mentioned in the Word, as 
appears from innumerable passages, which indeed have been 
already in part adduced ; but to satisfy every one that there exists 
no other imputation, we will give some further quotations from 
the Word: “The Son of man will come, and then will he re- 
ward every man according to his works” (Matt. xvi. 27). “ Those 
who have done good shall go forth to the resurrection of life, but 
those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation” 
(John v. 29). “ A book was opened, wdiich is the book of life ; 

and they were judged every man according to his works” (Rev. 
xx. 12, 13). “ Rehold, I come quickly, and my reward is with 

me, to give to every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 
xxii. 12). “ And I will punish them for their ways, and reward 

them their doings” (Hosea iv. 9 ; Zech. i. 6 ; Jer. xxv. 14 ; xxxii. 
19). “ The day of wrath, and of the righteous judgment of 

God, who will render to every man according to his deeds” (Rom. 
ii. 5, 6). “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of 
Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body, 
according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad” 
(2 Cor. v. 10). There w r as no other law of imputation, at the 
beginning of the church, and there will be no other at the end. 
That there was no other at the beginning of the church is plain 
from the case of Adam and his wife, who were condemned 
because they committed evil in eating of the tree of the knowl- 
edge of good and evil (Gen. ii. and iii.) ; and that there will be 
no other at the end of the church, is plain from these words of 
the Lord : “ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
then will he sit on the throne of his glory, and will say to the 
sheep on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 
herit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world ; for I was hungry, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty 
636 


OP IMPUTATION. 


643— 645 


and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; I 
was naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited me ; 
I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” But to the goats on 
his left hand, because they never practised what was good, he 
will say, “ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. xxv. 31, &c.). 
Hence every one may clearly see that there is an imputation of 
good and of evil. The reason why there is also an imputation 
of faith is, because charity, which relates to what is good, and 
faith, which relates to what is true, are united in good works ; 
for unless they are united therein, the works are not good, as 
may be seen, n. 373 — 377; therefore James says, “ Was not 
Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered 
Isaac his son upon the altar ? Seest thou how faith wrought 
with his works, and by works was faith made perfect ? and the 
Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and 
it was imputed unto him for righteousness” (ii. 21 — 23). 

644. The leaders of the church and their dependents inter- 
preted the imputation mentioned in the Word to mean an impu- 
tation of faith, on which the righteousness and merit of Christ 
are inscribed, and so ascribed to man, because during a period 
of fourteen centuries, that is, since the Council of Nice, they 
have not wished to become acquainted with any other faith ; 
and the consequence has been, that this faith has alone become 
fixed in their memories, and thence in their minds, as an or- 
ganized existence, which from that time has borrowed a light 
such as proceeds from a fire in the night-time, and by this light 
it bears the semblance of the most essential theological truth, 
on which all things else depend in a concatenated series, and 
which must fall to pieces if that head or pillar were to be 
removed. Hence were they to think of any other than that 
imputative faith w T hile they read the Word, that light, together 
with all their theology, would be extinguished, and such dark- 
ness would arise, that the whole Christian church would be lost 
and disappear ; therefore that faith is left as a stump of roots in 
the earth, when the tree is cut down and destroyed, until seven 
times pass over it (Dan. iv. 25, 26). What leader of the church 
at the present day, if he be confirmed jn that faith, does not 
stop his ears as with cotton when it is objected to and opposed, 
lest he should hear any thing which might contradict and lessen 
its authority ? But do you, my reader, open your ears, and 
read the Word ; and you will perceive plainly a different kind 
of faith and imputation from what you had before persuaded 
yourself to be true. 

645. It is astonishing, that notwithstanding the Word, from 
beginning to end, is full of proofs and confirmations that his own 
good or evil is imputed to every one, yet the teachers of religion 

637 


OF IMPUTATION. 


645, 646 

in Christendom have closed up their ears as with wax, and 
anointed their eyes as with eye-salve, so that neither have they 
heard or seen, nor do they now hear or see any other imputation 
than that of their own particular faith above mentioned ; and 
yet that faith may be rightly compared- with the disease of the 
eye called gutta serena, and may with justice be so called ; 
for as this is an absolute blindness of the eye, arising from an 
obstruction of the optic nerve, when yet the eye still appears as 
if it saw perfectly, so in like manner such as are in that faith 
walk as with their eyes open, and appear to others as if they 
saw all things, when yet they see nothing ; for a man knows 
nothing of this faith at the time of its entrance into him, he 
being like a stock or a stone, nor does he know afterwards 
whether it be in him or not, or what its contents are, or whether 
in reality it contain any thing or nothing; yet in process of time 
he seems clearly to see that faith bringing forth and producing 
the noble offspring of justification, namely, remission of sins, 
vivification, renovation, regeneration, and sanctification, and 
yet he neither has seen, nor can see any sign or token of those 
graces. 

646. That good, which is charity, and evil, which is iniquity, 
are imputed after death, is a fact which has been evinced to me 
by all my experience of the condition of those who pass from 
this world into the other. Every one, after some days abode in 
the world of spirits, is examined as to his nature and quality, 
particularly his quality in the former world as to religion ; after 
which is done, the examiners make their report in heaven, and 
he is then translated to his like, consequently to his own com- 
panions ; and in this consists his imputation. There is an impu- 
tation of good to all in heaven, and an imputation of evil to all in 
hell, as was evinced to me in the orderly arrangement of each by 
the Lord. The universal heaven is arranged into societies accord- 
ing to all the varieties of the love of good, and the universal hell 
according to all the varieties of the love of evil. In like man- 
ner the church on earth, as corresponding with heaven, is 
arranged in order by the Lord. Good constitutes its religion. 
Moreover, inquire of any one endued with religion and at the 
same time with reason, in any quarter of the globe, what kind 
of people he believes will go to heaven, and what kind to hell, 
and he will surely agree with you in declaring that those 
who do good will go to heaven, and those who do evil will go 
to hell. Besides, how plain is it to see that every man, who is 
truly such, loves another person, or a society of persons, or a 
state, or a kingdom, for the good that is in them ! Indeed, he 
loves not only men according to this rule, but also beasts, and 
even inanimate things, as houses, possessions, fields, gardens, 
trees, woods, and lands ; yea more, he loves even metals and 
638 


OF IMPUTATION. 


646, 647 

stones for their goodness and use, because goodness and use are 
a one. How much more then for their goodness must the Lord 
love an individual man and the church. 

VII. That the faith and imputation of the new church can- 
not BE TOGETHER WITH THE FAITH AND IMPUTATION OF THE 
FORMER CHURCH ; AND IN CASE THEY WERE TOGETHER, SUCH 
A COLLISION AND CONFLICT WOULD ENSUE AS TO PROVE FATAL 
TO EVERY PRINCIPLE OF THE CHURCH IN MAN. 

647. The faith and imputation of the Hew Church cannot be 
together with the faith and imputation of the former or present 
church, because they do not agree together in one-third, no, nor 
in one-tenth part of their doctrines ; for the faith of the former 
church teaches that there have been three divine persons from 
eternity, each of whom singly, or by himself, is God, as so many 
creators ; but the faith of the Hew Church teaches that there is 
only one Divine Person, consequently only one God, from eter- 
nity, and that beside him there is no other God. The faith of 
the former church has therefore maintained that the Divine 
Trinity is divided into three persons ; but the faith of the Hew 
Church maintains that the Divine Trinity is united in one person. 
The faith of the former church was directed towards a God in 
visible, unapproachable, with whom there could be no conjunc- 
tion, and the idea formed of whom was as of a spirit, which was 
supposed to be like ether or wind ; but the faith of the Hew 
Church is directed towards a God visible, approachable, and 
with whom there is a possibility of conjunction, in whom is the 
invisible and unapproachable God, as tiie soul in the body, and 
the idea formed of whom is that of a Man, because the one God, 
who was from eternity, was made man in time. The faith of 
the former church attributes all power to the invisible God, and 
denies it to the visible ; for it holds that God the Father imputes 
faith, and thereby confers eternal life, but that the visible God 
only intercedes, and that they both give, or, according to the 
Greek church, God the Father alone gives, to the Holy Ghost 
(who is also a God by himself, the third in order), all power of 
operating the effects of that faith ; but the faith of the Hew 
Church attributes to the visible God, in whom is the invisible, all 
power of imputing, and also of operating the effects of salvation. 
The faith of the tormer church is directed principally towards 
God as Creator, and not at the same time towards him as Re- 
deemer and Saviour ; but the faith of the Hew Church is directed 
towards one God, who is at once Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour. 
The faith of the former church insists that when faith is once 
given and imputed, repentance, remission of sins, renovation, 
regeneration, sanctification, and salvation follow of themselves, 
without any thing of man being mixed or conjoined with them ; 
but the faith of the Hew Church teaches repentance, reformation, 
regeneration, and thus the remission of sins, by man’s c^-opera 
639 


OF IMPUTATION. 


647—64:9 

tion. The faith of the former church asserts the imputation of 
Christ’s merit, as included in the faith so conferred ; but the 
faith of the New Church teaches an imputation of good and of 
evil, and at the same time of faith ; and that this imputation is 
agreeable to the Holy Scripture, but the other contrary to it. 
The former church maintains the gift of faith, including the merit 
of Christ, while man is as a stock or a stone ; it also asserts a 
total impotence in spiritual things ; but the New Church teaches 
a faith altogether different, not a faith in the merit of Christ, 
but in Jesus Christ himself as God, the Redeemer and Saviour, 
asserting a freedom of will in man both to apply himself to re- 
ception "and to co-operate with it. The former church adjoins 
charity to its faith as an appendage, but not as possessing any 
saving efficacy, and thus it forms its religion; but the New 
Church conjoins faith in the Lord and charity towards the neigh- 
bor as two inseparable things, and so forms its religion ; not to 
mention several other points of disagreement. 

648. From this brief enumeration of the discordances and 
disagreements between them, it is plain that the faith and impu- 
tation of the New Church cannot possibly be together with the 
faith and imputation of the former or present church. Such and 
so great are the discord and disagreement between the faith and 
imputation of tho two churches, and so entirely heterogeneous 
are they, that if they could be together in a man’s mind, such a 
collision and conflict would ensue, as to prove fatal to every 
principle of the church in him ; and in spiritual things the man 
would fall either into a delirium or into a swoon, in which case 
he would neither know what the church is, nor whether there 
is any such thing as a church ; wdiat then would he know of God, 
of faith, or of charity ? The faith of the former church, in con- 
sequence of excluding all light from reason, may be compared 
to an owl, and the faith of the New Church to a dove, which 
flies in the day-time, and sees by the light of heaven ; so that 
their conjunction in one mind would be like the conjunction of 
an owl and a dove in one nest, wffiere each should lay its eggs, 
and after sitting should hatch its young, when the owl would 
tear in pieces the young of the dove, and would give them to 
her own young for food ; for the owl is a bird of prey. Since 
the faith of the former church is described in the Revelation, 
chap, xii., by the dragon, and the faith of the New Church by 
the woman encompassed with the sun, who had on her head a 
crown of twelve stars, we may judge by comparison what would 
be the state of a man’s mind if they were together in one house : 
the dragon in that case would stand near the woman about to 
bring forth, intending to devour her child, and when she should 
flee into the wilderness he would pursue her, and would cast 
water like a flood upon her, that she might be swallowed up. 

649. The same would happen, if a person should embrace 

640 


OF IMPUTATION. 


649—651. 


the faith of the New Church, and should still retain the faitli of 
the former church on the imputation of the Lord’s merit and 
righteousness, from which, as from their root, all the tenets of 
the former church, like so many young shoots, have sprung forth. 
It this should be the case, it would be like a person’s extricating 
himself from five horns of the dragon, and becoming entangled 
in the five remaining ones ; or like escaping a wolf, and falling 
into the clutches of a tiger ; or like being raised out of a well 
where there was no water, and falling into one full of water, 
and being drowned : for he would thus easily relapse into all the 
errors of his former faith, which we have described above, and 
consequently into the damnable error of imputing and applying 
to himself the Lord’s divine attributes, redemption and righteous- 
ness, which may indeed be adored, but cannot be applied ; for 
if a man could impute and apply them to himself, he would be 
consumed just as if he were cast into the naked sun, when yet 
it is by the light and heat of that sun that his bodily eyes see, 
and his bodily life is supported. That the merit of the Lord is 
redemption, and that His redemption and His righteousness are 
two divine things, which cannot be conjoined to any man, was 
shown above. Let every one therefore take heed how he tran- 
scribes the imputation of the former church into the- imputation 
of the new, for this would produce. such sad and tragical effects 
as to prove hurtful to his salvation. 

VIII. That the lord imputes good to every man, and hell 

IMPUTES EVIL TO EVERY MAN. 

650. That the Lord imputes good to man, and not the least 
sort or degree of evil, and that the devil, or in other words, hell, 
imputes evil to man, and not the least sort or degree of good, is 
a new doctrine in the church : its being new and unknown is 
because it is frequently said in the Word, that God is angry, 
that he avenges, hates, condemns, punishes, casts into hell, and 
tempts, all which belong to what is evil, and consequently are 
evil. But that the literal sense of the Word is written and com- 
posed of such, expressions as are called appearances and corre- 
spondences, to the intent that there may be a conjunction 
between the external church and its internal, and thus between 
the world and heaven, was shown in the chapter on the Sacred 
Scripture. In the same chapter it was also shown, that wdien 
such declarations as the above are read in the Word, the ap- 
pearances of truth which they contain are turned, during their 
transit from man to heaven, into genuine truths, which teach 
that God is never angry, that he never avenges, hates, condemns, 
punishes, casts into hell, or tempts ; consequently that he is the 
cause of evil to no man : this transmutation and change I have 
frequently observed in the spiritual world. 

651. Even reason assents to the truth of the proposition, 
that the Lord cannot do evil to any man, consequently he cannot 

641 t T 


OF IMPUTATION. 


651, 652 

impute evil to any one, lie being Love itself and Mercy itself, 
consequently Good itself, these being the attributes of his divine 
essence: so that to attribute evil, or any thing connected with 
evil, to the Lord, would be contrary, and of course contradictory, 
to his divine essence, and this would be as wicked as to join 
together the Lord and the devil, or heaven and hell, when yet 
“ between them there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who 
would pass from one to the other cannot” (Luke xvi. 26). It is 
not even possible for an angel of heaven to do evil to any one, 
because an essence of good from the Lord is in him ; and on the 
other hand, it is impossible for a spirit of hell to do any thing 
but evil to another, because he has in him the nature of evil 
from the devil ; and the essence or nature, which any person has 
appropriated to himself during his life in the world, cannot be 
changed after death. Consider, I beseech you, what sort of 
being the Lord would be, on the supposition that he regards the 
wicked with an eye of anger, and the good with an eye of 
clemency : the wicked are myriads and myriads in number, and 
so also are the good ; and that he saves the latter by grace, and 
condemns the former from vengeance, looking at these with a 
fierce and implacable countenance, and at those with a counte- 
nance of mildness and mercy, what sort of being do you, in such a 
case, make the Lord God ? It is a common doctrine delivered from 
every pulpit, that all good which is in itself good is from God, 
and that on the contrary, all evil which is in itself evil is from 
the devil : if any man then could receive at once both good and 
evil, good from the Lord and evil from the devil, and admit both 
with equal willingness, would he not fall under the description 
of those who are neither cold nor hot, but luke-warm, and are 
spewed out of the mouth, according to the Lord’s words in the 
Revelation, iii. 15, 16. 

652. The Lord imputes good to every man, and evil to no 
one, consequently he does not sentence any person to hell, 
but exalts all, so far as they follow his leadings, to heaven, as 
is evident from these his own words : “ And I, if I be lifted up 
from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John xii. 32). “ God 
sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that 
the world through him might be saved : he that believeth on him 
is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned 
already” (John iii. 17, 18). “ If any man he&r my words and 

believe not, I judge him not ; for I came not to judge the world, 
but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not 
my words, hath one that judgeth him ; the w T ord that I have 
spoken, the same will judge him at the last day” (John xii. 47, 
48). “ Jesus said, I judge no man” (John viii/l5). Judgment, 

in these and other passages of the Word, means judgment to 
hell, which is damnation ; but of salvation judgment is not 
predicated, but resurrection to life (John v. 24, 29 iii. 16). The 
642 


OF IMPUTATION. 


652—654 


word which will judge, means the truth ; and it is a truth, that 
all evil is from hell, and consequently that evil and hell 'are a 
one ; so that when an evil person is elevated by the Lord towards 
heaven, his evil immediately draws him down again, and because 
he loves it, he follows it of his own accord; It is also a truth, as 
declared in the Word, that good is heaven; therefore when a 
good person is elevated by the Lord towards heaven, he ascends 
as of his own accord, and is introduced. Such are said to be 
written in the book of life (Dan. xii. 1 ; Rev. xiii. 8; xx. 12; 
xxi. 27). There actually exists a sphere elevating all towards 
heaven, w r hich proceeds continually from the Lord, and tills the 
whole spiritual world, and the w r hole natural world r'this sphere 
is like a strong current in the ocean, which draws a ship imper- 
ceptibly according to its direction : all who believe in the Lord, 
and live according to its commandments, enter into that sphere 
or current, and are elevated ; but those who do not believe, are 
not willing to enter therein, but remove themselves to the sides, 
and are there carried away by the stream which leads to hell. 

653. How plain is it to see, that a lamb cannot act but as a 
lamb, and a sheep but as a sheep ; and on the other hand, that 
a wolf cannot act but as a wolf, and a tiger but as a tiger ! And 
if these beasts were to be mixed together, would not the wolf 
necessarily devour the lamb, and the tiger the sheep ? Hence 
they must be guarded by their shepherds. How plain again is 
it to see, that it is not possible for a fountain of sweet water to 
send forth bitter water from its spring ; and that a good tree can- 
not possibly produce bad fruit ; that a vine cannot bear prickles 
like a brier ; and a lily sting like a nettle ; or a hyacinth tear the 
skin like a thistle ! and contrariwise. It is on this account that 
these noxious plants are rooted out of fields, vineyards, and gar- 
dens, and gathered in heaps to be burned. It is the same too 
with the wicked, on their arrival in the spiritual w T orld, accord- 
ing to the Lord’s words, Matt. xiii. 30; John xv. 6. The Lord 
likewise said to the Jews, u O generation of vipers, how can ye, 
being evil, speak good things ? A good man out of the good 
treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil 
man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matt, 
xii. 34, 35). 

IX. That faith with whatever it conjoins itself, passes sen 

TENCE ACCORDINGLY I IF A TRUE FAITH CONJOINS ITSELF WITH 

GOODNESS, THE SENTENCE IS FOR ETERNAL LIFE*, BUT IF FAITH 

CONJOINS ITSELF WITH EVIL, THE SENTENCE IS FOR ETERNAL 

DEATH. 

654. Works of charity, done by a Christian, and by a hea 
then, appear alike in their external form, since they both, in 
their concerns with their fellow-citizens, put in force those good 
principles which belong to civility and morality, and which in 
part resemble the good works of love towards the neighbor ; 

643 


654 — 656 


OF IMPUTATION. 


they may both be liberal to the poor, may assist the needy, and 
hear sermons at church : but who from this can determine, 
whether such external acts of goodness are similar in their inter- 
nal form, or whether such natural acts are also spiritual ? It is 
from the principle of faith that such conclusion must be drawn, 
since it is this which gives them their quality ; for it is this which 
causes God to be in them, and conjoins them with itself in the 
internal man, whence natural good acts become inwardly spirit- 
ual. That this is the case may be clearly seen from what was 
proved in the chapter on Faith, under the following propositions : 
Faith is not alive before it is conjoined with charity : Charity is 
rendered spiritual by virtue of faith, and faith by virtue of 
charity : Faith without charity , not being spiritual , is not faith; 
and charity without faith, not being alive, is not charity : Faith 
and charity have a mutual and reciprocal tendency to apply and 
be conjoined to each other : The Lord, charity, and faith, consti- 
tute a one, like life, will, and understanding ; and in case they 
are divided, each perishes, like a pearl bruised to powder. 

655. From the proof of these propositions it may be clearly 
seen, that faith in the one true God causes good to be good 
even in its internal form, and on the other hand that faith in a 
false god causes good to be good only in its external form, which 
considered in itself is not good. This was the case with the faith 
of the heathens of old, directed towards Jupiter, Juno, and Apol- 
lo ; of the Philistines, towards Dagon ; of other nations, towards 
Baal and Baal-peor ; of Balaam the magician, towards his god ; 
and of the Egyptians, towards several gods. The effect is alto- 
gether different where faith is directed towards the Lord, who is 
“ the true God and eternal life,” according to John, 1 Epist. v. 
20 : and in whom u dwell eth all the fulness of the Godhead bod- 
ily,” according to Paul, Coloss. ii. 9. What is faith towards God, 
but a looking to him as producing in the soul the divine pres- 
ence, and at the same time a confidence that he is at hand ready 
to help? And what is true faith unless it be this, accompanied 
with a confidence that all good is from him, and that it is this 
which makes our own good to be saving good ? If then this 
faith conjoins itself with goodness, sentence is passed for eternal 
life ; but it is quite otherwise if it does not conjoin itself with 
goodness, and more so if it conjoins itself with evil. 

656. What sort of conjunction subsists between charity and 
faith in those who believe in three gods, and yet say they believe 
in one, has already been shown, namely, that charity conjoins 
itself with faith only in the external natural man, because the 
minds of such entertain an 'idea of three gods, while their mouths 
only make a confession of one God ; therefore if the mind should 
at any time infuse itself into the confession of the mouth, it 
would expunge the profession of one God, and opening the lips 
give utterance to its notion of three. 

644 


OF IMPUTATION. 


57, 658 

657. It must be obvious to every one from reason, that evil 
and a faith in the one true God cannot be together ; for evil is 
against God, and faith is in favor of God. Evil is of the will, 
and faith of the thought, and the will enters by influx into the 
understanding, causing it to think ; but the understanding does 
not enter into the will, for it only teaches what ought to be 
willed and done : hence the good which such a man does is in 
itself evil : it is like a polished bone containing putrid marrow ; 
it is also like an actor on a stage, who assumes the character of 
some great personage ; it is also like the painted face of an 
antiquated harlot ; and like a butterfly with silver wings, which 
lays its eggs on the leaves of a good tree, so that all its fruit is 
destroyed. It may further be compared with fragrant perfumes 
arising from poisonous herbs ; indeed it is like a moral thief, or 
a pious sycophant : therefore the good of. such a person, which 
in itself is evil, has its abode, as it were, in a chamber within, 
while his faith walking to and fro, and reasoning in the porch, 
is a mere bubble, spectre, and chimera. Hence appears the 
truth of the proposition, that faith passes sentence on its subject 
according to the good or evil with which it is conjoined. 

X. That thought is imputed to no one, but will. 

658. Every man of erudition knows that there are two facul- 
ties or parts in the mind, — the will and the understanding ; and 
yet but few know how to distinguish them aright, to examine 
their properties separately, and afterwards to conjoin them : few 
therefore are able to form to themselves any notion of the mind, 
but what is extremely obscure ; so that unless the distinct prop- 
erties of the will and the understanding be first described, it 
w r ould be impossible to comprehend the truth of the proposition, 
that thought is imputed to no one, but will. The properties of 
each are briefly these : 1. Love itself, and the affections which 
belong to it, have their abode in the will ; and science, intelli- 
gence, and wisdom, have their abode in the understanding ; and 
the will inspires its love into these properties, so as to procure 
their favor and assent : hence it is that every man’s true nature 
and quality depend on the nature and quality of his love, and 
of his intelligence thence derived. 2. It follows also from this 
circumstance, that all good, and likewise all evil, belong to the 
will : for whatever proceeds from love is called good, although it 
may be evil, this being an effect of the delight or satisfaction 
which constitutes the life of love : the will, by means of this 
delight or satisfaction, enters into the understanding, and pro- 
duces consent. 3. The will therefore is the esse or the essence 
of the life of man, but the understanding is the existere or the 
existence thence derived ; and since essence is a mere nothing 
unless it be in a certain form, the will is a mere nothing, unless 
it be in the understanding ; therefore the will assumes to itself 
a form in the understanding, and thus comes forth to light. 4 

645 


658— 660 


OF IMPUTATION. 


Love in the will is end, and in the understanding it seeks and 
finds causes, by which it may advance on to effect ; and as pur- 
pose, to which belongs intention, is in fact the end, purpose also 
is of the will, and by means of intention enters the understand- 
ing, and urges it to contrive and meditate upon means, and de- 
termine on what may tend to produce the desired effects. 5. 
The whole proprium or self-hood of man is in the will, and this 
'proprium is evil from his first birth, and becomes good by a sec- 
ond birth : the first birth is from his natural parents, the second 
from the Lord. These few observations may serve to show, that 
the will and the understanding have different and distinct prop- 
erties, and that by creation they are joined together, like esse 
and existere : hence, a man is a man primarily by virtue of will, 
and secondarily by virtue of understanding : and hence too it is 
that will is imputed to him, but not thought ; of course evil 
and good are imputed, because, as just observed, they have their 
residence in the will, and are thence in the thought of the un- 
derstanding. 

659. The reason why no evil is imputed to man which is the 
object of thought only, is because he is so created as to have 
the capacity of understanding, and thence of thinking, either 
good or evil, — good from the Lord, and evil from the devil : for 
he is in the midst between them, and has the power of choosing 
either the one or the other from the freedom he enjoys in spiritual 
things, of which we have already treated in its place ; and since 
he enjoys such a capacity of choosing from freedom, he has the 
power of willing or not what is the object of his thought, and 
what he wills is received by the will and appropriated, but what 
he does not will is not received and consequently not appropriated. 
All the evils to which a man is prone by birth are inscribed on 
the will of his natural man, and these, so far as he draws them 
forth, enter by influx into his thoughts. In like manner goods, 
together with truths from the Lord, enter by influx from above 
into the thoughts,- and are there poised against the former, like 
weights in the scales of a balance. If therefore a man adopts 
evils, they are received by the old will, and make an addition to 
its store ; but if he adopts goods with truths, the Lord then 
forms a new will and a new understanding above the old, and in 
them successively implants new goods by means of truths, and 
by these subdues the evils that are below, removes them, and 
arranges all things according to order. Hence too it is evident 
that the thought is a kind of purifying alembic, or excretory 
gland, in which hereditary evils and their defilements are sep- 
arated. If then the evils which enter a man’s thought were to 
be imputed to him, reformation and regeneration would be im- 
practicable. 

660. Since then good belongs to the will, and truth to the 
understanding, and many things in the world correspond to good, 

646 


OF IMPUTATION. 


660 , 661 


as fruits and uses, while the imputation thereof corresponds with 
value and price, it follows that what has been here said of im- 
putation will admit of comparison with all created things ; since* 
as we before observed, all things in the universe bear relation to 
good and truth, and, on the other hand, to evil and the false. 
It will admit of comparison with the church, which is estimated 
according to its charity and faith, and not according to the cere- 
monial rites which are merely annexed to it. It will admit of 
further comparison with a minister of the church, who is esti 
mated according to his will and love, and at the same time 
according to his understanding of spiritual subjects, but not 
according to his address and apparel. It will also admit of com- 
parison with divine worship, and the temple where it is performed, 
in that real and true worship is performed in the will and the 
understanding, as in its temple, and the temple is called holy, 
not on its own account, but on account of the Divine Being, in 
the knowledge of whom men are there instructed. Lastly, it 
will admit of comparison with a government, which is loved and 
respected when goodness reigns in it and truth along with it, 
but which is not the case where truth reigns without goodness. 
Who judges of a king by his attendants, horses, and chariots, 
and not by the royal qualities which they know him to possess, 
and which consist in governing under the direction of love and 
prudence ? Who does not look to the character of a conqueror 
more than to the pomp of his triumph, judging of the latter by 
the former, rather than of the former by the latter, thus judging 
of the formal by the essential, and not of the essential by the 
formal % Now it is will which is the essential, and thought the 
formal, and no one can impute any thing to the formal, except 
what it derives from the essential ; hence the latter and not the 
former is the subject of imputation. 


661. To the above I shall add the following memorable 
relations. — First. In a higher region of the northern cjuarter 
of the spiritual world bordering on the east, there are places of 
instruction for boys and young men, for adult men and old men. 
All who die in their infancy are sent to these places, and are 
educated for heaven ; and in like manner all on their first ar- 
rival from the natural world, who have a desire to be informed 
respecting heaven and hell, are sent thither also. The situation 
of these places is near the east, that all may be instructed by 
influx from the Lord, who is the east, because he is in the sun 
there, which is pure love from him ; hence the heat from that 
sun in its essence is love, and the light from it in its essence is 
wisdom. This love and wisdom are communicated by inspiration 
from the Lord out of that sun to the persons instructed, in pro- 
portion to their reception, which reception is in proportion fcc 
647 


661 


OF IMPUTATION. 


the lo^e of growing wise in the recipient subjects. After a stated 
time of instruction, those who become intelligent are dismissed, 
and are called disciples of the Lord : they are first sent to the 
west ; but those who do not continue there are sent to the south, 
and some through the southern quarter to the east, and are 
introduced to societies where they are to have their mansions 
assigned them. On a time, as I was meditating about heaven 
and hell, I felt desirous to attain the universal knowledge of the 
state of each, well aware that whoever is acquainted with uni- 
versals, may afterwards comprehend singulars, since the latter 
are contained in the former, just as parts are in a whole. With 
this desire I directed my course towards that region in the 
northern quarter bordering on the east where the places of in- 
struction were situated, and proceeded through a way at that 
instant opened to me, and entered into one of the colleges where 
the young men were assembled. Straightway I addressed my- 
self to the head masters who gave instruction, and asked them 
whether they were acquainted with the universals of heaven and 
hell ? They replied, that they knew them in some small degree ; 
“ But if we look,” said thejq “ towards the east to the Lord, we 
receive illustration, and with illustration knowledge.” They did 
so, and then said, u There are three universals of hell, diamet- 
rically opposite to the universals of heaven. The universals of 
hell consist in these three loves : the love of rule, originating in 
the love of self ; the love of possessing the property of others, 
originating in the love of the world ; and scortatory love. The 
opposite universals of heaven are these three loves : the love of 
rule, originating in the love of uses ; the love of possessing 
w T orldly emoluments, originating in the love of performing uses 
by them; and true conjugial love. Hereupon, after expressing 
my good wishes towards them, I took my leave and returned 
home. On my arrival, a voice from heaven said to me, “ Examine 
those three universals above and beneath, and afterwards we 
shall see them in your hand.” The reason of their saying, “ We 
shall see them in your hand” was because whatever is the sub- 
ject of a man’s intellectual examination appears to the angels as 
if inscribed on his hands. It is on this account said in the 
Kevelation that they received a mark in the forehead and on the 
hand (xiii. 16 ; xiv. 9 ; xx. 4). 

After this I examined the first universal love prevalent in hell, 
namely, the love of rule originating in the love of self; and 
next the universal love prevalent in heaven corresponding to it, 
namely, the love of rule originating in the love of uses ; for the 
examination of the one could not be carried on without that ot 
the other, the understanding having no distinct perception of 
either love without the other, because they are opposites. Hence 
to attain such perception it is expedient that they be placed in 
opposition ; for a beautiful and handsome face is set oft by being 
648 


OF IMPUTATION. 


661 


contrasted with an ugly and deformed one. In considering the 
love of rule originating in the love of self, it was granted me to 
perceive that such love is in its nature supremely infernal, and 
hence prevalent with those who are in the deepest hell ; and that 
the love of rule originating in the love of uses is supremely 
celestial, and consequently prevalent with those who are in the 
highest heaven. The reason why the love of rule originating in 
the love of self is supremely infernal, is, .because to rule from 
the love of self is to rule from proprium , and the proprium of 
man is from his birth evil itself, and evil itself is diametrically 
opposed to the Lord ; therefore those who are influenced by such 
evil, the further they advance in it, the more do they deny the 
being of a God, and the holy principles of the church, and 
worship themselves and nature. Let them but search out and 
examine this evil in themselves, and they will see this to be the 
truth. Moreover, this love is of such a nature, that in propor- 
tion as the reins are given it, as is the case when not obstructed 
by impossibility, it rushes on impetuously from one step to an- 
other until it reaches the highest ; and even there it does not 
rest, but is sad, and laments that it cannot mount any higher. 
Among statesmen this love continues to ascend, so that at length 
they wish to be kings and emperors, and if possible to have 
dominion over all the world, and to be styled kings of kings, and 
emperors of emperors ; whereas the same love with the clergy 
goes on advancing till they desire to be gods, and, as far as pos- 
sible, to bear rule over the whole heaven, and to be styled gods. 
That neither the former nor the latter in their hearts acknow- 
ledge any God, will be seen presently. Those, on the other 
hand, who are desirous to rule from the love of uses, are not 
desirous of exercising it from themselves, but from the Lord ; 
for this love proceeds from the Lord, and is the Lord. Such 
therefore regard dignities in no other light than as means for 
the promotion of uses, placing uses far before dignities ; whereas 
the former place dignities far before uses. 

As I was meditating on these things, an angel said to me 
from the Lord, “ You shall now in an instant see and be con- 
vinced by ocular demonstration what is the nature of that 
infernal love ;” and lo ! suddenly the ground opened to the left, 
and I saw a devil ascending out of hell, who had on his head a 
square cap drawn down over his forehead even to his eyes ; his 
face was covered with pimples, such as accompany a burning 
fever ; his eyes had a ferocious look ; his breast swelled out into 
a great prominence ; from his mouth he belched forth fire like a 
furnace; his loins seemed on fire; in place of feet he had bony 
ankles without flesh ; and from his body there exhaled a foul 
and stinking heat. I was terrified at the sight of him, and cried 
out, “ Approach no further; tell me whence you are?” lie 
replied in a hoarse tone of voice, “ I am from below, and live 
619 


661 


OF IMPUTATION. 


there in a society of two hundred, which is the most super- 
eminent of all societies : there we are all emperors of emperors, 
kings' of kings, dukes of dukes, and princes of princes: no one 
is barely an emperor, or barely a king, duke, oy prince. We are 
seated there on thrones of thrones, and thence dispatch our 
mandates over the whole world, and beyond it.” I then said to 
him, “Do you not see that you are in' a state of insanity, arising 
from the phantasy of supereminence?” He replied, “ How can 
you talk in this manner, when we absolutely seem to ourselves, 
and are also acknowledged by each other, to have such distinc- 
tion?” On hearing this I was unwilling to repeat my charge of 
insanity, as he was insane from the phantasy which possessed him ; 
and it was granted me to know that this devil, during his abode 
on earth, had only been a steward in some family, but that even 
then he was so far puffed up in spirit as to despise all mankind 
in comparison with himself, and to indulge his imagination in 
supposing that he was more worthy of honor than any king or 
emperor ; in consequence of which proud conceit he had denied 
the being of a God, and had considered all the holy things ot 
the church as of no concern to himself, but intended only for 
the stupid multitude. At length I asked him, “ How long do 
you, with your two hundred companions, thus glory and boast 
one among another?” “For ever,” he replied; “but such of 
us as torture others for not giving us the pre-eminence we expect, 
sink under ground; for we are allowed to glory and boast, but 
n to hurt another.” I asked again, “Do you know what befalls 
•'hdse who sink under ground ?” He said, “ They sink down into 
n certain prison, where they are called viler than the vile, or most 
vile, and there they are set to work.” Then I said to him, “ Take 
heed lest you too should sink down.” 

After this the ground opened again, but towards the right, 
and I saw another devil rising up, who had on his head a kind 
of mitre composed of spiral folds like a snake coiled up, ’whose 
head came out at the top. His face was leprous from the fore- 
head to the chin, and so were both his hands ; his loins were 
naked and black as soot, through which might be discerned the 
tire as of a dusky furnace, and his ankles were like two vipers. 
The former devil, on seeing him, immediately kneeled down and 
worshipped him. I asked, “ Why do you so ?” “ He is the god 

of heaven and earth,” he replied, “ and is omnipotent.” I then 
asked the latter, “ What say you to this ?” He replied, “ What 
should I say ? I have all power over heaven and hell, and the 
fate of all souls is in my hand.” I asked again, “ How is it that 
he who is the emperor of emperors, can become so submissive 
as to worship you ? and how can you receive his worship ?” He 
answered, “Still he is my slave: what is an emperor in the 
sight of God? in my right hand is the thunder of excommuni- 
tion.” Then I said to him, “How can you rave at such a 
650 


CF IMPUTATION. 


60 ; 


rate \ In the former world you had only the rank of a canon, 
and because you have been carried away with the imagination oi 
possessing the keys of heaven, and thus the power of binding 
and loosing, you have inflamed your spirit to such a degree ol 
madness, as to suppose yourself now to be God himself.” Here- 
upon he s\yore with indignation that he was God, and that the 
Lord had not any power in heaven, u because,” said he, u he 
has transferred it all to us ; we have only to issue our commands, 
and heaven and hell obey with reverence : if we commit any one 
to hell, the devils immediately receive him; and so do the 
angels all those whom we send to heaven.” I asked further, 
“ How many does your society consist of?” He answered, 
u Three hundred ; and we are all of us gods, but I am the god 
of gods.” After this the ground opened under the feet of each 
devil, and they satik down deep into their respective hells : and 
it was permitted me to see, that underneath their hells were 
places for labor, intended to receive those who do mischief to 
others : for every one in hell is left to the enjoyment of his own 
phantasy, and is also allowed to boast and glory in it, but not to 
injure another. The reason why they are so circumstanced is, 
because a man after death is in his spirit, and a spirit, when 
separated from the body, enjoys a full liberty of acting according 
to the bent of his affections and of his thoughts thence derived. 
It was afterwards granted me to look into their hells ; and the 
hell which contained the emperors of emperors and the kings ot 
kings was full of all uncleanness, and the inhabitants appeared 
like various kinds of wild beasts with fierce and savage eyes. I 
saw similar objects in the other hell, which contained the gods 
and the god of gods ; and there also appeared in it terrible birds 
of night called ochim and ijim, flying about them, being the 
representative images of their phantasies. Hence was discovered 
the true nature of political and ecclesiastical self-love, — that the 
former makes its votaries desirous of being emperors, and the 
latter of being gods ; and that under the influence of such love, 
men wish to possess such authority, and also affect it, so far as 
their inclinations are left free and unrestrained. 

After beholding these sad and hideous spectacles, I looked 
around, and saw two angels in conversation together, standing 
at a small distance from me : one wore a woollen robe that shone 
bright with flaming purple, under which was a tunic of fine 
linen which glittered to the sight ; the other had on similar gar- 
ments, but of a scarlet color, and on his head a mitre, the right 
side of which was set with rubies. I walked towards them, and 
greeting them with the salutation of peace, I respectfully asked, 
“ For what purpose are you here below ?” They replied, “We 
are come down from heaven, by the Lorffs commission, to talk 
with you on the blessed lot of those who desire to rule from the 
love of uses. We are worshippers of the Lord; I am prince oi 
ool 


661 OF IMPUTATION. 

a society in heaven, and my companion is our chief-priest. 7 ’ The 
prince also said, that he was the servant of his society, because 
he served it by being in the exercise of use ; and his companion 
said, that he was a minister of the church there, because in serv- 
ing the members of the society he ministered the holy rites for 
the use and profit of their souls ; and they both declared that 
they were in the fruition of perpetual joys by virtue of an eter- 
nal happiness communicated to them from the Lord. They said 
that all outward objects in their society were splendid and mag- 
nificent ; their splendor resulting from the abundance of gold 
and precious stones, and their magnificence from the beauty of 
the palaces and paradises. “The reason of this,” said they, “is 
because our love of rule originates not in the love of seif, but 
in the love of uses, and because this love is from the Lord, there- 
fore all good uses in the heavens are splendid and refulgent ; and 
as all in our society are under the influence of this love, there- 
fore our atmosphere ' appears of a golden hue, from the light’s 
partaking of the flaming hue of the .sun, which flame-color cor- 
responds to that love.” As they said this there appeared a simi- 
lar sphere encompassing them, from which an aromatic odor 
issued, so as to be very perceivable. After I had mentioned this 
circumstance to them, I requested they would proceed to speak 
further on the love of uses. So they continued, and said, “ The 
dignities we enjoy we indeed courted and sought after, but then 
only with this view, that we might be more fully enabled to be 
of use, and thus might extend our sphere of doing good. We 
are also surrounded with honor, which we receive, not on our 
own account, but on account of the good of the society ; for 
those of our brethren and fellow-citizens who form the common- 
alty of the society, scarcely know but that the honors attending 
our exalted stations are in us, and consequently that the uses 
which we do are from us ; but we ourselves know otherwise, being 
sensible that the honors attending our exalted stations are with- 
out us, and are like the garments with which we are clothed ; 
but that the uses which we perform originate in the love of them, 
which is within us from the Lord, and this love receives its bless- 
edness from communication with others by the medium of uses. 
We know by experience, that so tar as we are in the exercise ot 
uses from the love of them, that love ncreases, and along with 
it wisdom, which prompts us incessatitly to communicate the 
blessings we feel to others ; but that so far as we keep back uses 
in ourselves, and do not communicate them, our blessedness is 
lost. In such case the uses become like food retained in the 
stomach, which, not being diffused through the system, affords 
no nourishment to the body and its parts, but remains in an un- 
digested state, and thus occasions loss of appetite and loathing. 
In a word, heaven is a continent of use from first to last ; for 
what is use but the love of the neighbor brought into act? and 
652 


OF IMPUTATION. 


661, 662 

what holds the heavens together but that love? Hereupon 1 
asked, “ How can any one know whether he performs uses from 
the love of self, or from the love of uses ? Every man, whether 
good or bad, performs uses* and this under the influence of some 
love or other. Suppose then a society in the world consisting 
merely of devils, and anqther society consisting entirely of an- 
gels, I imagine that the devils in their society, influenced by the 
fire of self-love, and the splendor of their own glory, would per- 
form as many uses as the angels in their society ; who then can 
know from what love and from what origin the uses pro'ceed ?” 
To this the two angels replied, “ The devils perform uses for the 
sake of themselves and their own reputation, that they may be 
exalted to honors, or be enriched with gain ; but the angels per- 
form them, not from such motives, but for the sake of uses, and 
under the influence of the love of them. A man cannot discern 
the difference between them, but the Lord discerns it. Every 
one who believes in the Lord, and shuns evils as sins, is in the 
performance of uses from the Lord ; but every one who does not 
believe in the Lord, and does not shun evils as sins, performs 
them for himself, and for his own sake : this is the distinction 
between uses done by devils and uses done by angels.” When 
they had said this the two angels departed ; and at a distance 
they appeared to be carried in a fiery chariot like Elijah, and were 
thus taken up into heaven. 

662 . The second memorable relation. — Hot long after 
this intercourse with the angels, I was walking in a certain grove, 
and meditating upon those who are in the lust, and thence in 
the phantasy, of possessing the world’s wealth. At that instant, 
I saw, at some distance, two angels in conversation with each 
other, who every now and then looked at me ; so I went nearer 
to them, and on my approach, they addressed me and said, 
“We perceive in ourselves that you are meditating on the sub- 
ject of our conversation, or that we are conversing on what you 
are meditating upon, which is a consequence of the reciprocal 
communication of affections.” I then inquired what they were 
conversing about : they replied, “ About phantasy, lust, and in- 
telligence ; and just now our conversation was about such per- 
sons as delight themselves with the visionary fancy and imagina- 
tion of possessing whatever the world contains.” Then I re- 
quested them to tell me their ideas on those three subjects, lust, 
phantasy, and intelligence : they therefore commenced their dis- 
course, and said, “ Every one is by birth inwardly in lust and by 
education outwardly in intelligence : no one however is in intel- 
ligence, much less in wisdom, inwardly, that is, as to his spirit, 
except from the Lord ; for every one is restrained from the lust 
of evil, and is kept in intelligence, according as he looks to the 
Lord, and is at the same time in conjunction with him. With 
out this, a man is mere lust * yet still with respect to liis exter 
653 


OF IMPUTATION. 


m 


nals, or as to his body, he is, from education, in intelligence ; 
for he lusts after honors and emoluments, or distinction and 
opulence, and he cannot attain them unless he appears moral 
and spiritual, that is, intelligent and wise, which appearance he 
learns to assume from his infancy, so that whenever he comes 
into company, and appeal's in public, he inverts .his spirit, and 
separates it from his lust, and speaks and acts from those prin- 
ciples of decency and honor in which he had been instructed 
from his infancy, and which he still retains in his bodily memory, 
taking particular heed, that no symptom of the wild lust which 
reigns in his spirit should break forth and discover itself. Hence 
every man, who is not inwardly under the Lord’s guidance, is 
a dissembler, a sycophant, a hypocrite, and thus an apparent 
man, and yet not a man ; of whom it may be said, his outward 
shell or body is wise, but his inward kernel or spirit is insane; 
his external is human, but his internal ferine. Such persons 
with the hinder part of the head look upward, and with the 
fore part downward; thus they walk with their heads hanging 
down like persons oppressed with heaviness, and with their faces 
looking towards the ground ; but when they put off the body, 
and become spirits, and thus, as it were, receive their manumis- 
sion, each then becomes the madness of his own lust. For those 
who are influenced by the love of self, desire to rule over the 
universe, yea, to extend its boundaries that they may enlarge 
their dominion, which they would have unlimited : those who are 
under the influence of the love of the world, desire to possess 
all that it contains, and are full of sorrow and envy if any of its 
treasures are hid and retained by others ; wherefore to prevent 
such persons from becoming mere lusts, and thus ceasing to be 
men, they are led in the natural* world to think, under the in- 
fluence of fear of the loss of reputation, and so of honor and 
gain ; under the influence of fear too of the law and its penal- 
ties ; and they are also led to apply their minds to some particu- 
lar pursuit or business, by which they are kept in their externals, 
and thus in a state of intelligence, however wild and insane they 
may be in their interiors.” After this I inquired whether all 
those who are under the influence of lust are also in its phantasy ? 
They replied, that all are in the phantasy of their lust who think 
interiorly within themselves, and indulge their imaginations too 
much by conversing with themselves ; for such almost separate 
their spirits from all connection with their bodies, and by their 
visionary fancies drown their understanding, and take a foolish 
delight in the thoughts of possessing the universe and all that it 
contains. Into such delirium every one falls after death who 
has abstracted his spirit from the body, and would not recede 
from the delight of his delirium by turning his mind to religious 

* The word in the original is spiritual i } but the context proves unquestionably 
that this is a misprint for naturali. 

654 


OF IMPUTATION. 


662 


contemplation on evils and falses, and least of all to the consid- 
eration of the unbridled love of self, as being destructive of 
love to the Lord, and of the unbridled love of the world as being 
destructive of love towards the neighbor. 

After this the two angels, as well as myself, were desirous of 
seeing those who, under the influence of the love of the world, 
are in the visionary lust or phantasy of possessing the wealth of 
all ; and we perceived that we were inspired with the desire to the 
end that the character of such visionaries might be detected and 
made known. Their dwellings were under the ground on which 
we were standing, but above hell : so we looked at each other 
and said, “ Let us go and there appeared an opening and a 
ladder at the entrance, by which we descended ; and we were 
warned to approach them from the eastern side, lest we should 
enter into the midst of their phantasy, by which our understand 
ing and our sight, at the same time, would be beclouded. And 
lo ! there appeared a house built of reeds, and of consequence 
full of chinks, standing in a mist, which continually burst forth 
like smoke through the chinks, on three sides of the building. 
We entered, and saw fifty persons in one spot and fifty in another, 
sitting on benches, having their faces turned from the east and 
the south, and directed towards the west and the north : before 
each person was a table, with purses full of money upon it, and 
about the purses abundance of gold coin. And we asked, “ Is 
that the wealth of all the people in the world?” They replied, 
“Not of all the people in the world, but of all in the kingdom.” 
Their voices had a hissing sound, and they themselves appeared 
to have round faces, which glittered like the shell of a snail, 
while the pupil of the eye sparkled, as it were, in its green eye- 
ball, owing to the light of phantasy. We stood in the midst of 
them, and said, “ Do you suppose that you possess all the riches 
of the kingdom?” They replied, “ We do.” Then we asked, 
u Which of you ?” “ Every one of us,” they replied. We asked, 
“ How ! every one of you ? for there are many of you.” They 
said, “Every one knows that all which another has is his own : 
no one of us is allowed to think, much less to say, ‘Mine is not 
thine,’ but we are allowed to think and say, ‘Thine is mine.’ ” 
The coin on the tables, even to our sight, appeared to be of pure 
gold ; but when we let in light from the east, we saw that it was 
nothing but gold dust, which, by their common united phantasy, 
they had magnified to this degree. They said, that every one 
who ei ters should bring with him a bit of gold ; and this they 
cut into small pieces, and then again into little grains, and these, 
unanimous power of phantasy, they enlarge into pieces of 
considerable size. Then we said, “ Were you not born 
rational men ? how came you by this visionary infatuation ?” 
“ We are aware,” they replied, “ that it is an imaginary vanity ; 
but since it gratifies the interiors of our minds, we come here 
655 


by the 
coin of 


OF IMPUTATION. 


662, 663 

and delight ourselves, as with, the actual possession of all things ; 
out we continue in this place only for a few hours, at the end of 
which time we depart, and then, as often as we do so, our sober 
senses return ; yet still our visionary propensity alternately 
comes over us, so that by turns we enter, and by turns depart ; 
thus we are wise and foolish by turns. We know also that a 
very severe fate awaits those w T ho by artifice defraud others of 
their property.” We asked them, “ What fate ?” They replied, 
“They are swallowed up, and are thrust’ naked into some infer- 
nal prison, where- they are kept to hard labor for clothes and 
food, and afterwards for a few pieces of coin of little value, which 
they collect, and in which they place the joy of their hearts ; but 
in case they do mischief to their companions, they are fined a 
part of their coin.” 

663. The third memorable relation. — I was once stand 
ing in the midst of angels attending to their conversation, w T hich 
was on the subject of intelligence and wisdom. They said that 
a man has no other sensation and perception of them but that 
both are in himself, and consequently that whatever he wills 
and thinks is from himself, whereas not the least portion of them 
is from the man, but only the faculty of receiving them. Among 
many other observations, they remarked that the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden signified a 
belief that intelligence and wisdom were from man, and the tree 
of life, that intelligence and wisdom were from God ; and be- 
cause Adam, by the persuasion of the serpent, ate of the formei 
tree, thus believing that he was or should become as God, he 
was driven out of the garden and cursed. While the angels 
were engaged in this conversation, there came two priests, and 
along with them a man who in the world had been a royal am- 
bassador. On my telling them what I had heard from the 
angels respecting intelligence and wisdom, the three began to 
dispute about those virtues, and likewise about prudence, wheth 
er they are from God or from man. The dispute grew warm. 
All the three entertained the same belief that they are from man, 
because it is confirmed by common sensation and the perception 
thence resulting; but the priests, being at that instant heated 
with theological zeal, insisted that nothing of intelligence and 
wisdom, and consequently nothing of prudence, are from man, 
which they confirmed by the following quotations from the Word : 
“ A man can receive nothing except it be given him from above” 
(John iii. 27). “ Without me ye can do nothing” (xv. 5). But 

the angels immediately perceived that notwithstanding what the 
priests urged in debate, they were still in heart of the same 
opinion with the ambassador ; so they said to them, “ Pull off 
your own garments, and put on those of ministers of state, and 
suppose yourselves to be such ministers.” They did so, and 
then they thought from their interior selves, and argued in favoi 
656 


OF IMPUTATION. 


663, 661 


of the opinions which they inwardly cherished, to this effect, 
“ That all intelligence and wisdom dwell in man, and are really 
his ; for who ever perceived or felt them to enter by influx from 
God ?” and, they looked at each other, and confirmed themselves 
in these sentiments. It is a circumstance peculiar to the spirit- 
ual world, that every spirit fancies himself to be actually such a 
person as the* garment he has on represents him to be ; and this 
is, because in that world the understanding clothes every one. 
At that instant there appeared a tree near them, and they were 
told, “ It is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil : take 
heed to yourselves that you do not eat of it ;” but they, notwith- 
standing the caution, infatuated with their own intelligence, 
burned with desire to eat of it, and said to each other, “Why 
should we not eat of it ? is not the fruit good ?” so they ap- 
proached and ate. When the ambassador observed this, he 
joined them, and they were united in cordial friendship, and 
walked together hand in hand in the way of their own intelli- 
gence, which led towards hell. I afterwards saw them coming 
back again, because as yet they were not prepared. 

664. The fourth memorable relation. — I was once look- 
ing into the spiritual world towards the right, and observed some 
of the elect conversing together ; so I approached them and 
said, “ I saw you from a distance, and perceived around you 
a sphere of heavenly light, by which I knew that you were ot 
those who in the Word are called the elect ; I therefore drew 
nigh for the sake of hearing what heavenly subject engaged your 
conversation.” They replied, “ Why call us elect?” “ Because 
in the world,” I replied, “ where I am in the body, they know 
no other than that by the elect, in the Word, are meant those 
whom God elects or predestinates to heaven, either before they 
are born, or afterwards, and that to these only faith is given as 
a pledge or token of election, while all others are reprobated and 
left to themselves to go to hell whichever way they choose ; and 
yet I know that there is no election either before a man’s birth 
or after it, but that all are elected and predestinated, because 
all are called, to heaven ; and that the Lord after death elects 
those who, having been examined, have been found to have lived 
well and believed aright. That this is the case has been granted 
me to know by much experience ; and seeing that your heads 
were encircled with a sphere of heavenly light, I perceived that 
you were some of the elect who are preparing for heaven.” To 
this they replied, “ You have told us what we never heard before : 
who does not know that there is not a single man born who is 
not called to heaven; and that of those who are called, such are 
elected after death as had believed on the Lord, and lived accord- 
ing to his commandments ; and that to acknowledge any other 
election is to charge the Lord himself, not only with inability to 
save, but with injustice?” 

657 


uu 


665 


OF IMPUTATION. 


665. After this a voice was heard from heaven, proceeding 
from the angels immediately above us, saying, “ Come up hither, 
and we will question him who, w T ith respect to his body, is still 
in the natural world, on what they know in that world about 
conscience.” So we Vent up, and when we w T ere entered, 
some of the wise came to meet us, and asked me, “ What do 
they know in your world concerning conscience ? 2 ’ I replied, 
“ If you please, we will go down, and call together a number of 
such laymen and clergymen as are reputed wise, and we will 
stand directly under you, questioning them, that so, with your 
own ears, you may hear their answers.” They consented to this 
proposal, and immediately we went down, and one of the elect 
took a trumpet, and sounded it towards the south, the north, 
the east, and the west ; and lo ! in a short time so many were 
collected that they occupied a space of almost a furlong square. 
Then the angels' above us arranged them into four companies, 
one of which consisted of politicians, a second of deep-read 
scholars, a third of physicians, and a fourth of clergymen. 
When they were thus arranged, we said, “ Pardon us for thus 
calling you together : w'e have done so, because the angels 
directly above us are ardently desirous of knowing what w*ere 
your thoughts in the world where you formerly lived on the sub- 
ject of conscience, and consequently what you still think concern- 
ing it, since you still retain your former ideas on such subjects ; 
for it has been represented to the angels, that among the knowl- 
edges lost to the world, is the knowledge of conscience.” After 
this we began the inquiry ; and first directing ourselves to the 
company which consisted of politicians, we requested them, if 
they pleased, to declare from their hearts what they had formerly 
thought, and consequently what they still thought, concerning 
conscience. To this they replied, one after another, and their 
answers collected together w r ere to this purport : “ They had no 
other idea of conscience, than that it consisted in a person’s 
knowing within himself, that is, being conscious of, what he in- 
tended, thought, did, and said. But we told them, that we did 
not inquire about the etymology of the word conscience, but 
about conscience itself ; and they replied, “ What else is con- 
science, but some uneasiness arising from a preconceived appre- 
hension of the loss of honor or wealth, and also of reputation 
as a consequence upon their loss, which uneasiness is dispelled 
by good eating and cups of generous wine, with conversation 
about the sports of Venus and Cupid ?” To this we said, “ Surely 
you are jesting; be pleased to declare whether any of you ever 
felt anxiety arising from any other cause?” They replied, “ From 
what other cause ? Is not the whole world like a stage, on which 
every one acts his part, just as comedians do on theirs? We 
have tricked and over-reached whomsoever w r e could, by taking 
advantage of their particular weakness, alluring some by mock 
658 


OF IMPUTATION. 


665 


promises, some by flattery, some by cunning artifices, some by 
pretended friendship, some by feigned sincerity, and some by 
other political arts and allurements : we experience, however, 
no uneasiness of mind in consequence of such practices, but, on 
the contrary, gayety and cheerfulness, wdiich silently and yet 
fully animate our breast. We have been told indeed by some 
of our companions, that, they were at times seized with anxiety, 
and as it were wdth a straitness of heart and breast, and with a 
kind of contraction of mind in consequence ; but on consulting 
their apothecaries about such symptoms, they were informed, 
that they originated in a melancholy humor, from their food re- 
maining undigested in the stomach, or from a disordered state of 
the spleen ; and we have heard of some, who by means of medi- 
cine were restored to their former cheerfulness.” After this we 
addressed ourselves to the company consisting of deep-read schol- 
ars, among whom were also several skilled in natural philosophy; 
to them we said, “ You who have studied the sciences, and are 
consequently supposed to be oracles of wisdom, declare, if you 
please, what conscience is.” They replied, “What sort of a 
proposition is this? We have heard indeed, that some persons 
are subject to sadness, sorrow, and anxiety, infesting not only 
the gastric regions of the body, but also the abodes of the mind : 
for we believe that the two brains are its abodes, and as these 
consist of component fibres, that there is some acrid humor which 
rends, frets, and corrodes those fibres, and so compresses the 
sphere of the mind’s thoughts, that they cannot be diffused into 
any of the gratifications which arise from a variety of objects ; 
wdience it comes to pass, that the man attends to one object 
only, which destroys the tensibility and elasticity of those fibres, 
so that they grow rigid and stiff, causing that irregular motion 
of the animal spirits, which physicians call an ataxy, and also a 
defect in their functions, which they call a lyjpothymia : in a 
word, the mind under such circumstances is as if it were hemmed 
in by hostile troops, and has no more power to turn itself this 
way or that, than a wheel which is fastened with nails, or than 
a ship wrecked on a quicksand. Such straitness of the mind, 
and of the breast in consequence, arises where the ruling love is 
thwarted and disappointed ; in which case, the fibres of the brain 
contract themselves, and that contraction prevents the mind from 
exerting itself with freedom, and enjoying its delights under 
various forms : in such a crisis the patient is exposed, according 
to his particular temperament, to the attacks of phantasy, mad- 
ness, and delirious follies of divers kinds, and, in some cases, is , 
assaulted with brain-sick fancies about religion, which they call 
stings of conscience.” After this, we addressed ourselves to the 
third company, which consisted of physicians, among whom were* 
also some surgeons and apothecaries ; and we said, u You possi- 
bly know what conscience is, whether it is an uneasy pain- which 
659 


665 


OF IMPUTATION. 


seizes both the head and the parenchyma of the heart, and thence 
the epigastric/ and hypogastric regions beneath, or whether it is 
something else.” “ Conscience,” they replied, “ is nothing but 
such a pain : we know its origins better than other people, for 
they are contingent diseases which infest the organical parts ot 
the body, and also the organical parts of the head, consequently 
the mind ; for the mind has its seat in the organs of the brain, 
just as a spider has in the centre of the threads of its web, along 
which it runs to and fro in the same manner : these we call or- 
ganical diseases, and such of them as return at times, chronic 
diseases : but the pain which sick people describe to us as a pain 
of conscience, is nothing else but a hypochondriac disease, which 
first invades the spleen, and secondarily the pancreas and mesen- 
tery, depriving them of their kindred functions ; hence come the 
diseases of the stomach, and among the rest cacochymia , or im- 
perfect digestion ; compression too is produced about the orifice 
of the stomach, which is called cardialgia , or heart-burn; and 
from these together are derived humors impregnated with black, 
yellow, or green bile, causing an obstruction of the smaller blood 
vessels, called capillaries, so as to produce cachexy, atrophy, 
and symphesis, and also the bastard peripneumony, occasioned 
by the presence of a sluggish pituitous matter, and an ichorous 
corrosive lymph, in the whole mass of blood. The like conse- 
quences follow from an efflux of purulent matter into the blood 
and its serum, owing to a discharge of empyemas, abscesses, 
and imposthumes in the body, which blood, ascending by the 
carotids into the head, frets, corrodes, and consumes the medul- 
laries, corticals, and meninges of the brain, and thus excites the 
pains which are called pains of conscience.” On hearing this 
relation we said to them, “ You speak the language of Hippocra- 
tes and Galen, which is Greek to us, and unintelligible. We 
did not question you about bodily diseases, but about conscience, 
which relates solely to the mind.” But they replied, “ The 
diseases of the mind and those of the head are all the same, and 
these ascend from the body : for the head and the body cohere 
together like two stories of one house, between which there are 
stairs for ascending and descending : therefore we are well as- 
sured, that the state of the mind is inseparably dependent on 
the state of the body ; and we have frequently cured those very 
complaints or pains of the head which we conceive you mean 
by conscience, in some cases by blistering and cupping, in some 
by infusions and emulsions, and in some by spices and ano- 
dynes.” Binding they continued still in the same strain, we 
turned from them, and addressed ourselves to the clergy, and 
said, “You surely know what conscience is; declare it then, and 
instruct all who are present.” “ What conscience is,” they an- 
swered, “we know, and we do not know: we used to believe it 
to be contrition , which precedes election, that is, the moment 
660 


OF IMPUTATION. 


665, 66b 


in which a man is gifted with faith, by which he receives a new 
heart and a new spirit and is regenerated ; but we have per- 
ceived that such contrition is felt by few ; some indeed are af- 
fected with dread, and an anxiety thence arising, about hell-fire, 
but scarcely any with concern for their sins, and the consequent 
just anger of God ; we however have healed such, on receiving 
their confession, by the Gospel, that Christ, by his suffering on 
the cross, took away damnation, and so extinguished hell-fire, 
and opened heaven, to those who are blessed with that faith, on 
which the imputation of the merit of the Son of God is inscribed. 
There are, besides, certain conscientious persons of different re- 
ligions, both true and fanatical, who create to themselves scru- 
ples in matters relating to salvation, not only in essentials, but 
also in points of form and ceremony, and even in matters of 
indifference; therefore, as we said before, we know that there 
is such a thing as conscience ; but what it is, and in what a 
true conscience, which necessarily is spiritual, consists, we know 
not.” 

666. The angels above us heard all these opinions uttered by 
the four companies ; and they said to each other, “We perceive 
there is not a single person in Christendom who knows what 
conscience is ; we will therefore send down one from our society 
to instruct them.” And instantly there appeared in the midst 
an angel in white raiment, with a zone of light about his head, 
interspersed with little stars, who, addressing himself to the four 
companies, said, “We in heaven have heard you deliver your 
sentiments in order on the subject of conscience, and you have 
all conjectured that it is some uneasiness of mind, which affects 
the head with indisposition, and thence the body, or the body 
and thence the head ; but conscience, considered in its true 
nature, is not any pain or uneasiness, but a spiritual willingness 
to act according to the requirements of religion and faith : hence 
it is that those who enjoy conscience, when they act according 
to its dictates, are in the tranquillity of peace and internal 
blessedness, and suffer a certain uneasiness, or want of tran- 
quillity, when they act contrary to it ; but the pain of mind, 
which you have fancied to be conscience, is not conscience, but 
temptation, which consists in a combat between the spirit and 
the flesh, and which, when it is spiritual, arises from conscience, 
but -if natural only, it then originates in those diseases which 
the physicians have just now recounted. But what conscience is, 
may be illustrated by examples. A priest possesses conscience, 
who has a spiritual willingness to teach truths, that he may 
promote the salvation of his flock ; but if he does it with any 
other view, or to any other end, he is without conscience. A 
judge again, who regards justice only, and administers it with 
judgment, possesses conscience ; but if he is swayed by interest, 
friendship, or favor, he is without it. Again : if a man is in 
661 


666 


OF IMPUTATION. 


possession of another’s property without his knowledge, so that 
he might detain it as his own, without fear of the law or the 
loss of honor and reputation, and notwithstanding this, he 
restores, it to its proper owner, because it is not his own ; such 
a person has conscience, for he perforins an act of justice forit8 
own sake. Lastly : supposing a man has it in his power to 
obtain some place or office, but resigns his claims to another 
who is also a candidate, because he knows him to be bettei 
qualified to be useful to society ; such a one, in thus consulting 
the good of society, proves himself possessed of a good con- 
science. All who have conscience, speak and act from the heart, 
in all they say and do ; for their minds not being divided, they 
speak and act that which they understand and believe to be true 
and good. Hence it follows, that those whose minds are emi- 
nently enlightened with the truths of faith, and who enjoy a 
clearer perception, may have a more perfect conscience than 
those who are less enlightened, and whose perception is more 
obscure. In a true conscience consists the very essence of man’s 
spiritual life, for in this his faith is conjoined with charity ; so 
that to act from conscience, with those who possess it, is to act 
from their spiritual life ; and to act contrary to conscience is to 
act contrary to their life. Besides, who cannot learn what con- 
science is from common discourse ? As, when it is said of any 
particular person that he has a conscience, who does not under- 
stand by the expression that he is a just and upright person ? 
And on the contrary, when it is said that he has no conscience, 
who does not understand it to signify that he is destitute of 
integrity ?” As the angel said this, he was suddenly takgn up 
into his own heaven : then the four companies united in one, and 
after conversing some time together about what the angel had 
said, lo ! they were again divided into four companies, but dif- 
ferent from the former: in the first were those who compre- 
hended what the angels had said, and assented to it ; in the 
second those who did not comprehend it, but still were disposed 
to favor it ; in the third those who had no inclination to com- 
prehend it, saying, “ What have we to do with conscience ?” 
and in the fourth those who mocked and derided it, saying, 
“ What is conscience but a breath of wind ?” Then I saw the 
four companies retiring from each other ; the two former going 
to the right, and the two latter to the left, these descending and 
those ascending. 


OF BAPTISM. 


667 . 668 


CHAPTER XI. 

BAPTISM. 

1. That without a knowledge of the spiritual sense of thh 

WORD, NO ONE CAN KNOW WHAT THE TWO SACRAMENTS, BAPTISM 
AND THE HOLY SUPPER, INVOLVE AND EFFECT. 

667. That there is a spiritual sense contained in all and 
every part of the Word, and that this sense has heretofore 
remained unknown, but is at this day discovered for the sake of 
a Hew Church which is about to be established by the Lord, was 
shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture. The nature 
and quality of that sense may be seen, not only in that chapter, 
but in the chapter on the Decalogue, which was explained 
according to that sense. Had it not been for the opening ol 
that sense, every one must have formed his opinion of those two 
sacraments, baptism and the holy supper, according to the natural 
sense only, which is that of the letter, and so must have been in 
his own mind a prey to doubts and scruples, whispering to him, 
“ What is baptism but the pouring of water on the head of an 
infant, and what has this to do with salvation ? Also, what is 
the holy supper but the taking of bread and wine, and what 
again has this to do with salvation ? Besides, where is the 
sanctity contained in these institutions, except what arises from 
the circumstance of their being received and enjoined by church 
authority as holy and divine, while in themselves they are mere 
ceremonies, of which the churches say, that during the approach 
of God’s Word to these elements,, they become sacraments?” I 
appeal to both laymen and clergymen, whether in spirit hnd 
heart they have had any other perception of those two sacra- 
ments, and whether they have not held them in reverence as 
divine for various causes and reasons ; when yet those two sacra- 
ments, considered in their spiritual sense, are the most holy 
solemnities of worship, as will appear presently when we come 
to treat of their use. But as the uses of those sacraments cannot 
possibly enter into any one’s mind, unless the spiritual sense 
discover and unfold them, it follows, that without that sense no one 
can know but that they are mere ceremonies, which receive their 
sanctity solely from the authority by which they were instituted. 

668. That baptism is of divine institution, is very evident 
from John’s baptizing in the river Jordan, to which all Judea 
and Jerusalem were assembled (Matt. iii. 5, 6 ; i. 4, 5) ; also 
from this circumstance, that the Lord our Saviour was himself 
baptized by John (Matt. iii. 13 — 17) ; and moreover^ that he 
commanded his disciples to baptize all nations (Matt, xxviii. 19). 
Who does not see, if he be so disposed, that in this institution 
there is a something divine which has heretofore lain hid, be* 
663 


(568 — 670 


OF BAPTISM. 


cause the spiritual sense of the Word was never before revealed ? 
That sense, however, is revealed at this day, because the Christian 
church, such as it is in itself, or its true nature, is now com- 
mencing, the former church being Christian in name only, but 
not in essence and reality. 

669. The two sacraments, baptism and the holy supper, are 
in the Christian church like the two symbols on the sceptre of 
a king ; but if their uses be unknown, they are only like two 
figures of ebony on a common walking-stick. Those two sacra- 
ments in the Christian church may also be compared with the 
two rubies or carbuncles in the robe of an emperor; but, if their 
uses be unknown, they are only like two cartielians or crystals 
in any ordinary garment. Unless the uses of those two sacra- 
ments were made manifest by their spiritual sense, there would 
arise various conjectures about them, such as are formed by 
those who practise divination by the stars, or indeed like those 
of old, which were formed by auguries' from the flight of birds or 
the entrails of beasts. The uses of those two sacraments may be 
compared with a temple sunk into the ground from its antiquity, 
and buried in dirt and rubbish up to its roof, over which both 
young and old walk, ride, or drive their coaches, not knowing 
that any such temple is under their feet and hidden from their 
sight, containing in it altars of gold, walls covered on the 
inside with silver, and ornaments of precious stones ; and they 
cannot possibly be dug up and brought to light, except by means 
of the spiritual sense, which is at this day discovered for the 
New Church, on account of its use in the worship of the Lord. 
Those two sacraments may also be compared with a double 
temple, one of which is below and the other above. In the 
lower, the gospel-of the Lord’s new advent is preached, and also 
regeneration and consequent salvation by him : from this temple, 
near the altar, is an ascent to the upper temple, where the holy 
supper is celebrated ; and from thence is a passage into heaven, 
where the worshippers are received by the Lord. They may also 
be compared with the tabernacle, wherein, behind the entrance, 
appeared the table on which the shew-bread was placed in order, 
also the golden altar for incense, and the candlestick in the 
midst with its branches lighted, so that all those objects are 
rendered visible ; and at length for those who suffer themselves 
to be enlightened, the veil is opened to the holy of holies, where, 
instead of the ark which contained the decalogue, the Word is 
deposited, over which is the mercy-seat w T ith the golden cheru- 
bim. These things are representations of those two sacraments 
with their uses. 

U. That the washing, which is called baptism, signifies 

SPIRITUAL WASHING, WHICH IS A PURIFICATION FROM EVILS AND 

FALSES, AND THUS REGENERATION. 

670. Washings were enjoined the children of Israel, as is 

661 


OF BAPTISM. 


670, 671 

known from the statutes enacted by Moses ; as that Aaron should 
■wash himself before he put on the garments of his ministrations 
(Levit. xvi. 4, 24), and before he approached the altar to minis- 
ter (Exod. xxx. 18 — 21 ; xl. 30, 31); in like manner the Levites 
(Numb. viii. 6, 7) ; and also others who became unclean by sins ; 
and they are said to be sanctified by washings (Exod. xix. 14 ; 
xl. 12 ; Levit. viii. 6). Therefore for the purpose of washing, a 
molten sea and several basins were placed near the temple (1 
Kings vii. 23 — 39) ; yea, they were enjoined to wash vessels and 
utensils, as tables, chairs, beds, dishes, and cups (Levit. xi. 32 ; 
xiv. 8, 9 ; xv. 5 — 12; xvii. 15, 16 ; Mark vii. 4). But washings, 
and several ordinances of a like nature, were enjoined and com- 
manded the children of Israel, because the church established 
among them was a representative church, and was of such a na- 
ture as to prefigure the Christian church that was to come ; on 
which account, when the Lord came into the world, he abrogated 
the representatives, which were all external, and instituted a 
church in which all things were to be internal : thus the Lord 
put away figures, and revealed their true antetypes, just as when 
a person removes a veil, or opens a door, and thus affords the 
means not only of seeing the things within, but of approaching 
them. Of all those representatives the Lord retained but two, 
which were to contain in one complex whatever related to the 
internal church. These two are baptism instead of washings, 
and the holy supper instead of the lamb which was sacrificed 
every day, and particularly at the feast of the passover. 

671. The above-mentioned washings figured and shadowed 
forth, that is, represented, spiritual washings, consisting in puri- 
fications from evils and falses, as is very evident from the fol- 
lowing passages : “ When the Lord shall have washed away the 
filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood 
of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, 
and by the spirit of burning” (Isaiah iv. 4). “Though thou 
wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine ini- 
quity is naked before me” (Jer. ii. 22 ; Job ix. 30, 31). “ Wash 
me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm li. 7). “ O Jeru- 

salem., wash thy heart from wickedness, and thou mayest be 
saved” (Jer. iv. 14). “Wash you, make you clean; put away 
the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil” 
(Isaiah i. 16). The washing of a man’s spirit is meant by the 
washing of his body, and the internal things of the church were 
represented by such external rites as belonged to the Israelitish 
church, as is very clear from the Lord’s words: The Pharisees 
and scribes, when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with 
unwashed hands found fault; “for the Pharisees and all the 
Jews, except they w’ash their hands oft, eat not ; and many 
other things there be which they have received to hold, as the 
665 


671— 673 


OF BAPTISM. 


washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and tables. And w hen 
he had called all the people unto him, the Lord said. Hearken 
unto me every one of you, and understand : there is nothing 
from without a man, that entering into him can defile him ; but 
the things which come out of him, those are they which defile 
the man” (Mark vii. 1 — 4, 14, 15). 

672. What man of sound reason cannot discern that the 
washing of the face, hands, and feet, and all the limbs, yea, ol 
the whole body in a bath, effects nothing more than to wash 
away the dirt, so that the outward form may appear clean in the 
6ight of men ? and who cannot understand that it is impossible 
for any such washing to enter into ^ man’s spirit, arid in like 
manner render that clean? for a thief, a robber, and an assassin 
have it in their power to wash themselves, even till their skin 
shine; but will that wash away their thievish, pillaging, and 
murderous disposition ? Does not the internal enter by influx 
into the external, and operate the effects of its will and under- 
standing? and is not this agreeable to nature, because it is agree- 
able to order? But for the external to enter by influx into the 
internal is utterly impossible, being contrary to nature, because 
it is contrary to order. 

673. Hence it follows, that washings, and baptism also, unless 
the internal man be purified from evils and falses, are of no more 
avail than the washing of cups and platters by the Jews, or than 
the whitening of the sepulchres mentioned in the same passage, 
which “ appear beautiful without, but within are full of dead 
men’s bones, and all uncleanness” (Matt, xxiii. 25 — 28). This 
is further evident from the hells being full of satans, who were 
once men, some baptized, and some not. Baptism therefore 
(the advantages of which will be seen presently), if it be without 
its uses and fruits, contributes no more towards salvation than 
the triple cap on the pope’s head and the sign of the cross on his 
shoes contribute towards his pontifical supereminence ; a cardi- 
nal’s purple robe, to his dignity ; a bishop’s lawn sleeves, to the 
discharge of his ministry ; a king’s throne, crown, sceptre, and 
royal robes, to his regal power ; a square cap on the head of a 
learned doctor, to his intelligence ; or than the standard carried 
before a regiment of cavalry, to their valor in battle. Indeed, 
it may be still further asserted, that a man can no more be puri- 
fied by baptism alone, without its uses and fruits, than he could 
by the washing of a sheep or a lamb preparatory to its being 
shorn ; for the natural man separate from the spiritual man is a 
mere animal ; yea, as was shown above, he is a fiercer and more 
savage beast than any that lives wild in the forest ; so that if he 
were to be washed with rain-water, with dew, with the streams 
of the purest fountains, or, according to the language of the 
prophets, to be cleansed with nitre, hyssop, or soap, every day, 

666 . 


OF BAPTISM. 


673— 675 


it would still be impossible to purify him from his iniquities, ex 
eept by regeneration. But on this subject see the chapters on 
Repentance, and also on Reformation and Regeneration. 

III. That AS CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART WAS REPRESENTED BY 

THE CIRCUMCISION OF THE FORESKIN, BAPTISM WAS INSTITUTED 

IN LIEU OF IT, TO THE END THAT AN INTERNAL CHURCH MIGHT 

SUCCEED THE EXTERNAL, IN WHICH ALL AND EVERY THING WAS 

A FIGURE OF THE INTERNAL CHURCH. 

674. In the Christian world it is known that there is an in- 
ternal and an external man, and that the external is the same 
as the natural man, and the internal is the same as the spiritual 
man, because his spirit is in it ; and, as the church consists ol 
men, it is further known that there are both an internal and an 
external church ; and if the succession of churches, from an- 
cient times to the present, be inquired into, it will be seen that 
former churches were external churches, in other words, that 
their worship consisted in external rites, representing the inter- 
nal principles of the Christian church, which the Lord founded 
during his abode in the world, and which is now beginning to 
be built up by him. The primary rite which distinguished the 
Israelitish church from the other Asiatic churches, and afterwards 
from the Christian, was circumcision; and since, as just observed, 
all the ordinances of the Israelitish church, which were external, 
were figures of all things in the Christian church, which are 
internal, hence the primary sign of that church was inwardly 
similar to the sign of the Christian church ; for circumcision 
signified the rejection of the lusts of the flesh, and consequently 
purification from evils ; and the same is also signified by baptism. 
Hence it is evident that baptism was instituted in lieu of cir- 
cumcision, to the end that the Christian church might be distin- 
guished from the Jewish, and that it might be more readily 
known to be an internal church ; and this is known by the uses 
of baptism, which will be described presently. 

675. Circumcision was instituted as a sign that the members 
of the Israelitish church were of the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, as is plain from these words : “ God said unto Abra- 
ham, This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and 
you, and thy seed after thee : every man-child among you shall 
be circumcised ; and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore- 
skin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” 
(Gen. xvii. 10, 11); which covenant, or its sign, was afterwards 
confirmed by Moses (Levit. xii. 1 — 3). And as that church was 
distinguished from all others by that sign, it was therefore en- 
ioined, before the children of Israel passed over Jordan, that 
they should again be circumcised (Josh. v.). The reason of this 
was, because the land of Canaan represented the church, and 
the river Jordan introduction into it. And moreover, that they 
might remember that sign in the land of Canaan itself, thia 

667 


OF BAPTISM. 


675, 676 

injunction was given : “ When ye shall come into the land, and 
shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall 
count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised : three years shall it be 
as uncircumcised unto you ; it shall not be eaten of” (Levit. xix. 
23). That circumcision, like baptism, represented and thence 
signified the rejection of the lusts of. the flesh, and consequently 
purification from evils, is plain from those passages in the W ord, 
where it is said that they should circumcise the heart ; as in the 
following : “ Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and 
be no more stiff-necked” (Deut. x. 16). “Jehovah, thy God, 
will circumcise thj* heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love 
Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that 
thou mayest live” (xxx. 6); and in Jeremiah : “Circumcise your- 
selves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye 
men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my anger go 
forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the 
evil of your doings” (iv. 4). And in Paul : “ In Jesus Christ 
neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but 
faith which worketh by love, and a new creature” (Gal. v. 6 ; vi. 
15). From these passages it is now evident that baptism was 
instituted in the place of circumcision, because the circumcision 
of the flesh represented the circumcision of the heart, which also 
signifies purification from evils ; for evils of every kind arise from 
the flesh, and the foreskin signifies its polluted loves. Since 
circumcision and the washing of baptism signify the same thing, 
it is therefore said in Jeremiah, “ Circumcise yourselves to Jeho 
vah, and take away the foreskins of your heart” (iv. 4) ; and a 
little after, “ O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that 
thou mayest be saved” (verse 14). What circumcision and wash- 
ing the heart signify, the Lord teaches in Matthew xv. 18, 19. 

676. There were formerly many among the children of Israel, 
and there are still many among the Jews, who believed them 
selves elected in preference to all others, because they were cir- 
cumcised ; and many Christians entertain the same belief because 
they have been baptized ; when nevertheless both circumcision 
and baptism are given only as a sign and memorial that the per- 
sons receiving them should be purified from evils, and so become 
elect or chosen. What is an external without an internal in man, 
but like a temple without worship, which is of no use, except 
possibly to serve for a stable ? And further, what is an exter- 
nal without an internal, but like a field full of mere rushes and 
reeds, without any com? or like a vineyard consisting of mere 
branches and leaves, without any grapes ? or like a fig-tree 
without its fruit, which the Lord cursed? (Matt. xxi. 19;) or like 
the lamps in the hand of the foolish virgins without oil ? (xxv. 3 ;) 
yea, what is it but like a habitation in a mausoleum, where the 
ground is full of corpses, and bones are piled around the walls, 
while frightful spectres fly beneath the roof? or like a carriage 
668 


OF BAPTISM. 


676, 677 

drawn by leopards, with a wolf sitting as coachman, and an idiot 
in the inside? For the external man is not a man, but only 
the 'figure of a man. It is the internal, which consists in wis- 
dom from God, which constitutes the man. The same is true oi 
a circumcised and baptized person, unless he circumcise or wash 
his heart. 

IV. That the first use of baptism is introduction into the 

CHRISTIAN CHURCH, AND AT THE SAME TIME INSERTION AMONG 

CHRISTIANS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 

677. Baptism is an introduction into the Christian church, 
as is plain from the following circumstances : 1. Baptism was 
instituted in the place of circumcision ; and as circumcision was 
a sign that the persons circumcised were of the Israelitish church, 
so baptism is a sign that the persons baptized are of the Christian 
church, as was shown in the preceding article ; and a sign 
answers no other purpose than as a mark of distinction, like 
swaddling-clothes of different colors put on infants belonging to 
different mothers, in order that they may be distinguished from 
each other, and not be changed. 2. It is only a sign of intro- 
duction into the church, as is evident from the baptizing of 
infants before they come to the use of reason, and while they 
are as incapable of receiving any thing relative to faith, as the 
young shoots of a tree. 3. iNot only infants are baptized, but 
likewise all foreign proselytes converted to the Christian religion, 
whether they be young or old, and this before they have been 
instructed, if they do but confess themselves desirous of embra- 
cing Christianity, into which they are inaugurated by baptism ; 
and this also was the practice of the apostles, according to the 
Lord’s words, “ Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them” 
(Matt, xxviii. 19). 4. John baptized all that came to him from 

Judea and Jerusalem, in the river Jordan (iii. 6 ; Mark i. 8). 
The reason why he baptized in Jordan was, because the entrance 
into the land of Canaan was through that river, and this land 
signified the church, because the church was there ; in conse- 
quence of which Jordan signified introduction into the church. 
That land signified the church, and Jordan signified introduc- 
tion into it, as may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 
285. Thus it is upon earth ; but in the heavens infants are 
introduced by baptism into the Christian heaven, and angels are 
there assigned them by the Lord to take care of them. So soon 
then as infants are baptized, they are placed under the 'guardian- 
ship of angels, by whom they are kept in a state of receiving 
faith in the Lord ; but as they grow up, and become capable oi 
thinking and acting for themselves, the guardian angels leave 
them, and they draw into association with themselves such spirits 
as make a one with their life and faith : hence it is evident that 
baptjsm is an insertion among Christians, even in the spiritual 
world. 

669 


OF BAPTISM. 


678 , 379 

P-78. The reason why not only infants but all others are 
inserted J>y baptism among Christians in the spiritual world is, 
because different people and nations are in that world distinctly 
placed according to their religious principles; Christians are in 
the middle, Mahometans round about them, idolaters of various 
kinds behind them, and Jews at the sides. Moreover all of the 
same religion are in heaven arranged into societies, according to 
the affections of love towards God and their neighbor, and in 
hell into congregations according to the affections which are 
opposed to those two loves, thus according to the lusts of evil. 
In the spiritual world, by which we mean both heaven and hell, 
all things are most distinctly arranged, in the whole and in every 
part, or both generally and specifically, and on this distinct 
arrangement the conservation of the universe depends. This 
distinct arrangement, however, would be impracticable unless 
every one after his birth were to be distinguished by some sign, 
so that it might be known to what religious community he be- 
longed ; for without the Christian sign of baptism, some Ma- 
hometan, or some idolatrous spirit, might apply himself to new- 
born Christian infants, and also to children, and infuse into 
them an inclination in favor of his religion; and so draw away 
their minds and alienate them from Christianity, which would 
be to distort and destroy spiritual order. 

679. In tracing effects to their causes, it is very plain to dis- 
cern that on order depends the consistence of all things, and 
that there are manifold orders, both general and particular, and 
gne which is most universal of all, and on which the general and 
particular depend in a continued series, and that this most uni- 
versal one enters into all the rest as the essence into its forms, 
to which circumstance alone it is owing that they form a one. 
It is this oneness which is the cause of the conservation of the 
whole, which without it must needs drop asunder, and not only 
relapse into its first chaotic state, but even become nothing: 
What, let me ask, would be the case with a man, unless all and 
every single part of his body were arranged in a most distinct 
and orderly manner, having a general dependence on one heart 
and lungs ? What would the whole be but a heap of confusion ? 
for how else could the stomach, the liver, the pancreas, the 
mesentery and mesocolon, the kidneys, and the intestines, per- 
form each their respective offices? It is by the order reigning 
in and arrtong those several organs, that they appear all and each 
of them as a one. Without distinct order, again, in a man’s 
mind or spirit, and without a general dependence on the will 
and the understanding, what would it be but a confused and 
undigested chaos ? Without such order, how could a man think 
and will any more than his portrait or statue which ornaments 
Iiis house ? What, again, would a man be without a most orderly 
arranged influx from heaven, and the reception thereof? and 
670 


OF BAPTISM. 


679— 631 


what would this influx be without that most universal one, the 
.nflux from God, on which the government of the whole and all 
its parts depends, and unless all things had their being, lived, and 
moved in him, and from' him ? The above reasoning may be 
illustrated by numberless cases adapted to the apprehension of 
the natural man ; as for instance, what is an empire or kingdom 
without order, but a troop of robbers, several of whom collected 
together would slay their thousands, and at last a few of this 
band would slay the rest ? So again, what would become of a 
city, or even a house, without order ? and what would become 
of a kingdom, city, or house, unless there were in each some 
supreme head and director ? 

68(b To extend these illustrations : What is order without 
distinction, and what is distinction without its proofs, and what 
are proofs of distinction without signs or tokens, by which its 
qualities may be known and ascertained ? for without the know- 
ledge of qualities, order is not known to be order. The signs, 
or distinguishing marks, in empires and kingdoms, are titles of 
rank and powers of administration annexed to them, whence 
come subordinations, and hence the co-ordination of all into one 
body : in this manner the king exercises his royal authority 
according to order, it being thus distributed among a variety of 
persons, in consequence of which the kingdom is a. kingdom. 
The case is similar in many other things, as for instance, in an 
army of soldiers, which would not be efficient unless the men 
were arranged in an orderly manner, and formed into divisions, 
and these into battalions, and these again into companies, with 
subordinate leaders appointed to the command of each body, 
and one supreme commander over all : but where would be the 
efficacy of these arrangements and divisions without signs, which 
in armies, are called standards, to point out to every soldier his 
proper station ? By these means all act in the field of battle as 
one man ; whereas, were those means of order wanting, they 
would rush headlong against an enemy, open-mouthed, like so 
many dogs, with tumultuous sounds and empty fury, till they 
were all cujt off by their opponents, not so much in consequence 
of superior courage as of better discipline ; for what can a dis- 
united mob do against a well-disciplined and united army ? These 
instances may serve to illustrate this first use of baptism, which 
consists in its being a sign, in the spiritual worlds that the 
person baptized is of a Christian community ; for in that world, 
every one is inserted into societies and congregations according 
to the quality of Christianity, either within him or without him. 
V. That the second use of baptism is, that the Christian 

MAY KNOW AND ACKNOWLEDGE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE 

REDEEMER AND SAVIOUR, AND MAY FOLLOW HIM. 

681. The second use of baptism, which is to know the Lord 
the Redeemer and Saviour Jesus Christ, inseparably attends the 
671 


OF BAPTISM. 


C81, 682 

first, which is introduction into the Christian church and insertion 
among Christians in the spiritual world : for what is this first 
use without the second, but a mere name ? or like a subject who 
swears allegiance to his king, and yet rejects his laws or those 
of his country, and goes over to a foreign king and serves him \ 
or like a servant, who engages in the service of some particular 
master and receives his livery as a token of his service, *and then 
runs away and in that livery serves another ? or like a standard- 
bearer in an army, who marches off with the standard, and having 
cut it in pieces, either disperses the scraps in the air or leaves 
them to be trodden under foot by the soldiers ? In a word, to 
bear the name of a Christian, that is, to be considered as belong- 
ing to Christ, and yet not to acknowledge him and follow him, 
which consists in living according to his commandments, is a 
vain and empty thing, like a shadow, or smoke, or a picture 
dyed black ; for the Lord says, “ Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, 
and do not the things that I say ?” (Luke vi. 46). “ Many will 

say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, &c., and then I will profess 
unto them, I never knew you” (Matt. vii. 22, 23). 

682. In the Word, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, sig- 
nifies an acknowledgment of him and a life according to his 
commandments. The reason why his name signifies these things 
may be seen in the explication of the second commandment of 
the decalogue, “Thou shalt not take his name in vain.” This 
is meant by the name of the Lord in these passages : Jesus said, 
u Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake” (Matt. x. 22 ; 
xxiv. 9, 10). “ Where two or three are gathered together in my 

name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt, xviii. 20). “ As 

many as received him, to them gave he power to become the 
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John i. 12). 
“ Many believed in his name” (John ii. 23). “ He that believeth 
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the 
name of the only-begotten Son of God” (iii. 18). “And that 
believing ye might have life in his name” (xx. 31). “And for 
my name’s sake hast labored and hast not fainted” (Rev. ii. 3) : 
and in other places. How plain is it to see, that in, these pas- 
sages the name of the Lord means not only his name, but an 
acknowledgment of him as the Redeemer and Saviour, attended 
with obedience to him, and at length with faith in him ! for in 
baptism, an infant receives the sign of the cross on his forehead 
and breast, which is a token of his inauguration into the acknow- 
ledgment and worship of the Lord. By name, too, the quality 
of any particular person is understood ; because in the spiritual 
world every one is named according to his quality ; so that the 
name of Christian given to any one, means his quality as pos- 
sessing faith in Christ and charity towards his neighbor from 
Christ. This is meant by name in the Revelation : “ Thou hast 
a few names even in Sardis, that have not defiled their garments* 
672 


OF BAPTISM. 


6 82-684 


and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy' 5 (iii. 4). 
To walk with the Son of man in white, signifies to follow the 
Lord, and to live according to the truths of his Word. The same 
is signified by his name in John : “ Jesus said, My sheep hear 
my voice, and I call my own sheep by name , and lead them out : 
I go before them, and the sheep follow me, because they know 
my voice; but a stranger will they not follow, because they know 
not the voice of strangers” (x. 3 — 5). By name , signifies, by 
their quality as Christians ; and to follow him is to hear his voice, 
that is, to obey his commands : this name all receive in baptism, 
for it is involved in the sign. 

683. What is a name without the thing of which it is expres 
sive, but an empty nothing? or a mere sound, like the echo which 
rebounds from woods and vaulted buildings ? or like the noise, 
scarcely animate, uttered by people in their dreams ; or like the 
noise 'of wind, of the sea, or of a machine, which has no meaning 
or use in it ? Yea, what is the name of king, duke, or consul, 
of bishop, abbot, or monk, without the office which is annexed 
to the name, but mere vanity? In like manner, what is the 
name of Christian, so long as the man lives like a barbarian, and 
in opposition to the precepts of Christ, but like looking to the 
sign or standard of Satan, and not to that of Christ, whose name, 
nevertheless, was woven in it with golden threads in baptism ? 
What are those who,, after receiving the signature of Christ, 
deride his worship, mock at his name, and confess him not as the 
Son of God but as the Son of Joseph, but rebels and regicides ? 
and what are their words but blasphemies against the Holy Spirit, 
which cannot be forgiven either in this world or in that which is 
to come ? Such persons, like dogs with open jaws, bite at the 
Word, and tear it in pieces with their teeth. These, according 
to Isaiah xxviii. 8, Jerem. xlviii. 26, by their opposition to Christ 
and his worship, have “ all their tables full of vomit and filthi- 
ness when yet the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of the Most 
High God (Luke i. 32, 35.) ; the only-begotten (John i. 18 ; iii. 
16) ; the true God and eternal life (1 John v. 20); for in him 
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colos. ii. 9) ; and 
is not the son of Joseph (Matt. i. 25). But besides these there 
are a thousand other passages to the same purport. 

IY. That the third and final use of baptism is, that the man 

MAY BE REGENERATED. 

68*4. This, as it is the very essential use intended by baptism, 
is consequently its final use; because’ a true Christian knows and 
acknowledges the Lord the Redeemer Jesus Christ, who, as he 
is the Redeemer, is also the Regenerator : that redemption and 
regeneration together form a one, may be seen in the chapter on 
Reformation and Regeneration, Art. III. Besides, a Christian 
is in possession of the W ord, where the means of regeneration 
stand fully described, and are declared to be faith in the Lord, 
673 xx 


684, 685 


OF BAPTISM. 


and charity towards our neighbor. This is the same as what is 
naid of the Lord, “He shall b-aptize you with the Holy Spirit 
and with fire” (Matt. iii. 11 ; Mark i. 8 ; Luke iii. 16) : the 
Holy Spirit means the divine truth of faith, and fire the divine 
good of love or charity, each proceeding from the Lord. That 
the Holy Spirit means the divine truth of faith, may be seen in 
the chapter on the Holy Spirit ; and that fire means the divine 
good of love, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 468, 
395 ; by means of these two the Lord effects all regeneration. 
The Lord himself was baptized by John (see Matt. iii. 13 — IT ; 
Mark i. 9 ; Luke iii. 21, 22) ; that he might not only institute 
baptism as a rite to be observed in future, and establish it by 
his own example, but also because he glorified his humanity, 
and made it divine, as he regenerates a man and makes him 
spiritual. 

685. From what has been said in this and the former articles, 
it may be plainly seen, that the three uses of baptism cohere 
together as a one, like a first cause, a middle cause, which is the 
efficient, and an ultimate cause, which is the effect, and the end 
for the sake of which the former causes were produced : for the 
first use of baptism is, that a man may have the name of Chris- 
tian ; the second, following as a consequence from the first, is, 
that he may know and acknowledge the Lord to be the Re- 
deemer, Regenerator, and Saviour ; and the third is, that he 
may be regenerated by the Lord, and when this is effected, he is 
redeemed and saved. As these three uses follow each other in 
order, and join with each other in the ultimate use, and conse- 
quently, in the idea of the angels, cohere together as a one, 
therefore, whenever baptism is performed, read of in the Word, 
or named, the angels who are present understand not baptism, 
but regeneration; so that, by the Lord’s words, “He that 
balieveth and is baptized will be saved, but he that believeth not 
will be damned” (Mark xvi. 16), the angels in heaven under- 
stand that whoever acknowledges the Lord, and is regenerated, 
will be saved. Hence, also, baptism is called by Christian 
churches on earth the laver of regeneration. Be it known, 
therefore, to every Christian, that whoever does not believe in the 
Lord cannot be regenerated, notwithstanding his having been 
baptized, and that being baptized is of no avail without faith in 
the Lord, as may be seen proved above in this chapter, article 
II., n. 673. That baptism implies purification from evils, and 
consequent regeneration, must be very plain to every Christian ; 
for when, at the baptism of an infant, the priest signs him with 
the cross on the forehead and the breast, as a memorial of the 
Lord, he turns to the sponsors and asks whether they renounce 
the devil and all his works, and whether they receive the faith ; 
to which questions the sponsors in the child’s name answer, 
“ Yes.” Renunciation of the devil, that is, of the evils which 
674 


OF BAPTISM. 685 — 687 

are from liell, and faith towards the Lord, are what perfect 
regeneration. 

686. It is said in the Word, that the Lord God onr Redeemer 
“ baptizeth with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” which means 
that the Lord regenerates man by the divine truth of faith and 
the divine good of love or charity, as may be seen above in this 
article, n. 684. Those who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, 
that is, by the divine truth of faith, are distinguished in the 
heavens from those who are regenerated by fire, that is, by the 
divine good of love. Those who are regenerated by the divine 
truth of faith, are in heaven clad in garments of fine white linen 
and are called spiritual angels ; but those who are regenerated 
by the divine good of love, are clad in purple garments, and are 
called celestial angels. Those who are clad in white garments 
are thus described : “They follow the lamb, clothed in fine linen 
white and clean” (Rev. xix. 14): “They shall walk with me in 
white” (iii. 4). The angels at the Lord’s sepulchre, who appeared 
in white and shining garments (Matt, xxviii. 3 ; Luke xxiv. 4), 
were of this kind : for it is expressly declared that fine linen 
signifies the righteousness of the saints (Apoc. xix. 8). That gar- 
ments, in the Word, signify truths, and that white garments of 
fine linen signify divine truths, may be seen in the Apocalypse 
Revealed, n. 379. The reason why those who are regenerated 
by the divine good of love are clad in purple garments, is, because 
purple is the color of love, deriving it from the fire of the sun and 
its redness, which signifies love, as may be seen in the Apoca- 
lypse Revealed, n. 468, 725. Because garments signify truths, 
therefore the man that came to the wedding, and had not on a 
wedding garment, was cast out into outer darkness (Matt. xxii. 
11 — 13). 

687. Baptism, moreover, is represented as regeneration, both 
in heaven and in the world, by many particulars : in heaven, 
as was just now observed, by white and purple garments, and 
also by the marriage of the church with the Lord, and further 
by the new heaven and the new earth, and the Hew Jerusalem 
descending thence, of which he that sat on the throne said, 
“ Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. xxi. 1 — 5) ; and by the 
“ river of the water of life proceeding from the throne of God 
and the Lamb” (xxii. 1, 2); and also by the five wise virgins, who 
had lamps and oil, and entered in with the bridegroom to the 
marriage (Matt. xxv. 1, 2, 10). A baptized, that is, a regenerate 
person, is meant by creature in Mark xvi. 15 ; Rom. viii. 19 — 21 ; 
and by a new creature in 2 Cor. v. 17 ; Gal. vi. 15 ; for the 
term “ creature,” is derived from* “ created,” which signifies, 
also, to be regenerate, as may be seen in the Apocalypse 
Revealed, n. 254. In the world, regeneration is represented 
by various particulars : as by the blossoming, of every vegetable 
on the earth in the spring, and by its successive advancement 

675 


OF BAPTISM. 


687, 688 

even to fructification ; in like manner by the growth of every 
tree, shrub, and flower, from, the first month of warm weather to 
the last : it is represented also by the gradual progress of all 
fruits towards maturity, from the time of their setting till they 
attain their perfect ripeness ; it is represented at the same time 
by morning and evening showers, and by dews, on the fall of 
which the flowers unfold their beauties, while they close them up 
at the approach of night ; it is represented too by the fragrance 
arising from gardens and fields, and also by the rainbow in the 
clouds (Gen. ix. 14 — 17), and by the splendid colors of an 
eastern sky at sunrise ; and in general by the continual reno- 
vation of all the parts of animal bodies by the chyle and the 
animal spirit, and the blood thence produced, the purification of 
which from its useless and obsolete parts, together with its reno- 
vation, and a.s it were regeneration, is perpetual. If we attend 
to the lowest creatures that creep on the earth, there too shall 
we behold an image of regeneration presented to our view in the 
wonderful transformation of silk-worms and other caterpillars 
into nymphs and butterflies, and in the changes experienced by 
other insects, which in their season are adorned with wings : add 
to these some particulars of a more trivial nature, as the fondness 
of certain birds to dip themselves in water, for the sake of wash- 
ing and cleansing themselves, after which they return like the 
nightingales to their songs. In a word, the whole world, from 
first to last, is full of representations and types of regeneration. 
VII. That by the baptism of John, a way was peep abed, that 

JEHOVAH THE LOED MIGHT COME DOWN INTO THE WOELD, AND 

ACCOMPLISH THE WOEK OF EEDEMPTION. 

688. It is written in Malachi, “ Behold, I will send my mes- 
senger, and he shall prepare the way before me ; and the Lord 
whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the mes- 
senger of the covenant whom ye delight in : but who may abide 
the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth ?” 
(iii. 1, 2) ; and again, “ Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, 
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Jehovah, 
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (iv. 5, 6) : and 
Zacharias, prophesying of his son John, says to him, “Thou 
child shalt be called the prophet of the Most High ; for thou shalt 
go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his way” (Luke i. 76) : 
and the Lord himself saitli of John, u This is he of whom it is 
written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall 
prepare thy way before thee” (Luke vii. 27). From these passages 
it is evident, that John was the prophet that was sent to prepare 
a way for Jehovah God, about to descend into the w T orld and 
accomplish the work of redemption ; and that he prepared that 
way by baptism, and at the same time by proclaiming the Lord’s 
advent ; for without such preparation all who were then living 
would have been smitten with a curse, and would have perished 
676 


OF BAPTISM. 


689, 690 

689. The reason that a way was prepared by the baptism of 
John, was, because by it,’ as was shown above, those who 
expected and desired the Messiah, were introduced into the 
future church of the Lord and inserted in heaven among those 
there, and thus were guarded by the angels, that the devils might 
not break forth from hell and destroy them ; in reference to which 
it is written in Malachi, u Who may abide the day of his com- 
ing ?” and, “ I will send Elijah the prophet, lest I come and 
smite the earth with a curse” (iii. and iv.) : in like manner in 
Isaiah: 44 Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel with both 
wrath and fierce anger ; therefore I will shake the heavens, and 
the earth shall remove out of her place, in the day of his fierce 
anger” (xiii. 9, 13; xxii. 5, 12) : in Jeremiah, likewise, that day 
is called “ A day of wasting, of vengeance, and of destruction” 
(iv. 9 ; vii. 32 ; xlvi. 10, 21 ; xlvii. 4 ; xlix. 8, 26) : and in-Ezek. : 
“ A day of anger, of cloud, and of darkness” (xxx. 2, 3, 9 ; xxxiv. 
11, 12 ; xxxviii. 14, 16, 18, 19) ; as also in Amos (v. 13, 18, 20 ; 
viii. 3, 9, 11) : in Joel : “ The great and terrible, day of Jehovah, 
and who can bear it ?” (ii. 1, 2, 11 ; iii. 14): and in Zephaniah : 
“ In that day there shall be a noise of a cry, The great day of 
Jehovah is near: that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble 
and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of dark- 
ness and gloominess,” &c. (i. 10, 14, 15) ; not to mention several 
other passages to the same purport : from which it is evident, 
that unless a way had been prepared for Jehovah, when descend- 
ing into the world, by bajrtism, the effect of which in heaven 
was such as to occasion the closing of the hells, and so to guard 
the Jews from total destruction, they must have perished before 
him. Jehovah also says to Moses, “ Ye are a stiffnecked people ; 
I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume 
thee” (Exod. xxxiii. 5). That this would have been the conse- 
quence of the Lord’s coming without preparation, is clear from 
the words of John to the multitude that came to be baptized by 
him : “ O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee 
from the wrath to come?” (Matt. iii. 7 ; Luke iii. 7). That John 
also, when he baptized, preached Christ and his coming, may be 
seen in Luke iii. 16; John i. 25, 26, 31 — 33; iii. 26. Hence it 
is plain how John prepared the way. 

690. The baptism of John represented the cleansing of the 
external man, whereas the baptism at this day administered 
among Christians represents the cleansing of the internal man, 
which is regeneration. It is therefore written, John baptized 
with water, but the Lord baptized with the Holy Spirit and with 
fire ; and hence the baptism of John is called the baptism of re- 
pentance (Matt. iii. 2; Mark i. 4; Luke iii. 3, 16; John i. 25, 
26, 33 ; Acts i. 22 ; x. 37 ; xviii. 25). The Jews who were bap- 
tized were merely external men, and the external man cannot 
become internal without faith in Christ. Those who were bap- 

677 


OF BAPTISM. 


690, 691 

tized with the baptism of John became internal men by receiving 
faith in Christ, and were then baptized in the name ot Jesus, as 
may be seen in the Acts of the Apostles, xix. 3 — 6. 

091. Moses said to Jehovah, “ Show me thy glory : and Je- 
hovah said, Thou canst not see my lace ; for there shall no man 
see me, and live. And he said, Behold, there is a place by me, 
and thou shalt stand upon a rock ; and it shall come to pass, 
while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the 
rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by ; and I 
will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts ; but 
my face shall not be seen” (Exod. xxxiii. 18 — 23). The reason 
why no man can see God, and live, is, because God is Love itself, 
and Love itself, or the Divine Love, in the spiritual world, ap- 
pears before the angels as a sun, distant from them as the sun 
of our world is distant from men ; therefore if God, who is in the 
midst of that sun, should approach near the angels, they would 
perish, just as men would in case this world’s sun should ap- 
proach near them, for it is equally hot and fiery. For this rea- 
son there are perpetual temperatures to modify and moderate the 
burning heat of that love, lest it flow into heaven as it is in itself; 
for in such case the angels would instantly be consumed. From 
the same cause, when the Lord manifests his more immediate 
presence in heaven, the wicked who are under heaven begin to 
mourn, to be in torment, and to feel the symptoms of death, so 
that they flee away into dens and clefts of the rocks, crying out, 
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sittetli on the 
throne (Rev. vi. 16 ; Isaiah ii. 19, 21). The Lord himself does 
not descend, but an angel encompassed with a sphere of love 
from the Lord. I have sometimes seen the wicked terrified by 
such descent, as if they had seen death itself before their eyes, 
some of them in their fright plunging headlong deeper and deeper 
into hell, and some driven to fury and madness. Hence it was 
that the children of Israel prepared themselves for three days 
previous to the descent of Jehovah the Lord on Mount Sinai, 
and that the mount was hedged about, lest any one should ap- 
proach and die (Exod. xix.). The case was the same with respect 
to the holiness of Jehovah the Lord in the decalogue promulgated 
at that time, and written on two tables with the finger of God, 
and afterwards deposited in the ark, over which in the tabernacle 
was placed the mercy-seat, and over that the cherubs, to prevent 
any one from immediately touching that holiness, or even look- 
ing at it. Aaron himself could only approach it once in a year, 
and not then, until he had expiated himself by sacrifices and 
incense. Hence it was that the inhabitants of Fkron and Beth- 
shemrsh, to the number of several thousands, died merely be- 
cause they saw the ark (1 Sam. v. 11, 12 ; vi. 19) ; as did also 
LTzzah, because he touched it (2 Sam. vi. d, 7). From these few 
instances it may easily be conceived with what a curse and de« 
678 


OF BAPTISM. 


691, 692 

struction the Jews would have been smitten had they not been 
prepared, by the baptism of John, to receive the Messiah, who 
was Jehovah God in a human form; and had he not assumed 
the Humanity, and so .revealed himself. Their preparation con- 
sisted in their being enrolled in heaven, and numbered among 
those who in heart expected and desired the Messiah, in conse- 
quence of which angels were sent and made their guardians. 

692. To the above I shall subjoin the following memorable 
relations. — first. On a time, as I was returning home from a 
school of wisdom \ludus sapiential],* I saw an angel in the way 
clad in a violet-colored garment. He joined me and walked by 
my side, and said, “ I see that you are returning from a school 
of wisdom, and are delighted with what you have heard there; 
but as I perceive you are not a full inhabitant of this world, 
because you are at the same time in the natural world, and are 
thence unacquainted with our Olympic gymnasia, where the 
Sophi [wise men] of old meet together, and by the information 
they collect from new-comers, learn what changes and succes- 
sions wisdom has undergone, and still undergoes in your world, 
if it please you I will conduct you to a place where several of 
these old Sophi and their sons, that is, their disciples, dwell.” 
So he led me to the confines between the north and east ; and 
while I was looking from an elevated spot upon the country 
before me, lo ! I discovered a city, and on one side of it two 
hills, the lower of which was nearest the city ; and he said to 
me, “ That city is called Athemeum, the lower hill Parnassus, 
and the higher Helicon ; they are so called, because in the city 
and around it dwell the old Sophi of Greece, Pythagoras, 
Socrates, Aristippus, Xenophon, with their disciples and schol- 
ars.” I asked him concerning Plato and Aristotle : he said, 
They and their followers dwell in another region, because their 
lessons were on subjects of reason, which belong to the under- 
standing, whereas the former taught moral duties, which belong 
to the life. He informed me further, that it was customary at 
times to depute from the city of Athenaeum some of the students 
to the literati who come from the Christian world, to learn what 
sentiments they entertain at this day concerning God, the 
creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the state 
of man as compared with that of beasts, with other subjects ol 
interior wisdom ; and he added further, that a herald had that 
day proclaimed an assembly, which w T as a token that the deputies 
had met with some strangers newly arrived from the earth, who 
had communicated to them matters of curious information. At 
that instant we saw many persons going from the city and its 
suburbs, some with laurel on their heads, some with palms in 
their hands, some with books under their arms, and some with 
pens pnder the hair of their left temples. AV e mixed with the com* 
* See above, n. 48. 


679 


692 


OF BAPTISM. 


pany, and ascended the hill with them ; and lo ! on the top ol it 
was an octagonal palace, called the Palladium, which we entered. 
Within it were eight hexagonal recesses, in each ot which was 
a bookcase, and also a table, at which the persons crowned with 
laurel took their seats, while the rest were reclining on benches 
ol’ stone in the Palladium itself. A door then opened to the 
left, through which two strangers newly arrived from earth were 
introduced ; and after the usual salutations had passed, one of 
the laurelled Sophi asked them, “ AVhatnews from the earth?” 
“ In some forests,” they replied, “ there have lately been found 
men like beasts, or beasts like men, scarcely distinguishable 
only by the face and body they were known to have been born 
men, who had been lost or left in the forests w T hen they were 
about two or three years old : they could neither express by 
sound any idea of thought, nor learn to articulate sounds so as 
to form words : they did not know the food that was proper and 
suitable for them, as the beasts do, but put greedily into their 
mouths whatever production they found in the forests, whether 
clean or unclean ; not to mention many other particulars of a 
similar description ; from which some of the learned among us 
have torrned several conjectures, and some several conclusions, 
on the state of men in relation to that of beasts.” On hearing 
this account, some of the old Sophi asked, “ What are the con- 
jectures and conclusions formed from the circumstances you have 
mentioned?” “There are several,” replied the two strangers, 
“ but they may all be comprised under these that follow : 1. A 

man by his nature, and also by birth, is more stupid, conse- 
quently more vile, than any beast, and without instruction he 
would grow up so : 2. He is capable of being instructed, in 

consequence of having learned to frame articulate sounds, and 
thence to speak, thus by degrees to utter his thoughts, and to 
improve in such utterance more and more, till at length he is 
able to express the laws of society, several of which however are 
impressed on beasts by instinct from their birth : 3. Beasts 

enjoy rationality as well as men : 4. So that if beasts were 

able to speak, they would reason on any subject as acutely as 
men ; a proof of which is, that their thoughts are grounded in 
reason and prudence as well as the thoughts of men. 5. Un- 
derstanding is but a modification of light from the sun, heat co- 
operating, by means of ether ; ' so that it is only the activity of 
interior nature, and this activity may be so exalted as to appear 
like wisdom : 6. It is therefore vain and delusive to believe, 

that a man, any more than a beast, lives after death; unless 
perchance, for some days after his decease, in consequence ot 
the exhalation of his bodily life, he may appear like mist under 
the form of a ghost, before he is dissipated into nature, much 
as a burnt twig, picked out of the ashes, appears under the 
likeness of its peculiar form : 7. Beligion, therefore, which 

680 


OF BAPTISM. 


692 


teaches that there is a life after death, is a mere invention, keep- 
ing the simple in inward bondage by its laws, as they are kept 
in outward bondage by the laws of the state.” To this they 
added, that people of mere ingenuity reasoned in the above 
manner, but not so the intelligent : and they were asked, “ How 
do. the intelligent reason ?” They replied, they had not been 
informed, but so expressed themselves by supposition. 

On hearing this account, all who sat at the tables exclaimed, 
“ Alas ! what times are come upon the earth ! what changes has 
wisdom undergone ! how is she transformed into a false and in- 
fatuated ingenuity ! the sun is set, and is stationed beneath the 
earth in direct opposition to his meridian altitude ! From the 
case just mentioned of those who have been left and found in 
forests, who cannot see, that a man uninstructed must necessarily 
be such as he \Vas then found to be? For is it not instruction 
which makes him what he is ? Is he not born in a state ot 
greater ignorance than a beast ? Must he not learn to walk and 
to speak ? Were he not taught to walk, would he ever stand 
upright on his feet ? And were he not taught to speak, w T ould 
he ever be able to express a single thought ? Is not every man 
moulded according to the instruction he receives ? Is he not 
insane by the reception of falses, and wise by the reception of 
truths ? And if insane by the reception of falses, is he not still 
possessed with the conceit that he is wiser than the receiver of 
truths ? Are there not men who are so senseless and w T ild, that 
they are no more men than those who have been found in forests ? 
Is it not so with those who are devoid of memory ? From all 
such examples, then, we have drawn the conclusion, that a man 
without instruction is neither a man nor a beast, but that he is 
a form capable of receiving that which constitutes a man, and 
therefore he is not born a man, but is made and becomes one. 
A man is born such a form, that he may be an organ receptive 
of life from God, to the end that he may be a subject into whom 
God may infuse all good, and by union with himself may make 
him eternally blessed. We have perceived by your discourse, 
that wisdom at this day is so far extinguished, or turned to folly, 
that ( mankind know nothing of the state of a man’s life in its 
relation to that of beasts, and hence they know nothing of his 
state of life after death ; when yet, those who are capable of at- 
taining such knowledge, but are unwilling to attain it, and for 
that reason deny it, as many of you Christians do, may fitly be 
compared to such as are found in forests ; not that they are ren- 
dered so stupid from the want of instruction, but because they 
have made themselves so by the fallacies of the senses, which are 
to truths what darkness is to daylight. 

At that instant, a certain person standing in the middle of 
the Palladium, and holding a palm in his hand, cried out, “ Un- 
told, I pray vou, this arcanum : How man, created a form of 
681 


692 OF BAPTISM. 

God, could be changed into a form of the devil. I know that 
the angels of heaven are forms of God, and the angels of hell 
are forms of the devil, and that those two forms are in opposition 
to each other, the latter being insanities, and the former wisdoms : 
tell me, then, how man, created a form of God, could pass from 
the light of day to such a midnight, as to deny a God and eter- 
nal life.” To this the several masters replied, in order, first the 
Pythagoreans, then the Socratics, and afterwards the rest : but 
tluere was a certain Platonist amongst them, who spoke last, and 
his opinion prevailed ; it was to this effect : “ The men of the 
Saturnian or golden age, knew and acknowledged that they were 
forms receptive of life from God ; so that wisdom being inscribed 
on their souls and hearts, they saw truth by the light of truth, 
and by means of truths had a perception of good from the delight 
of its love ; but as mankind in succeeding ages departed from 
the acknowledgment that all the truth of wisdom, and conse- 
quently all the good of love in them, entered by continual influx 
from God, they ceased to be the habitations of God, and at the 
same time ceased to have converse with God, and consociation 
with angels; for the interiors of their minds were bent from 
their former direction, which was an elevation by God upward 
towards God, in a direction more and more oblique, turning out- 
ward to the world, and so by God towards God through the 
world, and at length it was inverted to an opposite direction, 
which was downward towards themselves ; but as it is impossible 
for God to be beheld by man thus interiorly inverted, and con- 
sequently averted, they separated themselves from him, and were 
made forms of hell, and consequently of the devil. Hence it 
follows, that in the first ages of the world men acknowledged in 
heart and soul that they had all the good of love, and thence all 
the truth of wisdom, from God, which still were his, in them, 
and thus that they themselves were mere receptacles of life from 
God, whence they were called images of God, sons of God, and 
born of God ; whereas in succeeding ages they did not acknow- 
ledge this truth in heart and soul, but only with a kind of per- 
suasive faith, and afterwards with an historical faith, and at length 
with the lips alone, which last kind of acknowledgment is no 
acknowledgment at all ; in fact, it is a denial at heart. From 
what has been said, it is easy to see what kind of wisdom pre- 
vails at this day on earth among Christians, who, though they 
could be inspired by God from the written revelation they pos- 
sess, yet know not the distinction between man and beast ; hence 
many suppose, that in case a man lives after death, a beast must 
live also ; or because a beast does not live after death, neither 
will a man. Is not our spiritual light, which enlightens the sight 
of the mind, become darkness with such persons? and is not 
their natural light, which enlightens the sight of the body only, 
become brightness to them ?” 

682 


OF JBAP1ISM. 


692, 698 

After this they all turned themselves towards the two stran- 
gers, and thanking them for their attendance, and for the rela- 
tion they had given, they entreated them to go and communicate 
to their brethren what they had heard. The strangers said they 
would endeavor to convince their brethren, that so far as they 
attribute all the good of charity and all the truth of faith to the 
Lord, and not to themselves, so far they are men, and in the 
same proportion they become angels of heaven. 

693. The second memorable relation. — After some weeks, 
I heard a voice from heaven, saying, u Lo ! there is another 
assembly to be held on Parnassus: come hither, and we wil 1 
point out the way.” So I went; and as I drew nigh, I saw a 
certain person on Mount Helicon with a trumpet, announcing 
and proclaiming the assembly. The inhabitants of the city of 
Athenaeum and its suburbs w^ere ascending as before, and in the 
midst of them three novitiates just arrived from the natural 
world ; they were of the Christian community, the first a priest, 
the second a politician, and the third a philosopher. The inhab- 
itants of the city entertained them in the way with discourse on 
various subjects, particularly about the wise men of old, whom 
they mentioned by name. The novitiates inquired whether they 
should be permitted to see them, and were answered in the 
affirmative, and that they might also, if they were so disposed, 
pay their respects to them, for they were courteous and affable. 
They then inquired after Demosthenes, Diogenes, and Epicurus ; 
and received for answer, “ Demosthenes is not here, but with 
Plato ; Diogenes, with his scholars, has his abode below Helicon, 
because he regards worldly objects as of no account whatever, 
but keeps his mind wholly engaged in heavenly contemplations ; 
as for Epicurus, he dwells in a remote border towards the west, 
and is not admitted among us, because we distinguish between 
good and evil affections, asserting that good affections are united 
and make one wdth wisdom, but evil affections are contrary to 
wisdom.” When they had reached the top of Mount Parnassus, 
some guards stationed there brought water which issued from a 
fountain in the mount, in crystalline cups, and said, “ This is 
water from the fountain, which, according to ancient fable, was 
broken open by the hoof of the horse Pegasus, and w T as after- 
wards consecrated to nine virgins : by the winged horse Pegasus, 
the ancients understood the understanding of truth, which is the 
medium of attaining wisdom ; by the horse’s hoofs they under- 
stood matters of experience, by which natural intelligence is 
attained; and by. the nine virgins they understood knowledges 
and sciences of every kind : these things are now called fables, 
but they were in fact correspondences, agreeably to the primeval 
method of speaking.” Then those who attended the three 
strangers said, “ Be not surprised ; the guards here stationed 
have been instructed to speak in this manner ; and we, by drink- 
683 


G93 


OF BAPTISM. 


ing water from a fountain understand to be instructed in truths, 
and by truths in good, and thus to grow wise.” After this they 
entered the Palladium, and the three novitiates, the priest, the 
politician, and the philosopher, along with them ; and imme- 
diately the persons crowned with laurel, who sat at the tables, 
inquired, “What news from earth?” They replied, “ This is 
new, that a certain person declares that he holds converse with 
angels, and has his sight open into the spiritual world as dis- 
tinctly as into the natural ; in consequence of which he has 
brought thence a variety of new intelligence, and among othei 
particulars the following : that a man lives as a man after death, 
just as he lived before in the world ; that he sees, hears, con- 
verses, as he did before in the world ; that he is clothed and 
decked with ornaments, as before in the world ; that he hungers 
and thirsts, eats and drinks, as before in the world ; that lie 
enjoys conjugial delight as before in the world ; that he sleeps 
and wakes as before in the world ; that in the spiritual world 
there are lands and lakes, mountains and hills, plains and valleys, 
fountains and rivers, paradises and groves ; that there are also 
palaces and houses, cities and villages, as in the natural world ; 
besides writings and books, employments and trades ; as well as 
precious stones, gold, and silver ; in a word, that there are in 
the spiritual world all things that are in the natural world, 
and the same things in the heavens, infinitely more perfect, 
and yet with this difference, that all things in the spiritual 
world are from a spiritual origin, and consequently spiritual, 
because they are from the sun of that world, which is pure love, 
whereas all things in the natural world are from a natural 
origin, and consequently natural and material, because they 
are from the sun of that world, which is pure fire ; in short, 
that a man after death is perfectly a man, yea, more perfectly so 
than he w^as before in the world ; for there he was in a material 
body, but in this world he is in a spiritual body.” On hearing 
this, the ancient sages asked, “What do the people on earth 
think of such information?”- “We know that it is true,” the 
strangers replied, “ because we are in the spiritual world, and 
have viewed and examined all things ; but we will tell you the 
remarks and reasonings of people on earth about it.” Then the 
Priest said, “All of our order, when they first heard such 
relations, called them visions, afterwards fictions, then insisted 
that the man saw ideal spectres ; but at last they stopt, and said, 
4 Believe them who will : the doctrine we have hitherto taught 
is, that a man will not live in the body after death before the 
day of the last judgment.’ ” Then the sages asked, “ Are there 
not some persons of intelligence among the people of your order, 
who can prove and convince them of the truth, that a man lives 
as a man after death ?” The priest answered, 44 There are some 
who prove it indeed, but they cannot convince : those who prove 
684 


OF BAPTISM. 


693 


it say, that it is contrary to sound reason to suppose that a man 
does not live as a man before the day of the last judgment, and 
that he is in the mean time a soul without a body ; 4 for what,’ 
say they, 4 is the soul, or where is it in the mean time ? is it a 
vapor or a breath of wind, floating in the atmosphere, or an 
entity hid in the bowels of the earth? Where then is its Pu? 
Have the souls of Adam and Eve, and of all their posterity, for 
these six thousand years, or sixty centuries, been flitting about 
the universe, or been kept shut up in the centre of the earth, 
expecting the last judgment ? What can be conceived more 
anxious and miserable than such an expectation ? May not their 
condition, in such a case, be compared with that of prisoners 
bound with chains and fetters, and lying in a dungeon ? If this 
is to be the state of a man after death, would it not be better to 
be born an ass than a man ? But is it not contrary to reason to 
imagine that the soul can be reinvested with its natural body ? 
For is not the natural body devoured by worms, mice, or fish ? 
is then the very skeleton, which is dried up by the sun or decayed 
to dust, to be clothed with a new body ? for how can the cadav- 
erous and putrid materials be collected, so as to be united with 
their respective souls V When such arguments are urged, those 
of our order do not pretend to offer any rational objections, but 
adhere to their creed, saying , 4 We keep our reason in obedience 
to our faith.’ As to collecting all the dead from their graves at 
the last day, they say, 4 This is the work of omnipotence ;’ and 
when omnipotence and faith are named, reason is banished ; 
indeed, I can assert, that in such case sound reason is regarded 
as nothing, and by some as a spectre ; indeed, they can say to 
sane reason, 4 Thou art insane.’ ” On hearing this the Grecian 
sages said, 44 Surely such paradoxes, being full of contradiction, 
vanish and are dispersed of themselves ; and yet such is the state 
of the world at this day, that they cannot be dispersed by sound 
reason. What can be conceived more paradoxical than the pres- 
ent sentiments of mankind on the subject of the last judgment ; 
that then the universe will be destroyed, and the stars of heaven 
will then fall upon the earth (which yet is less than the stars), 
and the bodies of men, whether they be mouldering carcasses, or 
mummies eaten by men, or .mere dust, will be again united with 
their souls ? We, during our abode in the world, believed the 
immortality of human souls from the inductions with widen 
reason supplied us, and we also assigned regions for the blessed, 
which we called the Ely si an fields, and we believed that the soul 
was a human effigy or shape, but being spiritual, of a fine and 
delicate texture.” After this the assembly turned their attention 
to the second stranger, who in the world had been a politician. 
lie confessed that he had not believed in a life after death, and 
that he had thought the new information which he had heard 
about it to be all fiction and invention. 44 In my meditations,” 
685 


OF BAPTISM. 


693, 694 

said lie, “ on the subject, I used to say to myself, ‘ How car 
souls be bodies ? Does not the whole man lie dead in the grave ? 
Is not the eye there, how then can he see? Is not the ear there, 
how then can he hear? Whence can he have a mouth where- 
with to speak? Supposing any thing of man to live after death, 
can it be any thing but some sort of ghost or phantom ? And 
how can a phantom eat and drink, or enjoy conjugial delights ? 
Whence can it have clothes, % houses, meats, &c. ? Besides, phan- 
toms, which are mere aerial forms, appear as if they had being, 
and yet have none. 5 Such were my thoughts in the world on 
the subject of a life after death ; but now, since I have seen all 
things, and touched them with my hands, I am convinced by 
my very senses that? I am a man as formerly in the world ; so 
that I know no other than that I live now as I lived before, with 
this only difference, that my reason is now more sound : some- 
times I am ashamed of my former thoughts. 55 The philosopher 
gave much the same account of himself as the politician did, 
only differing in this respect, that he had classed the new rela- 
tions which he had heard concerning a life after death among 
the opinions and hypotheses which he had collected from the 
ancients and moderns on the same subject. When the three 
strangers had done speaking, the Sophi were all amazement, and 
those of the Socratic school said, “By this new information from 
the earth we perceive that the interiors of human minds have 
successively become closed, so that at this time in the world a 
belief in the false shines like truth, and an infatuated ingenuity 
like wisdom, and the light of wisdom has since our days de- 
scended from the interiors of the brain beneath the nose into the 
mouth, where it appears to view like a shining of the lips, while 
the speech which issues forth seems like wisdom. Hereupon one 
of the scholars said, “How stupid are the minds of men on earth 
at this day ! O that the disciples of Heraclitus and Democritus 
were here, who weep and laugh at every thing ; what laughter 
and weeping there would be !” When the assembly broke up, 
they gave the three novitiates badges of their authority, which 
were plates of copper, on which were engraven some hieroglyphic 
characters : with these they took their leave and departed. 

694. The third memorable relation. — Some time after, 
I was looking towards the city Athenaeum, which is mentioned 
in the preceding memorable relation, and I heard thence an un- 
usual cry. There was in it something of laughter, and in the 
laughter something of indignation, and in the indignation some- 
thing of sadness; still however the cry was not dissonant, but 
consonant, because one tone was not heard along with the other, 
but one was within the other. In the spiritual world a variety 
and mixture of affections is distinctly perceived in sound. I in- 
quired what was the matter ; they said, “A messenger is arrived 
from the place where the new-comers from the Christian world 
686 


OF BAPTISM. 


694 


first make their appearance, bringing information that he had 
heard from three persons that in the world whence they came it 
was the common belief that the blessed and happy after death 
enjoy an absolute rest from all labors ; and because administra- 
tions, offices, and employments are labors, they enjoy rest from 
these engagements also ; and as those three persons have been 
conducted hither by our emissary, and are now standing at the 
gate, waiting to be admitted, therefore a cry was raised, and they 
unanimously determined that the strangers should not be intro- 
duced into the Palladium on Parnassus, as the former were, but 
into a large hall of audience there, in order to declare what news 
they brought from the Christian world ; and accordingly some 
deputies have been sent to introduce them with due ceremony.” 
Being at that time myself in the spirit, and distances with spirits 
being according to the states of their affections, and feeling iri 
myself a strong desire to see and hear what passed among them, 
I seemed to myself present at the place, and saw them intro- 
duced, and heard what was said. The elders, or the wiser part 
of the audience, were seated at the sides of the hall, and the 
rest, in the middle. Before the latter was a place where the 
floor was raised, and hither the three strangers were conducted, 
with the messenger, and a grand procession of the junior mem- 
bers of the society, through the midst of the hall ; and as soon 
as there was silence, they were saluted by one of the elders pres- 
ent, and asked, “Wiiat news from earth?” They replied, 
“ There is a variety of news ; but tell us what kind of news, or 
in relation to what subject you inquire.” The elder answered, 
“What news from earth on the subject of our world and 
heaven?” They replied, “When we first came into this world, 
we were informed that here and in heaven there are administra- 
tions, ministries, offices, employments, trades, studies on all 
subjects of learning, together with wonderful practical arts and 
works ; and yet we imagined that after our removal or translation 
from the natural world into this which is spiritual, we should be 
admitted into an eternal rest from all labors ; for what are 
offices and employments but labors ?” “ Did you understand,” 

the elder asked, “ by eternal rest from labors, eternal inactivity, 
in which you would be continually sitting and lying down, with- 
out any thing to do, with your bosoms expanded and mouths 
open,- attracting and sucking in successive joys and delights ?” 
“We had some idea of the kind,” said the three strangers, 
smiling courteously. “ But,” they were answered, “ wlntf; have 
joys and delights, and the happiness thence resulting, in com- 
mon with a state of idleness and inactivity ? By idleness and 
inactivity the mind is enfeebled and contracted, instead of being 
strengthened and expanded, or, in other words, the man is in a 
state of death rather than of life. Suppose a person to sit still 
in the most perfect rest and inactivity, with his hands hanging 
687 


694 


OF BAPTISM. 


down, and bis eyes fixed on the ground or withdrawn from every 
object ; and suppose him at the same time to be encompassed 
with an atmosphere of gladness, would not a lethargy seize both 
his head and body, while the vital expansion of his countenance 
would fall, and with relaxed fibres he would nod and nod, until 
at last he would tumble to the ground ? For what is it that keeps 
the whole bodily system in its due expansion and tension, but 
the stretch or tension of the mind ? and whence is its stretch or 
tension, but from employment and work, when the discharge of 
them is attended with delight ? therefore I will declare to you 
this piece of news from heaven, that they have their administra- 
tions, offices, judiciary proceedings, both in greater and lesser 
matters, mechanical arts and manufactures.” The three stran- 
gers, on hearing of judiciary proceedings in heaven, said, “ To 
what purpose are such proceedings ? Are not all the inhabitants 
of heaven inspired and guided by God, so as to know what is 
iust and right What need then of judges ?” “ In this world,” 

the elder replied, “ we are instructed and learn what is good and 
true, and also what is just and equitable, just as in the natural 
world, and this we learn not immediately from God, but medi- 
ately by others. Besides, every angel, as well as every man, 
thinks what is true, and does what is good, as from himself, and 
this, according to the state of the angel, is mixed. and not pure. 
Moreover there are among, the angels some of a simple, some of 
a wise character, and it is the part of the wise to judge and de- 
cide as to what is right, when the simple, from their simplicity 
and ignorance, are doubtful, or depart from it. But as you are 
yet but strangers in this world, if it be agreeable to you to at- 
tend me into our city, we will show you all that it contains.” 
Then, accompanied by some of the elder sages, they left the hall 
of audience, and were introduced first into a large library, which 
was divided into classes arranged according to the different 
sciences. The three strangers, on seeing so many books, were 
astonished, and «aid, “Are there books too in this world ? whence 
have you parchment and paper, pens and ink ?” “We perceive,” 
the elder sages replied, “ that while you lived in the former world 
you imagined this world to' be empty and void, because it is 
spiritual, and this may be traced to your having entertained an 
idea of what is spiritual as abstracted from what is material, and 
being abstracted from what is material, it appeared to you as a 
mere nothing , consequently as empty and void, whereas in this 
world there is a fulness of all things. Here all things are sub- 
stantial, and not material, and material things derive their 
origin from substantial. We who live here are spiritual men, 
because we are substantial and not material. Hence it is that 
all things contained in the natural world are contained also in 
this world in their perfection, even books and writings, and many 
things that are not in the natural world.” The three strangers 
688 


OF BAPTISM. 


694 


hearing of things substantial, conceived that it must be so, as 
well because they saw written books as because they heard it as- 
serted that matter as to its origin is from substances. For their 
further confirmation on these points they were conducted to the 
houses of the scribes, who made copies from the writings of the 
wise men of the city ; and the } 7 inspected the writing, and were 
astonished at seeing it so neat and elegant. After this they were 
conducted to the museums, gymnasia, and colleges, and to the 
places where they held their literary sports, some of which they 
called sports of the Heliconides, some sports of the Parnassides, 
some sports of the Athenaides, and some sports of the virgins 
of the fountain. They said the latter were so called because vir- 
gins signify the affections of sciences, and every one’s intelli- 
gence is proportioned to his affection of science. The sports so 
called were spiritual exercises and trials of skill. Afterwards 
they were lead about the city to see the rulers, administrators, 
and subordinate officers, by whom they were conducted to view 
several wonderful works executed in a spiritual manner by the 
artificers. When they had taken a view of all these things, the 
elder before mentioned again entered into conversation with them 
on the eternal rest from labors into which the blessed and happy 
are admitted after death. “ Eternal rest,” he said, u is not in- 
activity, for inactivity produces a universal languor, torpidity, 
stupor, and sleepiness of the mind, and thence of the whole 
body, which is a state of death rather than life ; much less is it 
eternal life, which the angels of heaven enjoy. Eternal rest 
then is a rest which prevents and dispels such effects, and causes 
a man truly to live ; but this can be nothing else but what tends 
to elevate the mind ; it is consequently some employment and 
work, whereby the mind is put in motion, quickened, and de- 
lighted ; and these effects are produced according to the use by 
which, in which, and for which the work is performed. Hence 
it is that the whole heaven is regarded by the Lord as a con- 
tinent of use, and every angel is an angel in proportion to his 
use ; the delight attending the exercise of use bears the angels 
along as a favorable current does a ship, causing them to be in 
eternal peace, and in its rest : this is the meaning of eternal rest 
from labors. That an angel is quickened or made alive accord- 
ing to the exertion of his mind in the production of use, is very 
evident from this circumstance, that every one enjoys conjugial 
love, with its vigor, power, and delights, according to his appli- 
cation to general use.” When the three strangers were con- 
vinced that eternal rest is not inactivity, but the delight attend- 
ing the performance of some useful work, some virgins came and 
•presented them with pieces of embroidery and net-work, wrought 
with their own hands ; and as the novitiate spirits took theii 
leave, the virgins sang an ode, in which they expressed with an 
689 y y 


694, 695 


OF BAPTISM. 


gelic melody the affection of useful works with the pleasures it 
inspires. 

695. The fourth memorable relation, — Very many per- 
sons at this day, who believe in a life after death, believe too 
that in heaven subjects of devotion will engage all their thoughts, 
and that their lips will express nothing but prayers, and that in 
devotion and prayer, expressed both in the features of the face 
and the postures of the body, they will be always employed in 
glorifying God ; thus that their houses will be so many houses 
of worship, or sacred chapels, and themselves so many priests 
of God. But I can testify and assert that in heaven the holy 
subjects and rites of the church do not more engage the minds 
and houses of the inhabitants than where in the world God is 
truly honored and worshipped, although the honor and worship 
in heaven are of a purer and more interior nature ; but that 
various matters relating to civil prudence and rational erudition 
are there cultivated in all the perfection of excellence. I was 
one day raised into heaven, and introduced into a society consist- 
ing of the sophi, or sages, who in old time had distinguished 
themselves by their learned lucubrations and meditations on sub- 
jects of reason, and which at the same time were applicable to 
use, and who are at present in heaven, because they believed in 
God, and now believe in the Lord, and loved their neighbor as 
themselves. Then I was introduced to an assembly of them, 
and there questioned whence I came ; so I gave an explanation, 
and said, “With my body I am in the natural world, but with 
my spirit in your spiritual world.” At this information those 
angels were rejoiced, and immediately inquired, “What do the 
people of the world, where you are with the body, know and un- 
derstand on the subject of influx?” Then recollecting all that 
I had heard or read on that subject, either in the discourses or 
the writings of the most distinguished literati, I answered, 
“ They as yet know nothing of any influx from the spiritual 
world into the natural, but only of an influx of nature into nat- 
ural objects, as of the influx of heat and light from the sun into 
animate bodies, and also into trees and shrubs, causing each to 
become living ; and on the other hand of an influx of cold into 
the same things, causing their torpor and death. They have 
besides some knowledge of an influx of light into the eyes so as 
to produce vision, of an influx of sound into the ears producing 
the sense of hearing, and of an influx of odor into the nostrils, 
whence comes smelling, &c. Moreover, the learned of the pres- 
ent times reason differently as respects the influx of the soul 
into the body, and of the body into the soul, and on this subject 
are divided between these three opinions, whether the influx be 
of the soul into the body, which they call occasional, as being 
excited by the occasional incidence of objects upon the bodily 
690 


OF BAPTISM. 


695 


senses ; or whether influx be of the body into the soul, which 
they call physical, because objects strike upon the senses, and 
from them are conveyed to the soul ; or whether influx be simul- 
taneous and instantaneous into the body and soul at the same 
time, which they call a pre-established harmony. Nevertheless 
the favorers of each of these opinions confine their notions of 
influx within the sphere of nature, some supposing the soul to 
be a particle or drop of ether ; some that it is a globule or spark 
of heat and light ; some that it is a kind of ens concealed in the 
brain. According to each of these suppositions they speak ol 
the soul as something spiritual, but then by spiritual they mean 
a something natural in a state of the greatest purity ; for know- 
ing nothing about the spiritual world, and its influx into the 
natural, they rest within the sphere of nature, ascending and 
descending, and soaring aloft therein, like eagles in the atmo- 
sphere ; when yet grovelling as they do in nature, and never rising 
above it, they are like the inhabitants of an island in the sea, 
who do not know there is any other country than their own ; or 
they are like fish in a river, which do not know that above the 
water there is such an element as air. On this account, when they 
hear of a world distinct from their own, inhabited by angels and 
spirits, and that all influx into men, and also the interior influx 
into trees, is from the world, they stand astonished, as if they 
heard some visionary narrations about spectres, or the idle tales 
of astrologers. Except the philosophers, the inhabitants of the 
world where I am in the body think and talk of no other kind of 
influx than that of wine into glasses, or of meat and drink into 
the stomach, and of taste into the tongue, and possibly also of 
an influx of air into the lungs, and the like; but when they are 
told of an influx of the spiritual world into the natural, they im- 
mediately say, “ Be it so ; what matters it to us, and of what 
use is it to be assured that it ia so ?” Thus they get rid of the 
subject, and afterwards when they speak on what they have heard 
of such influx, they sport and trifle with it as some people do 
by twirling in their hands spiral shells or other trifles. 

Afterwards I conversed with those angels on the wonderful 
phenomena which exist from the influx of the spiritual world into 
the natural ; particularly on the subject of caterpillars during 
their change into butterflies, also on bees and drones, silk- worms, 
and likewise spiders; informing them, that the inhabitants of 
the earth ascribe such phenomena to the sun’s light and heat, 
and consequently to nature, and, what had often surprised me, 
they confirmed themselves by these things in favor of nature, 
and by such confirmation bring sleep and death over their minds, 
and become atheists. After this I related to them some extraor- 
dinary particulars respecting vegetables, how all of them succes- 
sively grow in a regular process from their seed, even to the pro- 
duction of new seeds, just as if the earth knew how to dispose? 
691 


OF BAPTISM. 


695, 696 

and accommodate her elements to the prolific principle of the 
seed, and from thence to bring forth a bud, dilate that into a 
stem, and from the stem to emit branches, and clothe these with 
leaves, and afterwards adorn them with flowers, and from the in- 
teriors of the flowers to form the initiament of fruits, then bring 
them to perfection, and by means of these, in order to continue 
the kind, to produce new seeds as a neW offspring. These won- 
derful phenomena however, as they are continually observed, and 
return at stated seasons, and so become familiar, customary, and 
common, are not regarded by mankind on earth as wonders, but 
as mere effects of nature ; the only reason for which is, that they 
are ignorant of the existence of a spiritual world, operating from 
within, and acting on all and every thing in the world of nature, 
and on its earth, just as the human mind operates and acts upon 
the senses and motions of the body, and that all the parts of na- 
ture are but as coats, sheaths, and clothing, which encompass 
spiritual things, and proximately produce effects corresponding 
to the end intended by God the Creator. 

696. The fifth memorable relation. — I once prayed to 
the Lord, that he would permit me to converse with the disciples 
of Aristotle, and at the same time with those of Descartes, and 
also with those of Leibnitz, to the end that I might hear from 
them their opinions on the intercourse between the soul and the 
body ; and when I had prayed, nine persons presented themselves 
to my view, three of each class, and ranged themselves about 
me ; the worshippers of Aristotle on the left, the followers of 
Descartes on the right, and the favorers of Leibnitz behind. At 
a great distance off, and at considerable intervals of space from 
each other, I saw three men, crowned with laurel, whom I knew, 
by an influent perception from heaven, to be the three founders 
of those sects ; behind Leibnitz stood one who had hold on the 
skirt of his garment, and I was told he was Wolfius. The nine 
men when they first met behaved courteously to one another ; 
but presently there arose a spirit from beneath with a torch in 
his right hand, which he waved before their faces, and then they 
became enemies, three against three, and looked at each other 
with a stern aspect, for they were seized with the passion of al- 
tercation and dispute. The Aristotelians, who were of the school- 
men, began the debate, saying, “Who does not perceive that 
objects enter by influx through the senses into the soul, just as 
a man enters into a room through the door, and consequently 
that the soul thinks according to such influx ? When a lover 
beholds the mistress of his affections, do not his eyes sparkle, 
and convey the love of the fair object of his soul ? When a heap 
of money presents itself to the view of the miser, do not all his 
senses burn at the sight, and transfer their emotion to his soul, 
exciting there an ardent desire to possess it ? And when the 
vain man hears himself praised, does Ue not prick up his ears at 
692 


"of baptism. 696 

toe sound, and do not these convey the praises to his soul ? Arc 
not these instances, among numberless others, sufficient to de- 
monstrate that the bodily senses are like inlets to the soul, and 
to establish the doctrine of physical influx, that is, an influx 
froir nature F To this the Cartesians, who had hitherto stood 
with their fingers placed beneath their foreheads, in a musing 
posture, replied as follows : “ Alas, you reason from appearances 
only ! Do you not know, that it is not the lover’s eye that ad- 
mires and desires the beloved object, but his soul ? that it is not 
from any bodily sense that the miser covets the golden heap, but 
from his soul ? and lastly, that it is not from themselves that the 
vain man’s ears so eagerly listen to the praises of the flatterer, 
but from the soul ? Is it not the perceptive faculty which pro- 
duces sense ? and perception is a faculty not of the organ but of 
the soul. Show us, if you can, what causes the tongue and the 
lips to speak but thought, or the hands to work but the will ; and 
thought and will belong to the soul. So again, what but the 
soul makes the eyes see, the ears hear, and gives to other organs 
the power of feeling, attending, and adverting to objects ? From 
these and many more convincing proofs, every one whose wisdom 
is elevated above the sensual apprehensions of the body, con- 
cludes, that influx proceeds not from the body into the soul, but 
from the soul into the body, and this we call occasional, and also 
spiritual influx ?” After this, the three who were favorers of 
Leibnitz, and stood behind the other triads, cried out and said, 
“We have heard and compared the arguments on both sides, and 
find that in many respects the latter are stronger than the for- 
mer, and in many others the former are stronger than the latter, 
and therefore, if agreeable, we will settle the difference.” On 
being asked, how* ? they answered, “ By setting aside all influx 
from the soul into the body, and also from the body into the soul, 
and by maintaining a joint consent and instantaneous operation 
of both together, wliich a celebrated author has distinguished by 
the admirable name of pre-established harmony.” Upon this, 
the spirit appeared again with the torch, but now it was in his 
left hand, and he waved it behind their heads ; on this all their 
ideas became confused, and they cried out with one voice, 
“ Neither our soul nor our body knows which side to take ; let 
us then decide the dispute by casting lots, and abide by that 
which comes up first.” They then took three bits of paper, on 
one of which they wrote physical influx, on the second spir- 
itual influx, and on the third pre-established harmony : 
these they put into the crown of a cap, and appointed one of 
their number to be the drawer, who putting in his hand, drew 
out that lot on which was written spiritual influx. On seeing 
and reading this, they all said, some with a clear and fluent tone 
of voice, and others with a faint and indrawn tone, “ Let us 
abide by this, because it came out first.” At that instant an 
693 


OF BAPTISM. 


696, 697 

angel suddenly appeared, and said to them, “ Do not suppose that 
the lot in favor of spiritual influx came forth by mere chance ; 
but know, that it was by divine direction ; for not being able, 
from the confusion of your ideas, to discern the truth of that 
doctrine, the very truth thus presented itself to the hand, that 
so you might be led to favor it.” 

697. The sixth memorable relation. — I once observed, 
not far from me, a singular meteoric phenomenon, — a cloud 
divided into lesser clouds, some of which were of an azure color, 
and some opake ; I saw them as it were in collision together: 
rays, disposed in streaks, which at one time appeared pointed 
like sharp swords, and at another blunt, like broken swords, 
shone through them : the streaks sometimes darted out against 
each other, at other times drew themselves back within them- 
selves, just like the swords of actual combatants : thus these 
lesser clouds of diverse colors appeared as if they were con- 
tending with each other in battle ; but this was an illusion. As 
this meteoric phenomenon appeared at no great distance from 
me, I lifted up my eyes, and looking attentively, saw some boys, 
young men, and old men, entering into a house which was built 
of marble, with a foundation of porphyry, : nd it was over this 
house that the above phenomenon appeared ; so addressing myself 
to one who was going in, I asked, u What house is this ?” He 
answered, “It is a gymnasium, where young persons are initiated 
into various arcana of wisdom.” Hearing this, I went in with 
the rest, being then in the spirit, that is, being in a similar state 
with the men of the spiritual world, who are called spirits and 
angels ; and lo ! within the gymnasium in front appeared a desk, 
in the middle benches, seats round about the sides, and over the 
entrance an orchestra. The desk w r as for the young men who 
were to give answers to the problem about to be proposed, the 
benches were for the auditors, the seats on the sides for those 
who on former occasions had given wise answers, and the 
orchestra for the seniors who were to be judges and arbitrators. 
In the middle of the orchestra was a pulpit, where sat a wise 
man whom they called the head master, who proposed the prob- 
lems to which the young men in the desk were to give answers. 
When they were all assembled, this man arose and said, “ I 
pray you give an answer to this problem, and solve it if you can : 
What is the soul, and what is its nature and quality?” 
On hearing this problem all were surprised, and began to mur- 
mur, and some of the auditors on the benches exclaimed, “ What 

man, from the Saturnian age down to the present time, has been 

able, by any rational thought, to see and conceive what the soul 
is, and much less its nature and quality ? Is not this a subject 
above the sphere of all human understanding?” But they were 
told from the orchestra, “ It is not above the understanding, 
but within its sphere, and open to its apprehension ; so let the 

694 


OF BAPTISM. 


607 


problem oe answered/’ Then the young men who were appointed 
For that day to ascend the desk, and reply to the question, arose : 
they were live in number, who had been examined by the seniors, 
and Found to be possessed of sagacity and discernment. When 
the problem was proposed, they were sitting on sofas by the 
desk. They ascended in the order in which they sat, and each, 
when he ascended, put on a tunic of silk, of an opaline color, 
and over it a gown of soft wool, in which flowers were inter- 
woven, and on his head a cap, on the top of which was a bunch 
of roses encircled with small sapphires. The first youth, thus 
attired, ascended the desk, and thus began : “ What the soul is, 
and what are its nature and quality, is a mystery hidden among 
the deep secrets of God, which has never been revealed to any 
one from the day of creation. It has indeed been discovered, 
that the soul resides in man like a queen ; but where she keeps 
her court is, among the learned, a matter of mere conjecture. 
Some have supposed it to be in the small tubercle between the 
cerebrum, and the cerebellum, called the pineal gland, and 
there they have fixed the soul’s habitation, from observing that 
the whole man is governed by those two spheres of the brain, 
and that these again are regulated by that tubercle ; whatever 
therefore regulates the brains at pleasure, must also regulate 
the whole man from head to foot.” He added, u Hence this 
account was received as true, or probable, by many in the world ; 
but in the course of this century it has been rejected as ground- 
less.” When he had thus ended, he took off his gown, tunic, 
and cap, which the second of the appointed speakers put on, and 
then ascending the desk, thus delivered his sentiments con- 
cerning the soul : “ What the soul is, and what are its nature 
and quality, are points utterly unknown both in heaven and in 
the world : this only is known, that it is, and that it is in man, 
but in what part of him is a matter of conjecture : it is clear, 
however, that it is in the head, for there the understanding 
thinks and the will intends, and in the fore part of the head, 
that is, in the face, the five sensories are situated, and both the 
former and the latter receive their life from the soul only, which 
resides within the head ; but where it may have its immediate 
residence, I dare not take upon me to determine. At one 
time, however, I agree with those who assign it a seat in the 
three ventricles of the cerebrum ; at another I incline to favor 
those who fix it in the corpora striata ; sometimes, those who fix 
it in the medullary substance of each sphere of the brain ; some- 
times, those who fix it in the cortical substance ; and sometimes, 
those who fix it in the dura mater ; for arguments, and those 
too of weight, have been urged in favor of each of these opinions. 
The arguments in favor of the three ventricles of the cerebrum 
were, that those ventricles are the receptacles of the animal 
spirits, and of all the lymphatic juices of the cerebrum. The 
695 


697 


OF BAPTISM. 


arguments in favor of the corpora striata were, that they form 
the medullce by which the nerves are emitted and branch out, 
and by which both spheres of the brain are continued into the 
spine, and that from both these, that is, the medulla oblongata 
and the medulla spinalis , the nervous fibres shoot forth, which 
serve for the contexture of the whole body. The arguments in 
favor of the medullary substance of both spheres of the brain 
were, that their substance is a collection or congeries of all the 
fibres, which are the rudiments or initiaments of the whole 
animal frame. The arguments in favor of the cortical substance 
were, that in that substance are contained the first and ultimate 
ends, and consequently the origins of all the fibres, and thereby 
of all the senses and motions. The arguments in favor of the 
dura mater were, that it is the common covering of both spheres 
of the brain, whence it is extended by a kind of continuity over 
the heart and the viscera of the body. With relation to myself, 
I am undetermined which of these opinions is the most probable, 
and so request to leave the matter to your judgment and deci- 
sion.” Thus saying, he descended from the desk, and pulling 
off his gown, tunic, and cap, he gave them to a third, who, 
mounting the desk, began as follows : “ How little qualified is a 
youth like myself for the investigation of so sublime a theorem ! 
I appeal to the learned persons in the seats on each side ; I 
appeal to you wise ones in the orchestra ; yea, I appeal to the 
angels of the highest heaven, whether any person, by the light 
of his own reason, can form to himself any idea of the soul ; 
nevertheless I, like others, can form conjectures about the place 
of its residence in man, and my conjecture is, that it resides in 
the heart, and thence in the blood. How, I ground my con- 
jecture on this circumstance, that the heart with its blood rules 
both the body and the head ; for it sends forth the large vessel, 
the aorta , into the whole of the body, and the vessels called 
carotids into the whole of the head ; hence it is universally agreed 
that the soul from the heart, by means of the blood, supports, 
nourishes, and gives life to the whole organical system of both 
body and head. As a corroboration of this position it may be 
urged, that soul and heart are so frequently mentioned in holy 
Scripture ; as for instance, 4 Thou shalt love God with all thy 
soul, and with all thy heart and 4 God created in man a new 
soul and a new heart 5 (Deut. vi. 5 ; x. 12 ; xi. 13 ; xxvi. 16 ; 
Jer. xxxii. 41 ; Matt. xxii. 37 ; Mark xii. 30, 33 ; Luke x. 27), 
besides other passages, particularly Levit. xvii. 11, 14, where it 
is said expressly that 4 the life of the flesh is the blood. 5 55 At 
these words the cry of 44 Learned ! learned ! 55 was heard in the 
assembly, proceeding from some canons or regular priests. 
When the cry had ceased, a fourth speaker, putting on the gar- 
ments of the former, ascended the desk, and thus began: 44 1 
also am inclined to suspect that no one can be found of so 
696 


OF BAPTISM. 


697 


refined and penetrating a genius as to be able to discover wbat 
the soul is, and what are its nature and quality ; therefore I am 
of opinion that in attempting to make such a discovery, all 
refinement and penetration will be exhausted with fruitless labor. 
Still, however, I have from my early years continued firm in the 
opinion of the ancients, that the soul is in the whole and in every 
part of man, and consequently that it is both in the head and in 
all its parts, and the body and all its parts, and that it is an idle 
conceit of the moderns to fix its residence in any one particular 
spot, without admitting it to extend everywhere; besides, the 
soul is a spiritual substance, and so falls not under the predicates 
of extension or place, but only of habitation and impletion. 
Moreover, when the soul is named, is not the idea of life gener- 
ally suggested ? and who does not allow that life is in the whole 
and every part ?” These sentiments were favorably received by a 
great part of the audience. Next rose up a fifth speaker, who, 
putting on the oratorical robes, and mounting the desk, thus 
delivered himself : 44 I will not waste your time and my own in 
determining the place of the soul’s residence, whether it is con- 
fined to some particular part, or is everywhere diffused through- 
out the whole ; but from my mind’s storehouse I will communi- 
cate to you the sentiments I have embraced in relation to the 
proposed inquiry, 4 What is the soul, and what are its nature 
and quality ?’ The general idea concerning the soul is, that it 
is a pure somewhat, which may be compared to ether, air, or 
wind, animated by a vital principle within it, in consequence of 
the rationality which man enjoys above the beasts. This too is 
my opinion, which I have founded on this circumstance, that a 
man at his decease is said to breathe forth or emit his soul or 
spirit : hence also the soul, in its state of life after death, is sup- 
posed by some to be such a breath or vapor, animated by a 
cogitative life, which is called the soul ; and what else can the 
soul be ? But as I heard it declared from the orchestra, that this 
problem concerning the soul, its nature and quality, is not above 
the understanding, but within its sphere and apprehension, I 
entreat and beseech you who sit in that exalted station, to unfold 
to us this eternal mystery.” Then the elders in the orchestra 
turned their eyes towards the head master that had proposed the 
problem, who understood by their signs that they wished him tc 
descend and unfold it to the audience ; so he instantly quitted 
the pulpit, passed through the crowd, mounted the desk, and 
stretching out his hand, thus began : 44 May I bespeak your at- 
tention ? Who does not believe that the soul is the inmost and 
most subtile essence of man ? but what is a formless essence but 
a mere mental abstraction ? the soul therefore is a form ; but of 
what sort I will now proceed to describe. It is a form of all 
things belonging to love, and of all things belonging to wisdom. 
All things belonging to love are called affections, and all things 
697 


697 


OF BAPTISM. 


belonging to wisdom are called perceptions : the latter are 
from the former, and thus together with them constitute one 
form, which contains innumerable things in such an order, series 
and coherence, that they may be called a one ; and they may be 
so called because nothing can be taken away thence, or added 
thereto, without destroying the integrity of the whole. What 
is the human soul but such a form ? Are not all things of love 
and all things of wisdom the essentials of that form ? And are 
not all these with a man in his soul, and by derivation from the 
soul in his head and body ? You are called spirits and angels, 
and you supposed in the world that spirits and angels are like 
mere wind or ether, and thus mere rational and animal minds 
( mentes et animi ) ; but now you clearly see that you are truly, 
really, and actually men, who during your abode in the world 
lived and thought in a material body, and were aware that it is 
not the material body which lives and thinks, but that life and 
thought must originate in a spiritual substance in that body, and 
this you called the soul, whose form you were then ignorant of, 
but which you have now seen and continue to see. You are all 
souls, of whose immortality you have heard, thought, said, and 
written so much ; and since you are forms of love and wisdom 
from God, therefore you cannot die to all eternity. The soul 
therefore is a human form, from which nothing can be taken 
away, and to which nothing can be added, and it is the inmost 
of all the forms in the whole body ; and as the forms that are 
without receive from the inmost both their essence and their form, 
therefore you are, as you appear both to yourselves and us, souls. 
In a word, the soul is the real man, because it is the inmost 
man, on which account it is in the human form in all its fulness 
and perfection ; nevertheless it is not life, but the proximate re- 
ceptacle of life from God, and thus the habitation of God.’’ At 
these words many expressed their approbation, but some said, 
“We will consider of it.” I then departed and went home ; and 
lo ! over the gymnasium, instead of the former meteoric appear- 
ance, there was a white cloud without the streaks or rays that 
seemed to combat with each other, which cloud, penetrating 
through the roof, entered the building and enlightened the walls ; 
and I was informed that they saw some pieces of writing upon 
them, and this among others : “ Jehovah God breathed into 
man’s nostrils the breath of lives , and man became a livina soul ” 
(Gen. ii. 7). 


098 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


698, 699 


CHAPTER XIH. 

THE HOLY SUPPER. 

L. That it is impossible for any one, without an acquaint- 
ance WITH THE CORRESPONDENCE OF NATURAL THINGS WITH 
SPIRITUAL, TO KNOW THE USES AND BENEFITS OF THE HOLY 
SUPPER. 

698. This was in part unfolded in the chapter on Baptism, 
where it was shown that without a knowledge of the spiritual 
sense of the Word, it is impossible to know what the two sacra- 
ments, baptism and the holy supper, imply and effect : see n. 
667 — 669. Here, [instead of saying “ without a knowledge of 
the spiritual sense of the Word,”] we say u without an acquaint- 
ance with the correspondences of natural things with spiritual,” 
which amounts to the same, since the natural sense of the Word 
is changed into the spiritual by correspondences in heaven ; hence 
it is that those two senses mutually correspond. Whoever, there- 
fore, is acquainted with correspondences, may know the spiritual 
sense of the Word. The meaning and nature of correspondences 
may be seen explained in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, 
from the beginning to the end, and likewise in the Explication 
of the Decalogue, from the first to the last commandment, and 
particularly in the Apocalypse Revealed. 

699. What true Christian does not acknowledge the sanctity 
of the two sacraments, — baptism and the holy supper? yea, 
further, that they are the most holy institutions of worship in 
the Christian church ? but yet who has heretofore known in what 
their peculiar sanctity consists, or whence it is derived ? In the 
institution of the holy supper, according to the natural sense, 
we learn nothing more than that the flesh of Christ is given us 
to eat, and his blood to drink, and that the bread and wine are 
taken in lieu of them ; but who from this can frame any other 
idea of the sanctitj 7 of this sacrament,- than that it consists solely 
in having been commanded by the Lord ? Accordingly, some very 
learned writers in the Christian church have maintained that it 
is made a sacrament, and acquires its sanctity, by the form ol 
words used in the consecration of the elements. But as this 
origin of its sanctity does not fall within the scope of the under- 
standing, or appear in the elements or symbols used in the sacra- 
ment, but only enters the memory, therefore many people fre- 
quent this ordinance under the idea that it tends to the forgive- 
ness or remission of their sins ; some again, that it is a means of 
sanctification; some, that it strengthens their faith, and thus 
also promotes their salvation. But those who think lightly of this 
ordinance, frequent it merely in compliance with custom, and 

699 


699—701 


THE HOLT SUPPER. 


because they have been taught to do so from their early years ; 
others again, because they can discern no reason or meaning in 
it, never frequent it ; while persons of a profane turn reject it 
entirely, saying within themselves, u What is it but a mere form 
and ceremony, which has acquired a sanctity from the authority 
of the clergy'? For what is there to be received, except common 
Dread and wine ? And what a strange fiction is it to suppose 
that the body of Christ which hung upon the cross, and his blood 
which was then shed, are distributed along with the bread and 
wine to the communicants ?” Not to mention other scandalous 
suggestions. 

700. Such ideas of this most holy sacrament are at this day 
generally entertained throughout all Christendom, solely because 
they coincide with the literal sense of the Word ; and the spirit- 
ual sense, by which alone the uses and benefits of the holy sup- 
per can be truly discerned, has hitherto remained unknown, for 
until now it has never been revealed. The reason why this spir- 
itual sense is now first revealed is, because prior to this Chris- 
tianity existed only in name, and at best only as a kind of shadow 
in certain individuals; for mankind have not heretofore ap- 
proached and worshipped the Saviour himself as the only God, 
in whom is the Divine Trinity, immediately, but only mediately, 
which is in fact not to approach and worship him, but only to 
honor and respect him as a cause for whose sake salvation is 
given to man ; and this is not making him the essential, but the 
mediatory cause, which is below the essential cause, and extrin- 
sic to it. But as true Christianity is now beginning to dawn, and 
the Lord is now instituting a new church signified by the New 
Jerusalem in the Revelation, in which God the Father, the Son 
and the Holy Spirit are acknowledged as one, because they are 
in one person, it has therefore pleased the Lord to reveal the 
spiritual sense of the Word, to the intent that this church may 
be admitted into the real use and benefit of the two sacraments, 
baptism and the holy supper, which intent is fulfilled when the 
members of this church perceive with their spiritual eyes, that 
is, with their understandings, the sanctity concealed in it, and 
apply it to themselves by those means which the Lord has taught 
in his Word. 

701. The sanctity of the sacrament of which we are now 
speaking, without an opening of the spiritual sense of the Word, 
or what is the same thing, without a revelation of the corre- 
spondences of natural things with spiritual, can no more be 
inwardly known and acknowledged than a treasure can be known 
while it lies hid in a field ; for then the field is held in no higher 
estimation than any common field ; but when it is discovered 
that it contains a treasure, it is esteemed of great value, and the 
owner begins to reckon much upon the riches he shall draw 
from it, especially when he learns that tue treasure concealed in 

700 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 701 

it is of a price infinitely exceeding that of gold. Abstracted from 
the spiritual sense, this sacrament is like a house that is shut up, 
but full of cabinets and caskets of valuable treasures, which is 
passed by like any other house in the street ; and yet, as it was 
built by the clergy with walls of marble ; and its roof is covered 
with plates of gold, it attracts the eyes of all the passengers, and 
excites their delight and commendation. The case however is 
altered when this house is opened, and every one is permitted to 
enter, and the keeper of the treasures freely distributes them, 
imparting them to some as a loan, to others as a gift, to each 
according to his worth. We speak of the treasures being im- 
parted as a gift, because they are inexhaustible, and are con- 
tinually renewed. Just so it is with the Word as to its spiritual 
riches,, and with the sacraments as to their celestial contents. 
The sacrament of which we are now speaking, without a revela- 
tion of the inward sanctity concealed in it, appears like common 
river sand, in which there is a great abundance of gold dust that 
escapes common observation ; but when the inward sanctity is 
revealed, it is then like the gold when collected and melted 
down into a mass, and cast into various beautiful forms. This 
sacrament, while its sanctity is undiscovered and unseen, may 
also be compared with a box or chest made of beech or poplar 
wood, containing diamonds, rubies, and many other precious 
stones arranged in exact order. Who does not hold that box or 
chest in estimation when he is informed of the valuable things 
which it contains, and especially when he has a sight of them, 
and they are distributed freely as gifts? This sacrament, so long 
as its correspondences with heaven are unrevealed, and the 
heavenly things wherewith it corresponds are unseen, may be 
compared to an angel appearing in the. world among men in a 
common garb, who would only be respected according to his 
dress ; but how would the case be changed when he was dis- 
covered to be an angel, and when angelic wisdom flowed from his 
tongue, and wonderful effects from his actions ! The difference 
between the mere affirmation of sanctity and its demonstration 
to the sight, may be illustrated by the following case which hap- 
pened in the spiritual world : — There was read an epistle written 
by Paul while he sojourned here on earth, but of which he was 
never publicly known to be the author. At first this epistle was 
lightly esteemed and disregarded by the hearers ; but when it 
was discovered to be one of Paul’s epistles, it was received with 
joy, and its contents were adored. Hence it appeared plain to 
me, that the mere affirmation of sanctity respecting the Word 
and the sacraments, when made by clergymen of rank and dig- 
nity in the church, impresses indeed an idea of sanctity, but far 
different from what is impressed when the real sanctity itself is 
discovered and made manifest to the sight, as in the revelation 
of its spiritual sense ; for thus external sanctity is rendered 
701 


701 — 703 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


internal, and what was only assertion becomes acknowledgment. 
This is the case too with the sanctity of the sacrament of the 
holy supper. 

II. That an acquaintance with correspondences serves to dis- 
cover TIIE SIGNIFICATION OF THE LORD’S FLESH AND BLOOD, AND 
THAT THE BREAD AND WINE SIGNIFY THE SAME, NAMELY, THAT 
THE LORD’S FLESH AND THE BREAD SIGNIFY THE DIVINE GOOD OF 
HIS LOVE, AND LIKEWISE ALL THE GOOD OF CHARITY, AND THAT 
HIS BLOOD AND THE WINE SIGNIFY THE DIVINE TRUTH OF HIS WIS- 
DOM, AND LIKEWISE ALL THE TRUTH OF FAITH, AND THAT TO EAT 
SIGNIFIES TO APPROPRIATE. 

702. As the spiritual sense of the Word is at this day re- 
vealed, and together with it the science of correspondences, these 
being the mediatory links which connect the spiritual sense of 
the Word with the natural, we will here adduce some passages 
from the Word which clearly show the meaning of flesh and 
blood and of bread and wine in the holy supper. But we will 
premise an account of the institution of this sacrament by the 
Lord, together with his doctrine concerning his flesh and blood, 
and concerning the bread and wine. 

703. The institution of the holy supper by the lord. 
Jesus kept the passover with his disciples ; and when the even 
was come he sat down with them. “And as they did eat, Jesus 
took bread , and blessed it, and brake it, and gave to his disciples, 
and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. And he took the cwp ; 
and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, 
Drink ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the New Testament, 
which is shed for many” (Matt. xxvi. 26 — 28 ; Mark xiv. 22 — 24 ; 
Luke xxii. 19, 20). 

The doctrine of the lord concerning his flesh and blood, 
and concerning the bread and wine. “Labor not for the 
meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto 
everlasting life, which the Son of man will give unto you. 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread 
from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heav- 
en ; for the bread of God is he who cometh down from heaven, 
and giveth life unto the world. I am the bread of life : he that 
cometh unto me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on 
me shall never thirst. I am the bread which came down from 
heaven. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on 
me hath everlasting life : I am that bread of life. Your fathers 
did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the 
bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat 
thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down 
from heaven : if any man eat of this bread, he will live for ever; 
and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give ibr 
the life of the world. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye 
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ve have 
702 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


703—705 


no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, 
hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day ; for 
my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that 
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and ] 
in him” (John vi. 27, 32, 33, 35, 41, 47—51, 53—56). 

704. Every one who has received any illustration from 
heaven may plainly perceive in himself, that in these passages 
flesh does not mean flesh, or blood, blood ; but that in the 
natural sense they both mean the passion of the cross, in re- 
membrance of which they were to be received ; therefore the 
Lord, when he instituted this supper, as a conclusion of the 
Jewish and a beginning of the Christian passover, said, “This 
do in remembrance of me” (Luke xxii. 19 ; 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25). 
In like manner it must be plain that bread does not mean bread, 
or wine, wine ; but that in the natural sense they signify the 
same as flesh and blood, namely, his passion of the cross ; for it 
is written, “Jesus took bread, and brake it, and gave it to his 
disciples, and said, This is my body ; and he took the cup, and 
gave it to them, saying, This is my blood” (Matt. xxvi. ; Mark 
xiv. ; Luke xxii.) ; for which reason he also calls the passion of 
the cross a cup (Mark xiv. 36 ; John xviii. 11). 

705. That flesh, blood, bread, and wine, signify spiritual and 
celestial things, which correspond with them, is evident from the 
passages in the Word where they are mentioned. That flesh, 
as applied in the Word, signifies something spiritual and celes- 
tial, is plain from the following passages : “ Come, and gather 
yourselves together unto the supper of the .Great God ; that ye 
may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the 
flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that 
sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both 
small and great” (Apoc. xix. 17, 18) ; and in Ezekiel : “ Gather 
yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for 
you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye 
may eat flesh and drink blood : ye shall eat the flesh of the 
mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth ; and ye 
shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, 
of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you ; and ye shall be 
filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, 
and with all men of war ; and I will set my glory among the 
heathen” (xxxix. 17 — 21). AYho cannot see that flesh in these 
passages does not mean flesh, or blood, blood, but spiritual and 
celestial things which correspond to these natural things? For 
otherw se, how unmeaning and strange would be the expressions, 
that they should eat the flesh of kings, of captains, of mighty 
men, of horses, and of those that sit on them ; and that they 
should be filled at his table with horses and chariots, with 
mighty men, and with all men of war ; and that they should 
drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and drink till thev 

703 


THE HOLY SUPPEE. 


705, 706 

were drunken ? That these expressions relate to the holy supper 
of the Lord is very manifest, for it is called the supper ot the 
Great God, and also a great sacrifice. Now as all spiritual and 
celestial things have relation to good and truth, it plainly follows 
that flesh means the good of charity, and blood the truth of faith ; 
and in the supreme sense the Lord himself, as to the divine 
good of his love, and the divine truth of his wisdom. Spiritual 
good is likewise signified by flesh in these words in Ezekiel : “ I 
will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; 
and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give 
them a heart of flesh” (xi. 19; xxxvi. 26). In the Word, heart 
signifies love ; hence the love of good is meant by a heart of 
flesh. Moreover, it appears from the signification of bread and 
wine, which will be given presently, that good and truth, each 
of them spiritual, are meant by flesh and blood ; for the Lord 
declares that his flesh is bread, and his blood is wine. 

7 06. The reason why the divine truth of the Lord and of his 
Word is signified by his blood is, because the divine good of his 
love is spiritually meant by his flesh, and these two, divine love 
and divine truth, are united in the Lord. It is acknowledged 
that the Lord is the Word; and there are two principles to 
which all the contents of the Word bear relation, divine good 
and divine truth. If then the Word were to be substituted for 
the Lord, it is evident that these two principles are meant by his 
flesh and blood. That the divine truth of the Lord, or of the 
Word, is meant by blood, appears from several passages, as 
where blood is called the blood of the covenant ; for a covenant 
signifies conjunction, and conjunction is effected by the Lord by 
means of his divine truth. Thus it is written in Zechariah : “ By 
the blood of thy covenant I will send forth thy prisoners out ot 
the pit” (ix. 11) ; and in Moses : Moses, when he had read the 
book of the law in the ears of the people, “sprinkled half of the 
blood upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant 
which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words” 
(Exod. xxiv. 3 — 11). “ And Jesus took the cup, and gave it to 

them, saying, This is my blood of the new covenant ” (Matt, 
xxvi. 27, 28 ; Mark xiv. 24 ; Luke xxii. 20). The blood of the 
New Covenant, or Testament, signifies the Word, which is called 
a covenant and testament, both old and new, thus the divine 
truth contained in it. This being the signification of blood, 
therefore the Lord gave his disciples wine, saying, This is my 
blood ; and wine signifies divine truth. Hence too it is called 
“ the blood of grapes” (Gen. xlix. 11 ; Deut. xxxii. 14). This 
is yet more evident from the Lord’s words, “Yerily, verily, 1 
say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and 
drink his blood, ye have no life in you ; for my flesh is meat 
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, 
and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me*, and I in him” (John 
704 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


706 


vi. 53 — 58). That the divine truth of the Word is here signi- 
fied by blood, is very plain, since it is said that he that drinks 
has life in him and dwells in the Lord, and the Lord in him. 
It may be lpown too in the church, that these effects are pro- 
duced by divine truth, and a life according to it, and are con- 
firmed by the holy supper. As blood signifies the divine truth 
of. the Lord, which is also the divine truth of the Word, and 
this is the covenant and testament both old and new, therefore 
blood was the most holy representative of the Israelitish church, 
in. which all and every rite were correspondences of natural 
things with spiritual. Thus it is written, that they should take 
of the blood (of the paschal lamb), and put it on the two side- 
posts, and on the upper lintel of the door of the houses wherein 
they should eat it, lest the plague should come upon them 
(Exod. xii. 7, 13, 22). And again, that the blood of the burnt- 
offering should be sprinkled upon the altar round about, and 
upon Aaron, and upon his sons, and upon their garments (Exod. 
xxix. 12, 16, 20, 21; Levit. i. 5, 11, 15; in. 2, 8, 13; iv. 25, 
30., 34r ; viii. 15, 24 ; xvii. 6 ; Dent. xii. 27) ; and also upon the 
vail, which was over the ark, upon the mercy-seat, and upon the 
horns of the altar of incense (Levit. iv. 6, 7, 17, 18 ; xvi. 12 — 15). 
The blood of the Lamb has a similar signification in the Reve- 
lation : “ These have washed their robes and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb” (vii. 14). “ There was war in heaven, 
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and they 
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of 
their testimony” (xii. 7, 11) ; for it cannot be conceived that 
Michael and his angels overcame the dragon by any other means 
than b}^ the divine truth of the Lord in the Word. Indeed the 
angels in heaven cannot think of any blood, or of the Lord’s 
passion, but of divine truth, and of his resurrection ; so that 
when a man thinks of the Lord’s blood, the angels perceive the 
divine truth of his Word, and when he thinks of the Lord’s 
passion, they have a perception of his glorification, and at the 
same time only of his resurrection. This fact it has been granted 
me to know by long experience. That blood signifies divine 
truth, is further evident from these words in David : “ God will 
preserve the souls of the needy, and precious shall their blood be 
in his sight : they shall live, and he will give them of the gold of 
Sheba” (Psalm lxxii. 13 — 16). The blood of the needy that is 
precious in the sight of God, signifies the divine truth that is in 
them ; and the gold of Sheba is the wisdom thence derived. So 
in Ezekiel : “ Assemble yourselves to a great sacrifice upon the 
mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood ; and 
ye shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth till ye be 
drunken ; and I will set my glory among the heathen” (xxxix. 
17 — 21). The prophet here speaks of the church which the 
Lord was about to institute among the gentiles ; and it has been 
705 z z 


706—708 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


shown just above that blood in this passage cannot mean blood, 
but divine truth derived from the Word, to be revealed to the 
gemiles. 

707. Bread signifies the same as flesh, as appears clearly from 

the Lord’s words : “ Jesus taking bread , brake it, and gave it to 
them, saying, This is my body” (Matt, xxvi.; Mark xiv. ; Luke 
xxii.) ; and again : u The bread that I will give is my flesh, which 
I will give for the life of the world” (John vi. 51). Again He 
saith, u I am the bread of life : he that eateth of this bread shall 
live for ever ” (John vi. 48, 51, 58). This bread also is what is 
meant by sacrifices, which are called bread in the following 
passages: u The priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the 
bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah” (Levit. iii. 11, 
16). “ The sons of Aaron shall be holy unto their God, and 

shall not profane the name of their God ; for the offerings, ol 
Jehovah made by fire, and the bread of their God do they offer. 
Thou shalt sanctify him, therefore, for he offereth the bread of 
thy God. Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that 
hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his 
God ” (xxi. 6, 8, 17, 21). “ Command the children of Israel, and 

say unto them, My offering and my bread for my sacrifices made 
by fire, for am odor of rest, shall ye observe to offer unto me in 
their due season” (Numb, xxviii. 2). “The soul that hath 
touched any unclean thing, shall be unclean until the evening; 
he shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with 
water ; afterwards he shall eat of the holy things, because it is 
his bread ” (Levit. xxii. 4, 6, 7). To eat of the holy things was 
to eat the flesh of the sacrifices, which is here also called bread ; 
so also in Malachi, chap. i. 7. The same was signified by the 
meat offerings used in the sacrifices, which consisted of the 
flour of wheat, and consequently were bread (ii. 1 — 11 ; vi. 6 — 14; 
and in other places) ; the same also by the bread laid on the 
table in the tabernacle, which was called the shew-bread (Exod. 
xxv. 30 ; xl. 23 ; Levit. xxi. 5 — 10). Bread does not mean 
natural bread, but heavenly bread, as is plain from these words : 
“ Man doth not live by bread alone ; biit by every word which 
proceed eth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live” (Deut. 
viii. 3). “I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of 
bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah” 
(Amos viii. 11). Moreover, bread means all food in general 
(Levit. xxiv. 5 — 9 ; Exod. xxv. 30 ; xl. 23 ; Numb. iv. 7). That 
it means also spiritual food, is evident from these words : u Labor 
not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which en- 
dureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man will give 
unto you” (John vi. 27). 

708. Wine signifies the same as blood, as is very clear from 
the Lord’s words : u Jesus took the cup, saying, This is my blood” 
(Matt. xxvi. ; Mark xiv. • Luke xxii.) ; and also from these : “He 

706 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


708 — 710 . 


washeth his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood 
of grapes” (Gen. xlix. 11) : this was spoken of the Lord : “ Jeho- 
vah of hosts will make unto all people a feast of fat things, a 
feast of wine on the lees” (Isaiah xxv. 6) : this was spoken ot 
the sacrament of the holy supper which was to be instituted by 
the Lord. So again: “ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye 
to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy and 
eat ; yea come, buy wine without money” (Isaiah lv. 1). The 
juice of the vine, which they should drink new in the king- 
dom of heaven (Matt. xxvi. 29; Mark xiv. 25; Luke xxii. 
17, 18), signifies only the truth of the new heaven and the new 
church ; for which reason, in many parts of the Word, the church 
is called a vineyard, as in Isaiah v. 1, 2, 4; Matt. xx. 1 — 13 ; 
and the Lord called himself the True Yine, and those who are 
ingrafted in him the branches (John xv. 1, 5) ; not to mention 
several other passages. 

709. From what has been said it may now plainly appear 
what is meant by the Lord’s flesh and blood, and by bread and 
wine, in their triple sense, natural, spiritual, and celestial. Every 
one that has been born in a Christian country, and educated 
under a sense of religion, may know, or if he does not know, 
may iearn, that there are both natural nourishment and spiritual, 
and that natural nourishment is for the body, and spiritual for 
the soul ; for Jehovah the Lord says in the book of Moses, 
“ Man doth not live by bread alone ; but by every word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live” (Deut. 
viii. 3). Now as the body dies, and as it is the soul which lives 
after death, it follows, that spiritual nourishment is for eternal 
salvation. Who cannot hence discern, that these two kinds of 
nourishment ought not to be confounded together? for where 
this is the case a man cannot form any other ideas of the Lord’s 
flesh and blood, and of the bread and wine, than such as are 
natural and sensual, which are material, corporeal, and carnal ; 
and these must suffocate all spiritual ideas on this most holy 
sacrament. If however there be any one so simple that he can- 
not think of any thing with his understanding but what he sees 
with his eyes, I would advise him when he comes to the holy 
supper, and receives the bread and wine, and hears them called 
the body and blood of Christ, to think within himself that it is 
the most holy act of worship, and then to reflect upon the suffer- 
ings of Christ, and his love for man’s salvation ; for he says, 
“ Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke xxii. 19) ; and again, 
“ The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many” 
(Matt. xx. 28 ; Mark x. 45) ; “ I lay down my life for the sheep” 
(John x. 15, 17). 

710. This also may be illustrated by various comparisons. 
Who does not remember and love the man, who from the zeal of 
love to his country fights against its enemies, and by the loss of 

707 


710—712 


THE- HOLY SUPPER. 


his own life rescues his fellow-citizens from the yoke of slavery ? 
Amd who does not remember and love the man, who, seeing his 
fellow-citizens in extreme want, and reduced by famine to the 
brink of death, moved with compassion, brings forth all his 
silver and gold from his house, and freely distributes it among 
them ? Who again does not remember and love the man, who, 
from love and friendship, takes the only lamb that he has, and 
kills it, and sets it before his guests ? not to mention other cases 
of a like description. 

III. That by understanding what has been said above, it may 

CLEARLY BE COMPREHENDED, THAT THE HOLY SUPPER CONTAINS, 

BOTH UNIVERSALLY AND SINGULARLY, ALL THINGS OF THE CHURCH, 

AND ALL THINGS OF HEAVEN. 

711. It was shown in the foregoing article, that the Lord 
himself is in the holy supper, that the flesh and bread are him- 
self as to the divine good of love, and that the blood and wine 
are himself as to the divine truth of wisdom; so that theie are 
three things involved in the holy supper, — the Lord, his divine 
good, and his divine truth. Since then the holy supper includes 
and contains in it these three things, it follows, that it also 
includes and contains the universals of heaven and the church ; 
and whereas all singulars depend on universals, as the contents 
depend on the things which contain them, it also follows, that 
the holy supper includes and contains all the singulars of heaven 
and the church. Hence it now first appears, that as the divine 
good and divine truth, each from the Lord, and the Lord, are 
meant by his flesh and blood, and in like manner by the bread 
and wine, therefore the holy supper contains, both universally 
and singularly, all things of heaven and the church. 

712. It is also known that there are three essentials of the 
church, namely, God, charity, and faith, and that all things in 
the church have reference to these three as to their universals. 
This agrees with what has been just observed ; for God in the 
holy supper is the Lord, charity is divine good, and faith is divine 
truth. What is charity but the good which a man does from 
the Lord 3 and what is faith but the truth which a man believes 
from the Lord ? Hence it is, that in every man, as to his in- 
ternal, there are three constituents, the soul or mind, the will, 
and the understanding. These three are the respective recep- 
tacles of those three universals ; the soul or mind is the recep- 
tacle of the Lord, for thence it lives; the will is the receptacle 
of love or good, and the understanding is the receptacle of wis- 
dom or truth ; therefore all and every thing in the soul or mind 
not only bear reference to those three universals of heaven and 
the church, but even proceed from them ; for is there any thing 
proceeding from a man which does not contain his mind, his 
will, and his understanding ? and if any one of the three were 
taken away, what would the man be but a lifeless trunk \ In 

708 


THE HOLT SUPPER. 


712— 715 


like manner, as to his external, there are three things in a man 
to which also all and every thing bear reference, and on which 
they depend, namely, the body, the heart, and the lungs ; and 
these, three externals correspond to the three internals above 
mentioned, — the body to the soul or mind, the heart to the will, 
and the lungs or respiration to the understanding. That there 
is such a correspondence, has been fully shown above. Thus 
then all and every thing in man, both as to universals and sin- 
gulars, were formed to be the receptacles of those three univer- 
sals of heaven and the church : and this, because man was created 
an image and likeness of God, consequently, to be in the Lord, 
and the Lord in him. 

. 713. On the other hand, there are three opposites to these 
universals, namely the devil, evil, and the false; the devil, by 
whom is meant hell, is in opposition to the Lord, evil is in 
opposition to good, and the false to truth : these three constitute 
a one ; for where the devil is, there also is evil, and the false 
therein originating. These three also contain, both as to univer- 
sals and singulars, all things of hell, and also of the world, which 
are contrary to heaven and the church. As they are opposites, 
therefore they are altogether separate, and still they are held 
in connection by a wonderful subjection of all hell to heaven, 
of evil to good, and of the false to truth ; respecting which 
subjection more may be seen in the work on Heaven and 
Hell. 

714. In order that singulars may be kept together in their 
order and connection, it is necessary that there should be uni- 
versals from which they exist, and in which they subsist ; and it 
is also necessary that they should bear relation to their universals 
by a kind of image, or otherwise the whole would perish with 
the parts : it is this relation which is the cause of the conserva- 
tion of all things in the universe from the first day of creation 
to the present time, and will continue to be so to future ages. 
That all things in the universe bear relation to good and truth, 
is generally known, because God created all things from or out 
of the divine good of love by the divine truth of wisdom. Take 
whatever you please, any animal, vegetable, or mineral, and you 
will find that it bears the marks of some kind of relationship to 
those three universals. 

715. Since then divine good and divine truth are the most 
universal of all the constituents of heaven and the church, there- 
fore Melchizedeck also, who represented the Lord, brought forth 
bread and wine to Abraham, and blessed him; of which Mel- 
chizedeck it is thus written : “ Melchizedeck king of Salem 
brought forth bread and wine to Abraham ; and he was the priest 
of the Most High God; and he blessed him” (Gen. xiv. 18, 19). 
Melchizedeck represented the Lord, as is evident from these 
words in David : “ Thou art a priest for ever after the order o 1 

709 


715—717 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


Melchizedeek” (Psalm cx. 4). That these words relate to the 
Lord, may be seen Heb. v. 6, 8, 10; vi. 20 ; vii. 1, 10, 11, 15, 17, 
21. The reason why he brought forth bread and wine, was, because 
these two include all the constituents of heaven and the church, 
consequently whatever relates to blessing, just as the bread and 
wine do in the holy supper. 

IY. That in the holy supper, the lord is entirely present, 

WITH THE WHOLE OF HIS REDEMPTION. 

716. That the Lord is entirely present in the holy supper, 
both as to his glorified humanity and the divinity from which his 
humanity proceeded, is evident from his own most express words. 
His humanity is present in the holy supper, as appears from these 
words : “ Jesus took bread, and brake it, and gave to his disci- 
ples, and said, This is my body ; and he took the cup, and gave 
it to them, saying, This is my blood” (Matt. xxvi. ; Mark xiv. ; 
Luke xxii.). And again : u I am the bread of life ; if any man 
eat of this bread he shall live for ever : the bread which I will 
give is my flesh. Yerily, verily, I say unto you, he that eateth 
my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and dwelleth 
in me, and I in him” (John vi.). From this it evidently appears 
that the Lord is present in the holy supper as to his glorified hu- 
manity. The Lord is also entirely present as to his divinity, from 
which his humanity proceeded, as is evident from his being the 
bread which came down from heaven (John vi.). Now he came 
down from heaven with the divinity, for it is said, “ The Word 
was with God, and the Word was God : all things were made by 
him : and the Word was made flesh” (John i. 1, 3, 14) ; and 
again : “I and my Father are one” (John x. 30) : “ All things 
that the Father hath are mine” (John iii. 35 ; xvi. 15) : “ I am 
in the Father, and the Father in me” (xiv. 10, 11, &c.) It fur- 
ther appears from this consideration, that his divinity can no 
more be separated from his humanity, than the soul from the 
body ; so that when it is asserted, that the Lord as to his hu- 
manity is entirely present in the holy supper, it follows of conse- 
quence, that his divinity, from which his humanity proceeded, 
is also present. Now since the Lord’s flesh signifies the divine 
good of his love, and his blood the divine truth of his wisdom, 
it is evident that the Lord, both as to his divinity and his glori- 
fied humanity, is entirely omnipresent in the holy supper, and 
that consequently it is a spiritual eating and drinking. 

717. That the whole of the Lord’s redemption is present in 
the holy supper, is a necessary consequence of what has been 
said above ; for where the Lord is entirely present, there also is 
the whole of his redemption ; for he, as to his Humanity, is the 
Redeemer, consequently he is redemption also; and where he 
himself is wholly present, nothing of redemption can be absent 
On this account, all those who worthily approach the holy com- 
munion become his redeemed ones ; and since deliverance from 

710 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


717--719 


hell, conjunction with the Lord, and salvation, are meant by 
redemption, as will be shown below in this chapter, and lias been 
fully proved in the chapter on redemption, therefore those fruits 
and benefits are ascribed to man in the holy supper ; not however 
in the degree that the Lord wills, for from his divine love he is 
desirous to communicate them all, but in the degree that man 
receives ; and he that receives is redeemed according to the de- 
gree of his reception. Hence it appears that the effects and fruits 
of the Lord’s redemption are renewed to those who worthily ap- 
proach the holy supper. 

718. Every man of sound mind has the faculty of receiving 
wisdom from the Lord, that is, of multiplying the truths from 
which wisdom is formed, to eternity ; and likewise of receiving 
love, that is, of being fruitful in the goods from which love is 
formed, in like manner to eternity. This perpetual fructification 
of good, and thence of love, and this perpetual multiplication of 
truth, and thence of wisdom, are granted to the angels, and also 
to men who become angels ; and since the Lord is Love itself 
and Wisdom itself, it follows that man has a capacity of conjoin- 
ing himself with the Lord, and the Lord with himself, for ever. 
Still, however, as a man is a finite being, the Lord’s Divinity 
itself cannot be conjoined with him, but only adjoined to him. 
This may be illustrated by the case of the eye and the ear, it 
being impossible for the light of the sun to be conjoined with the 
eye, or the sound of the air to be conjoined with the ear ; they 
can only be adjoined to them, and thus give them the faculty of 
seeing and hearing : for a man is not life in himself, as the Lord 
is even as to his Humanity (John v. 26), but only a receptacle of 
life ; and life itself is what is adjoined to a man, but not con- 
joined with him. These observations are added, that it may be 
more clearly understood in what manner the Lord, with the whole 
of his redemption, is entirely present in the holy supper. 

Y. That the lord is present, and opens heaven to those who 

APPROACH THE HOLY SUPPER WORTHILY, AND HE IS ALSO PRESENT 
WITH THOSE WHO APPROACH IT UNWORTHILY, BUT DOES NOT OPEN 
HEAVEN TO THEM ; CONSEQUENTLY AS BAPTISM IS AN INTRODUC- 
TION INTO THE CHURCH, SO THE HOLY SUPPER IS AN INTRODUCTION 
INTO HEAVEN. 

719. Who they are that approach the holy supper worthily, 
will be shown in the two following articles, and at the same time 
who they are who approach it unworthily ; for when the former 
are known and distinguished, it will be easy to know the latter 
by the contrariety of their character. That the Lord is present 
with both the worthy and the unworthy, is a consequence of his 
omnipresence in both heaven and heil, and also in the world, 
thus with the evil as well as with the good. With the good, that 
is, the regenerate, he is present both universally and singularly; 
for the Lord is in them, and they in the Lord ; and where he is, 

711 


719 — 721 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


there is heaven. Heaven also constitutes the Lord’s body ; there- 
fore to be in his body, is to be at the same time in heaven. But 
the Lord’s presence with those who approach unworthily, is his 
presence universally, but not singularly, or what amounts to the 
same, it is his external presence, but not his internal at the same 
time ; and his universal or external presence causes a man to live 
as a man, and to possess the faculty of knowing, understanding, 
and speaking rationally from his intellect. For a man is born 
for heaven, and is therefore spiritual, and is not like a beast, 
which is natural only. He has the faculty also of willing and 
doing whatever his intellect is capable of knowing, understand- 
ing, and uttering rationally ; but if the will refuse obedience to 
such truty rational views of the understanding, which are also 
intrinsically spiritual, the man then becomes external. With 
those therefore who only understand what is true and good, the 
Lord’s presence is universal and external ; but with those who 
also will and do what is true and good, it is both universal and 
singular, or both internal and external. Those who- only under- 
stand and talk about what is true and good, are comparatively 
like those foolish virgins who had lamps but no oil in them ; 
whereas, those who not only understand and talk about what is 
true and good, but likewise will and practise it, are the wise vir- 
gins who went in to the marriage, while the former stood knock- 
ing without, but were not let in (Matt. xxv. 1 — 12). Hence it 
appears that the Lord is present, and opens heaven to those who 
approach the holy supper worthily, and that he is also present 
with those who approach unworthily, but does not open heaven 
to them. 

720. It is not however to be believed that the Lord shuts 
heaven against those who approach unworthily ; for this he never 
does against any man during his abode in this world ; but the 
fact is, the man shuts heaven against himself, by the rejection 
of faith and by evil of life. Still, however, he is preserved con- 
tinually in the possibility of repentance and conversion ; for the 
Lord is continually present with every man, and urgent to be 
received, agreeably to his own declaration, “ Behold, I stand at 
the door and knock ; if any man hear my voice, and open the 
door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him , and he 
with me ” (Rev. iii. 20). The blame therefore lies with the man 
himself, for not opening the door. But it is otherwise after 
death.. Then heaven is closed, and is not to be opened to those 
who to the end of life have approached the holy table unwor- 
thily, for then the interiors of their minds are fixed and deter- 
mined. 

721. It has been shown in the chapter on baptism, that bap- 
tism is an introduction into the church ; and that the holy sup- 
per is an introduction into heaven, is plain from what has been 
said, if it be well digested and understood. These two sacra- 

712 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


721, 722 

merits are like two gates leading to eternal life. Baptism is the 
first gate, by which every Christian is initiated and introduced 
into the doctrines which the church teaches from the Word re- 
specting a future life ; all which are so many means to prepare 
him, and conduct him to heaven. The other gate is the holy 
supper, through which every one who has suffered himself to be 
prepared and led by the Lord, is introduced and admitted into 
heaven. There are no other universal gates than these. The 
intent and uses of these two sacraments may in this respect be 
compared with the case of a prince who is born to the govern- 
ment of a kingdom. He is first introduced to the knowledge of 
the principles of government, and is then crowned and admitted 
to the government itself. They may also be compared with the 
case of a son, the heir to a great estate, who is first instructed 
in such matters as relate to the right management of his wealth 
and possessions, and afterwards comes into the actual manage 
ment and possession. They may be compared too with the case 
of a house, which is first to be built, and afterwards to be in- 
habited ; and also with a man’s education, from his infancy till 
he comes to years of discretion, and with his rational and spirit- 
ual life afterwards. One period must precede, in order that the 
other may be obtained ; for the latter cannot be attained but by 
means of the former. These instances may serve to illustrate 
how baptism and the holy supper are like two gates through 
which a man is introduced to eternal life, and that after passing 
through the first gate he comes to a plain, over which he is to 
run a race, and that the second gate is the goal wherein is the 
prize to which he directs his course ; for the palm is not given 
till the race is run, and the prize is not adjudged till the contest 
is decided. 

YI. That those approach the holy supper worthily who 

ARE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH TOWARDS THE LORD, AND 

OF CHARITY TOWARDS THEIR NEIGHBOR, THUS WHO ARE RE- 
GENERATE. 

722. That God, charity, and faith, are the three universals 
of the church, because they are the universal means of salvation, 
is known, acknowledged, and perceived by every Christian who 
attends to the Word. Reason itself, if under any spiritual in- 
fluence, teaches that without the acknowledgment of a God no 
man can have either any religion, or any principle in him that 
constitutes the church ; therefore whoever comes to the holy sup- 
per without acknowledging a God, profanes it ; for he sees with 
his eyes the bread and wine, and tastes them with his tongue, 
but at the same time his mind thinks to itself, “ What is all this 
but a mere juggle ? For in what do these differ from similar food 
at my own table ? And yet I must attend the holy supper, lest 
I draw upon me the censure of the clergy, and incur the impu- 
tation of atheism, esteemed so disgraceful by the vulgar.” That, 
713 


722 THE HOLY SUPPER. 

after the acknowledgment of a God, charity is the next means 
for making a worthy communicant, is plain, both from the Word, 
and also from the exhortations that are read in every Christian 
church previous to the celebration of the holy supper. It is first, 
plain from the Word, because the first and great commandment 
is, to love God above all things, and our neighbor as ourselves 
(Matt. xxii. 34—39) ; and Paul says, there are three things prof- 
itable to salvation, and “the greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor. 
xiii. 13). And again, in the gospel : “ We know that God hear- 
eth not sinners ; but if any man is a worshipper of God, and doeth 
his will, him he heareth” (John ix. 31). And again : “ Every 
tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast 
into the fire” (Matt. vii. 19, 20). It is evident too from the ex- 
hortations THAT ARE READ IN EVERY CHRISTIAN CHURCH PREVIOUS 
TO THE CELEBRATION OF THE HOLY SUPPER, ill which the people 

are seriously admonished to be in charity one with another by 
reconciliation and repentance ; but of these I will only transcribe 
the following passages from the exhortation read in the church 
of England : “ The way and means to be worthy partakers of the 
holy supper is, first, to examine your lives and conversations by 
the rule of God’s commandments ; and whereinsoever ye shall 
perceive yourselves to have otfended, either by will, word, or deed, 
there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to 
Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life. And if 
ye shall perceive your offences to be such as are not only against 
God but also against your neighbors, then ye shall reconcile 
yourselves unto them ; being ready to make restitution, and satis- 
faction, according to the uttermost of your powers, for all injuries 
and wrongs done by you to any other ; and being likewise ready 
to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have for- 
giveness of your offences at God’s hand : for otherwise the re- 
ceiving of the holy communion doth nothing else but increase 
your damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of 
God, a hinderer or slanderer of his Word, an adulterer, or be 
in malice, or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent ye of 
your sins, or else come not to that holy table ; lest, after the 
taking of that holy sacrament, the devil enter into you, as he 
entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquities, and bring 
you to destruction both of body and soul.” The reason w T hy 
faith in the Lord is a third means to make a worthy partaker of 
the holy supper is, because charity and faith make a one, like 
heat and light in the time of spring, from whose conjunction 
every tree springs forth afresh ; in like manner from spiritual 
heat, which is charity, and spiritual light, which is the truth ol 
faith the life of every man is renewed. That faith in the Lord 
has this effect, is evident from these passages : “ ILe that believ- 
eth in me shall live, and never die” (John xi. 25, 26). “ This is 

the will of the Father, that every one that belie veth on the Sou 

714 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


722 — 724 


may have everlasting life” (vi. 39. 40). “ God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on 
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (iii. 16). “ He 

that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life, but he that be- 
lieveth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
abideth on him” (iii. 36). “We are in him that is true, even in 
his Son J esus Christ : this is the true God, and eternal life” 
(1 John v. 20). 

723. It was shown in the chapter on Reformation and re- 
generation that a man is regenerated, by these three, the Lord, 
charity, and faith, united in one, and that unless a man be re- 
generated he cannot enter into heaven ; therefore the Lord can 
open it to none but the regenerate ; and after natural death no 
others can be admitted. JBy the regenerate, who approach the 
holy table worthily, are meant those who are internally in those 
three essentials of heaven and the church, and not those who are 
only externally in them ; for the latter do not confess the Lord 
in their soul, but only with their tongue, and exercise charity 
towards their neighbor with their hands alone, and not with 
their hearts. These the Lord describes as the workers of iniquity, 
“ Then will ye begin to say, (Lord,) we have eaten and drunk 
in thy presence : but he will say, I know you not whence ye 
are ; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity” (Luke xiii. 26, 
27). 

724. These, as well as the former remarks, may be illustrated 
by various circumstances which harmonize and correspond. As 
for example, none are admitted to the table of an emperor or a 
king but those of high rank and station ; and they too, before 
their admission, must be clothed in a manner suitable to their 
dignity, and appear with the proper decorations of their office, 
that they may meet with a gracious and favorable reception. 
How much more is this to be expected when men approach to the 
table of him who is “Lord of lords, and King of kings!” (Rev. 
xyii. 14) ; to which table, though all are called and invited, those 
only who are spiritually worthy, and are clothed in honorable 
apparel, after rising from table, are admitted into the palaces of 
heaven, and made partakers of its joys, and honored as princes, 
being the children of the greatest of Kings, and who afterwards 
sit down daily with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. viii. 11) ; 
by whom is signified the Lord as to his Divine-Celestial, Divine- 
Spiritual. and Divine-Natural. It may be compared also with a 
marriage on earth, to which none are invited but the relations, 
kindred, and friends of the bridegroom and bride : if any other 
person enters, he is admitted indeed, but having no place as- 
signed him at the table, he retires. Similar to this is the case 
of those who are invited to the marriage of the Lord as a bride- 
groom, with the church as a bride. Those only are accounted 
kindred, relations, and friends, wffio derive their birth and lineage 

715 


724—726 


THE HOLT SUPPER 


from the Lord by regeneration. In the case of worldly connec- 
tions also, who is ever admitted into friendship w T ith another, 
until he gives proof of his sincerity, and how much he is desirous 
to serve his friend, and to do his will ? Such a one only is ad- 
mitted into cordial familiarity, and intrusted with his posses- 
sions. 

VTL That those who approach the holy supper worthily, 

ARE IN THE LORD, AND HE IN THEM ; CONSEQUENTLY, CONJUNC- 
TION WITH THE LORD IS EFFECTED BY THE HOLY SUPPER. 

725. It has already been proved in several chapters, that those 
who are under the influence of faith in the Lord, and of charity 
towards their neighbor, approach the holy supper worthily, and 
that the truths of faith produce the Lord’s presence, and the 
goods of charity, together with faith, conjunction : hence it fol- 
lows, that those who approach the holy supper worthily are con- 
joined with the Lord, and those who are conjoined with the Lord 
are in him, and he in them. That this is the case with such as 
approach worthily, the Lord himself tekches in these words : 
u He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in 
me, and I in him” (John vi. 56). That this is conjunction with 
the Lord, he teaches in these words : “ Abide in me, and I in 
you : he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth 
forth much fruit” (John xv. 4, 5 ; and Rev. iii. 20). What else 
can conjunction with the Lord mean, but to be among those who 
are in his body ? and those constitute his body, who believe in 
him, and do his will. His will is the exercise of charity accord- 
ing to the truths of faith. 

726. Eternal life and salvation are not attainable without 
conjunction with the Lord, because he is eternal life and salva- 
tion. That he is eternal life, appears clearly from many pas- 
sages in the Word, and particularly from this in John : “ Jesus 
Christ is the true God, and eternal life” (1 Epist. v. 20). That 
he is salvation, is equally evident, because salvation and eter- 
nal life are one; his name Jesus also signifies salvation, and 
therefore throughout the whole ChristS an world he is called the 
Saviour. It is to be remarked, however, that none approach the 
holy supper worthily, but those who are interiorly conjoined with 
the Lord, and those only are interiorly conjoined with him who 
are regenerate : who the regenerate are, was shown in the chapter 
on Reformation and Regeneration. There are many, indeed, 
who profess to believe in the Lord, and who do good to their 
neighbor ; but if this be not done from love towards their neigh- 
bor, and faith in the Lord, they are not regenerate, for they do 
good to their neighbor oily from motives which regard the 
world and themselves, and not their neighbor as their neighbor. 
The works of such persons are merely natural, destitute of any 
inward spiritual principle, because they acknowledge the Lord 
with their mouths and lips only, while their hearts are far from 

716 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


726, 727 

him. Beal love towards our neighbor, and real faith, come 
from the Lord alone, and are communicated to a man, while 
from the freedom of his will he does good to his neighbor with 
his natural powers, and believes truths with his rational powers, 
and looks to the Lord, doing these three because they are en- 
joined in the Word ; for then the Lord implants charity and faith 
in the centre of his mind, and makes them both spiritual, and 
thus he conjoins the man to himself, and the man conjoins him- 
self to the Lord ; for there can be no conjunction unless it be 
reciprocal. But all these subjects are fully discussed in the chap- 
ters on Charity, Faith, Free-determination, and Eegeneration. 

727. It is well known that intimacies and connections are 
formed in the world by invitations to partake of the repasts of 
the table, and by feasts ; for on such occasions the person who 
invites intends by it to promote some end or purpose which may 
lead to agreement or friendship ; but much more are such friend- 
ships promoted by invitations which have spiritual purposes for 
their end. Feasts in the ancient churches were feasts of charity ; 
so they were in the primitive Christian church ; and on these 
occasions the guests strengthened one another, that so from a 
sincere heart they might continue steadfast in the worship of the 
Lord. When the children of Israel ate together of the sacrifices 
of the tabernacle, it was intended to represent their unanimity 
in the worship of Jehovah ; therefore the flesh which they ate 
was called holy, because it was a part of the sacrifice (Jer. xi. 15 ; 
Hagg. ii. 12 ; and in several other places) : how much rather 
then should this be the case with the bread and wine, and the 
paschal flesh, at the supper of the Lord, who offered himself as 
a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world ! Moreover, conjunc- 
tion with the Lord by the holy supper may be illustrated by the 
conjunction of families that are descended from one common 
father : those of the same blood are the first in descent, and 
afterwards succeed relations and kinsfolk of divers orders and 
degrees, who all derive something from the primitive stock ; not 
that they derive their conjunction from flesh and blood, but 
being of the same flesh and blood, they possess a similar soul, 
and thence an inclination to similar things, by which they are 
conjoined. The reality of such conjunction is apparent from the 
general resemblance of their countenances, and also of their 
manners, on which account they are called one flesh (Gen. 
xxix. 14 ; xxxvii. 27 ; 2 Sam. v. 1 ; xix. 12, 13 ; and in other 

a 1 js). The case is similar in respect to conjunction with the 
, who is the Father of all the faithful and the blessed. Con- 
junction with him is effected by love and faith, by the reception 
of which they are called one flesh ; hence the Lord says, “ He 
that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth.in me 
and I in him.” How plain is it to see that bread and wine can 
not effect this conjunction, but that it is effected by the good ol 
717 


727 — 729 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


love, which is signified by bread, and by the truth of faith, 
which is signified by wine, both which, as they are the Lord’s 
own, proceed and are communicated from him alone ! All con- 
junction, moreover, is effected by love, and love without confi- 
dence is not love. But those w T ho believe that the bread is flesh, 
and the wine blood, and cannot raise their thoughts to some- 
thing spiritual, must remain in that belief; but, then it should 
be accompanied with the conviction that there is something in 
the rite most holy, and effective of conjunction with the Lord, 
which is communicated and appropriated to man as his own, 
though it always continues to be the Lord’s. 

VIII. That the holy supper is, to the worthy receivers, as a 

SIGNATURE AND SEAL THAT THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD. 

728. The true ground and reason why the holy supper, to 
the worthy receivers, is a signature and seal that they are the 
sons of God, is because, as was said above, the Lord is then 
present, and introduces into heaven those who are born of him, 
that is, who are regenerate. The holy supper effects this, in 
consequence of the Lord’s being then present, even as to his 
Humanity ; for it was shown above that the Lord, with the whole 
of his redemption, is entirely present in the holy supper ; there- 
fore he says of the bread, “ This is my body,” and of the wdne, 
“ This is my blood he consequently at such times admits the 
worthy receivers into his body, which consists of, and is formed 
by, heaven and the church. While a man is regenerating, the 
Lord is indeed present with him, and preparing him by his 
divine operation for heaven ; but that he may be actually ad- 
mitted, he must actually present himself to the Lord ; and as 
the Lord does actually present himself to man, man must ac- 
tually receive him, not indeed as he hung on the cross, but as 
he now is in his glorified Humanity in which he is present : the 
body of this humanity is divine good, and its blood is divine 
truth, which are given to man, and by which he is regenerated, 
and is in the- Lord, and the Lord in him ; for, as was shown 
above, eating and drinking, as acts performed at the holy supper, 
are of a spiritual nature. From a right perception of these 
truths it is very apparent that the holy supper is a signature and 
seal that the worthy receivers are the sons of God. 

729. Those, however, who die in their infancy or childhood, 
and so do not arrive at an age capable of worthily approaching 
the holy supper, are introduced into heaven by the Lord through 
baptism ; for, as was shown in the chapter on Baptism, Baptism 
is an introduction into the Christian church , and at the same time 
an insertion among Christians in the spiritual world. The church 
and heaven in the spiritual world are one, therefore an intro- 
duction into the church in that world is also an introduction 
into heaven ; and those who have died in infancy or childhood, 
being educated under the Lord’s auspices, are regenerated, and 

718 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


729, 730 

become his sons, more and more, for they know no other Father. 
But such infants and children as are born out of the Christian 
church, are, after the reception of faith in the Lord, introduced 
by another medium into the heaven set apart for those of their 
own religion ; for they are not mixed with those in the Christian 
heaven. Indeed there is no nation throughout the whole world, 
which may not be saved, if they acknowledge a God, and live 
good lives ; for the Lord redeemed them all, and all mankind 
are equally born with spiritual faculties, so as to be capable of 
receiving the benefits of redemption. Those who receive the 
Lord, that is, who have faith in him, and are not in evils of life, 
are called sons of God , and born of God (John i. 12, 13 ; xi. 52) ; 
and also children of the kingdom (Matt. xiii. 38); and likewise 
inheritors or heirs (Matt. xix. 29 ; xxv. 31). The Lord's disci- 
pies are also called children (Matt. ix. 15) ; so likewise are all 
angels (Job i. 6 ; ii. 1). 

730. It is with the holy supper as with a covenant, which, 
after settling the articles of agreement, is drawn up, and then 
signed and sealed. That the Lord’s blood is a covenant, he him- 
self teaches ; for when he took the cup, and gave it to his disci- 
ples, he said, “ Drink ye all of this ; for this is my blood of the 
New Testament” (Matt. xxvi. ; Mark xiv. ; Luke xxii.) The 
New Testament is the new Covenant : it is on this account that 
the Word written by the prophets before the Lord’s coming is 
called the Old Testament or Covenant, and the Word written by 
the evangelists and apostles after his coming is called the New 
Testament or Covenant. That the divine truth of the Word is 
meant by blood, and also by wine, may be seen above, n. 706, 
708. And the Word is the real and very covenant which the 
Lord makes with man, and man with the Lord ; for the Lord 
came down as the Word, that is, as the divine truth : and since 
this is his blood, therefore blood, in the Israelitish church, which 
was representative of the Christian church, was called the blood 
of the covenant (Exod. xxiv. 7, 8 ; Zech. ix. 11); and the Lord, 
the Covenant of the people (Isaiah xlii. 6; Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34; 
Psalm cxi. 9). It is besides according to the order observed in 
the world, that the covenant, to be secure and binding, should 
receive the signature of the parties, which is affixed after the 
terms are agreed to ; for of what consequence is a commission, 
or a will, unless it be signed ? Of what validity is a sentence of 
judicature, unless the judgment be ratified by a signature to 
the instrument? What is a high office of administration in a 
state^ without the writ or commission ? What signifies promo- 
tion to any post of honor, unless it be confirmed by proper 
authority ? What is the possession of a house, without purchase 
or hire, and agreement with the owner ? What avails progression 
to any end, or a race to any goal, to claim the prize, if there be 
no end or goal, where the prize may be awarded, according to 
719 


THE HOLY StPPER. 


730, 731 

the terms which had been previously settled by a proper officer? 
These instances are adduced only for illustration, and that 
simple minds may comprehend, how the holy supper is a signing, 
sealing, certifying, and witnessing, even before the angels, that 
the worthy receivers are the sons of God, and moreover as a key 
to a house in heaven, where they are to dwell to eternity. 


731. On a time there appeared to me an angel flying beneath 
the eastern heaven, with a trumpet in his hand, which he held 
to his mouth, and sounded towards the north, the west, and the 
south. He was clad in a robe which waved behind him as he 
flew along, and was girded around the waist with a band which 
seemed as it were on fire, and radiant with carbuncles and sap- 
phires : he flew with his body in a horizontal posture, and gently 
alighted on the ground, near where I was standing. As soon as 
he touched the earth with his feet, he stood erect, and walked 
to and fro ; but on seeing me, he immediately directed his steps 
towards me. I was in the spirit, and was standing in that state 
on a hill in the southern quarter of the spiritual world ; and 
when he approached, I asked him the occasion of his coming, 
telling him that I had heard the sound of his trumpet, and had 
observed his descent through the air. “ My commission,” he 
replied, “ is to call together such of the inhabitants of this part 
of the spiritual world, as have come from the various kingdoms 
of Christendom, and have been most distinguished for their 
learning, their talents, and their wisdom, that they may assemble 
on this hill where you are now standing, and freely disclose their 
minds, and declare what they had thought and understood, and 
how far they had been wise, while in the natural world, on the 
subject of HEAVENLY JOY AND ETERNAL HAPPINESS. The Cause 
of my being sent with such a commission is this : Several who 
have lately come from the natural world, and have been ad- 
mitted into our heavenly society, which is in the east, have 
informed us that there is not a single person throughout the 
whole Christian world who is acquainted with the true nature of 
heavenly joy and eternal happiness : consequently, that not a 
single person is acquainted with the nature of heaven. This 
information greatly surprised my brethren and companions; 
therefore they said to me, ‘ Go down, call together and assemble 
the most eminent for wisdom in the world of spirits (whither all 
men are first collected after their departure out of the natural 
world), to the intent that we may know of a certainty, from the 
declaration of many, whether it be really true that such thick 
darkness or dense ignorance concerning a future life prevails 
among Christians. 5 55 The angel then said to me, “Wait a while, 
and you will see several companies of the wise flocking together 
to this place, and the Lord will prepare them a house of as- 
720 


THE HOLT SUPPER. 


731 , 732 

sembly.” I waited, and lo ! in the space of naif an hour I saw 
two companies from the north, two from the west, and two from 
the south, and as they came near they were introduced by the 
angel who blew the trumpet into the house of assembly prepared 
for them, where they took their places in order, according to the 
quarter from which they came. There were six troops or com- 
panies, and a seventh from the east, which, from the splendor of 
the light that encompassed it, was not visible to the rest. When 
they were all assembled, the angel explained to them the reason 
of their being called together, desiring that each company in 
order would show what wisdom they possessed on the subject 
of heavenly joy and eternal happiness. Then each company 
collected themselves into a ring, with their faces turned one 
towards another, that they might recall the ideas they had en- 
tertained about it in the natural world, and after examination 
and deliberation, declare their sentiments. 

732. After some consultation, the first company from the 
north declared their opinion, that heavenly joy and eternal hap- 
piness are one with the very life of heaven ; whoever therefore 
enters heaven, enters, as to his life, into all its festivities, just as 
a person admitted to a marriage enters into all the festivities of 
a marriage. “ Is no*t heaven,” they argued, “ before our eyes 
in a particular distinct place above us ? and are there not in that 
place, and nowhere else, transcendent felicities and pleasures ? 
When a man therefore is admitted into heaven, he is admitted, 
both as to mental perception and bodily sensation, into the full 
enjoyment of all these felicities and pleasures. Of course, 
heavenly happiness, which is also eternal happiness, consists 
solely in admission into heaven, which depends purely on the 
divine grace.” They ended, and the second company from the 
north, according to the measure of their wisdom, next delivered 
their response to the following purport : u Heavenly joy and 
eternal happiness consist solely in the most delightful association 
with angels, and in holding such sweet conversation with them 
as to keep the countenance continually expanded with gladness, 
while by the elegance and playfulness of wit, the smiles of mirth 
are for ever spread over the face of the company. What else 
can constitute heavenly joys, but the variations of such pleasures 
to eternity ?” The third company, which was the first of the 
wise from the western quarter, according to the thoughts which 
flowed from their affections, thus declared their sentiments : 
“ In what else,” said they, “ do heavenly joy and eternal hap- 
piness consist, but in feasting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
at whose tables there will be an abundance of rich and delicate 
food, with the finest and most generous wines ; these to be suc- 
ceeded by sports and dances of virgins and young men, accom- 
panied by choral symphonies and the harmony of flutes, and at 
times varied by the melodious singing of sweet songs ; the even- 

721 AAA 


732 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


ing to close with public exhibitions, in which different charac- 
ters w r ill be represented ; this again to be followed by feasting, 
and so on every day to all eternity ?” When they had ended, 
the fourth company, which was the second from the western 
quarter, declared their sentiments to the following purport : “ We 
have entertained,” said they, “ many ideas concerning heavenly 
joy and eternal happiness, and we have examined a variety ol 
joys, and compared them one with another, and have at length 
come to this conclusion, that heavenly joys are paradisiacal joys : 
for what is heaven but a paradise extended from the east to the 
west, and from the south to the north, in which there are trees 
of fruit and flowers of delight, and in the midst, the magnificent 
tree of life, round which the blessed will take their seats, feeding 
on fruits most delicious to the taste, and adorned with garlands 
of flowers of the most grateful odor ? In this paradise there will 
be a perpetual spring, so that the fruits and flowers will every 
day spring forth afresh with an infinite variety, and the mind 
being thus perpetually refreshed by their continual growth and 
renewal, added to the vernal temperature of the atmosphere, 
must daily receive and taste new joys, and so be restored to the 
flower of its age, and be brought back to that primitive state in 
which Adam and his wife were created, and thus recover their 
paradise, which has been transplanted from earth to heaven. 
The fifth company, which was the first of the ingenious spirits 
from the southern quarter, next delivered their opinion : 
u Heavenly joys and eternal happiness,” said they, “consist solely 
in supereminent dominion and the never-failing abundance of 
treasure, joined with super-royal magnificence and super-illus- 
trious splendor. That the joys of heaven, and their continual 
fruition which is eternal happiness, consist in these things, we 
discovered by observation on those who possessed these in the 
former world, and also by the declaration that the blessed in 
heaven are to reign with the Lord, and to become kings and 
princes, because they are the sons of him w T ho is King of kings, 
and Lord of lords, and that they are to sit on thrones, and be 
ministered unto by angels. Moreover, the magnificence of 
heaven is plainly discovered to us in the account given of the 
New Jerusalem, which is a description of the glory of heaven, 
that it is to have gates, each of which shall consist of a single 
pearl, and streets of pure gold, and a wall with foundations of 
precious stones : every one, consequently, who is received into 
heaven, is to hkve a palace of his own, resplendent with gold 
and other costly materials, and to enjoy dominion, every one in 
succession. Now, knowing that such tilings contain innate joys 
and inherent happiness, and that the} 7 are promised us by God, 
whose Word cannot fail, we therefore conclude that the most 
happy state of heavenly life can be derived from no other source 
than this.” After this, the sixth company, which was the 
722 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


732—734 


second from the southern quarter, declared as follows: “The 
joy of heaven and its eternal happiness consists solely in the per- 
petual glorification of God, in a never-ceasing festival of praise 
and thanksgiving, and in the most blessed performance of wor- 
ship, accompanied with songs and jubilee, which shall keep the 
heart in a constant state of elevation towards God, with a full 
confidence that he accepts such prayers and praises on account 
of his divine munificence in imparting blessedness.” Some of 
the company added further, that this glorification would be 
attended with magnificent illuminations, and with most fragrant 
incense, and with processions of great pomp, preceded by the 
chief pontiff with a great trumpet, who would be followed by 
primates and priests of various orders, and these again by men 
carrying palms, and women with golden images in their hands. 

733. The seventh company, which was invisible to the rest, 
came from the east of heaven, and consisted of angels of the 
same society as the angel who sounded the trumpet. These, when 
they heard in heaven that not a single person throughout the 
Christian world was acquainted with the true nature of heavenly 
joy and eternal happiness, said one to another, “ Surely this 
cannot be true; there cannot among Christians be such darkness 
and mental blindness ; but let us go down and hear whether it 
be true, for if so it is indeed a prodigy.” Then they said to the 
angel who sounded the trumpet, “ You know that every one who 
has longed for heaven, and has formed any determinate opinion 
respecting its joys, is introduced after death into the joys of his 
imagination ; and after experiencing what they are, and being 
convinced that they are only the offspring of his own vain 
notions, and the delusions of his fancy, he is then led out of his 
mistakes, and instructed in the truth. This is the case with 
several in the world of spirits, who in their former life have 
meditated about heaven, and have formed distinct notions of its 
joys, until at last they have been filled with a desire of possessing 
them.” On hearing these words, the angel who had the trumpet 
said to the six companies of wise men assembled from the Chris- 
tian world, “ Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joys, 
and consequently into heaven.” 

734. Having said this, the angel w r ent out before them, and 
he was first attended by the company who were of opinion that 
the joys of heaven consisted in pleasant association and enter- 
taining discourse. These the angel introduced to an assembly of 
spirits in the northern quarter, who during their abode in the 
former world had entertained the same notions of the joys of 
heaven. There was in the place a large and spacious house, 
where all these spirits were collected. In the house were more 
than fifty different * apartments, allotted to different kinds and 
subjects of conversation : in some they conversed about such 
matters as they had seen or heard in the public places of resort 

723 


734 : THE HOLY SUPPER. 

and the streets of the city ; in others the conversation turned 
upon the various charms of the fair sex', interspersed with jests, 
which were carried on till the countenances of all present were 
expanded with the smiles of mirth ; in other apartments they 
discoursed on news relating to courts, to public ministers, to 
state policy, and to various matters which had transpired from 
privy councils, interspersing many conjectures and reasonings of 
their own on the issues of such plans ; in other apartments they 
conversed about trade and merchandise ; in others upon literary 
subjects ; in others upon points of civil prudence and moral life ; 
in others about affairs relating to the church, its sects, &c. I 
was permitted to enter and look about the house, and I saw 
people running from one apartment to another, seeking out such 
company as was best suited to their several affections and de- 
lights ; and among the parties I could distinguish three kinds of 
persons ; some were panting to speak, some eager to ask ques- 
tions, and others greedy to devour what was said. The house 
had four doors, one towards each quarter ; and I observed several 
leaving their respective companies, and hastening to get out ot 
the house. I followed some of them to the east door, where I 
saw several sitting with great marks of dejection in their faces ; 
and on my inquiring into the cause of their trouble, they replied, 
u The doors of this house are kept shut against all persons who 
would go out, and this is the third day since we entered, to 
pass our life, according to our desire, in company and conversa- 
tion ; but now we are grown so weary with continual talking, 
that we can scarce bear to hear the sound of a human voice ; 
therefore, from mere irksomeness, we have betaken ourselves to 
the door ; but on our knocking to have it opened, we were told 
that the doors of this house are never opened to let any persons 
out, but only to let them in. t Stay, then, 5 we were answered, 
c and enjoy the delights of heaven.’ So our conclusion is that 
we are to remain here for ever, and this is the cause of the 
sorrow that has seized our minds ; now too we begin to feel an 
oppression in the breast, and to be overwhelmed with anxiety.” 
Then the angel addressed them and said : “ This state proves to 
be the extinction of your joys, which you supposed to be the 
only joys of heaven, when yet they are but accessory to them.” 
“In what then,” they inquired, “does heavenly joy consist?” 
The angel replied briefly, “In the delight of doing something 
that is useful to ourselves and others, which delight derives its 
essence from love, and its existence from wisdom. The delight 
of use, originating in love, and operating by wisdom, is the life 
and soul of all heavenly joys. In the heavens there are fre- 
quent occasions of meeting cheerful company, to exhilarate the 
minds (mens) of the angels, to amuse their minds (animus), to 
expand their bosoms with joy, and to refresh their bodies ; but 
such occasions only occur when they have fulfilled certain ar- 
724 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


731, 735 


pointed uses in their respective pursuits and employments. It 
is from this that all joys and entertainments derive their life and 
soul ; and if this life and soul be taken away, the accessory joys 
by degrees lose their powers, exciting first indifference, then dis- 
gust, and lastly sorrow and anxiety.” As the angel ended, the 
door was thrown open, and those who were sitting there burst 
out in haste, and fled away home, every one to his respective la- 
bor and employment, and so they were refreshed. 

735. After this the angel addressed those who had persuaded 
themselves that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness con- 
sisted in feasting. with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, succeeded by 
sports and shows, and these again by feasts, and so on to eternity. 
u Follow me,” he said, “ and I will introduce you into the pos- 
session of your enjoyments ;” and straightway he led them 
through a grove into a plain, boarded over, on which there were 
tables set out, fifteen on one side, and fifteen on the other. Then 
they asked the meaning of so many tables ; and the angel replied, 
“The first table is for Abraham, the second for Isaac, and the 
third for Jacob, and the rest in order for the twelve apostles. On 
the other side are the same number of tables for their wives : 
the first three are for Sarah, Abraham’s wife, Rebecca, the wife 
of Isaac, and Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob, and the other 
twelve are for the wives of the twelve apostles.” They had not 
waited long before the tables appeared covered with dishes, be- 
tween which, at stated distances, were ornaments of small pyra- 
mids laden with sweetmeats. The guests stood around the tables 
in expectation of seeing their respective presidents, who soon 
appeared to enter according to the order of precedency, begin- 
ning with Abraham, and ending with the last of the apostles ; 
and presently each president, taking his place at the head of his 
own table, reclined on a couch, and then invited the bystanders 
to take their places, each on his couch : accordingly, the men 
reclined with the patriarchs and apostles, and the women with 
their wives, and they ate and drank with much festivity, but at 
the same time with due decorum. When the repast was ended, 
the patriarchs and apostles retired, and then various sports and 
dances of virgins and young men were introduced, and these 
were succeeded by shows. At the conclusion of these enter- 
tainments they were again invited to feasting, but with this par- 
ticular provision, that on the first day they were to eat with Abra- 
ham, on the second with Isaac, on the third with Jacob, on the 
fourth with Peter, on the fifth with James, on the sixth with 
John, on the seventh with Paul, and with the rest in order till 
the fifteenth day, when their festivity was to be renewed in like 
order, only changing their seats, and so on to eternity. After 
this the angel called together the company that had attended him, 
and said to them, “ All those whom you have observed at the sev- 
eral tables had formed the like imaginary notions with yourselves 
725 


735 THE HOLY SUPPER. 

of the joys of heaven and eternal happiness, and it is with intent 
that they may see the vanity of such ideas, and be withdrawn 
from them, that, by the Lord’s permission, these scenic festivals 
are instituted. The dignified personages, who presided at each 
table, were not the persons they appeared to be, but old people 
in feigned characters, many of them husbandmen and peasants, 
who wearing long beards, and being exceedingly proud and ar- 
rogant in consequence of their wealth, had imbibed the phantasy 
that they were old patriarchs and apostles. But follow me to the 
ways that lead from this theatre.” So they followed him, and 
observed parties of fifty in one place, and fifty in another, sur- 
feited with the load of meat on their stomachs, and wishing above 
all things to return to their domestic employments, some to their 
professions, some to their trades, and others to their handicraft 
works ; but many of them were detained by the keepers of the 
grove, who questioned them about the days they had feasted, and 
whether they had yet taken their turns with Peter and Paul, 
representing to them the shame and indecency of departing till 
they had paid equal respect to all the apostles. But the general 
reply was, 44 Our joys are over ; food has become insipid to us, 
we have lost all relish for it, our stomachs loathe it arid we can- 
not bear to touch it ; we have already spent some days and nights 
in that luxury, and now earnestly beg that we may depart.” 
They were then let out, and running with all possible haste, 
until quite out of breath, they fled away home. After this the 
angel called together the company that attended him, and as 
they went along, gave them this information respecting heaven : 
44 There are in heaven,” said he, 44 as in the world, meats and 
drinks, feasts and repasts, and at the tables of the great there is 
a variety of the most exquisite food, and all kinds of delicacies 
and dainties. There are besides sports and shows, concerts of 
music, vocal and instrumental ; and all in the highest perfection, 
to exhilarate and refresh the minds ( animi ) of the angels. These 
recreations are among the number of their joys, but do not con- 
stitute their happiness ; for happiness must be within joys, and 
flow forth from them. This inward happiness, in their external 
joys, is what gives them their proper relish, and makes them 
joys ; it exalts them and prevents their becoming contemptible 
and loathsome ; and this happiness is derived to every angel from 
the use he promotes in his occupation or employment. There is 
a certain vein or current, latent in the affection of the will of 
every angel, which draws his mind to the execution of some 
purpose or employment, in which it finds tranquillity, and is 
satisfied. This tranquillity and satisfaction form a state of mind 
capable of receiving from the Lord the love of use ; and it is 
from the reception of this love that true heavenly happiness re- 
sults, which is the very life of all their joys. Heavenly food in 
its essence is love, wisdom, and use united, that is, use effected 
726 


TELE HOLY SUPPER. 


735, 7? 6 

oj wisdom arising from love. On this account food for the body 
is given to every one in heaven according to the use in which he 
excels ; magnificent, to those who perform eminent uses ; mod- 
erate, but of an exquisite relish to those who perform uses of a 
middle degree ; and ordinary, to those who perform ordinary 
uses ; but none at all to the slothful.” 

736. After this the angel called to him the company of the 
wise, as they were styled, who supposed heavenly joys, and the 
eternal happiness thence derived, to consist in supereminent 
dominion, with an endless abundance of treasure, attended with 
super-regal magnificence and super-illustrious splendor ; having 
formed this supposition from the declarations in the Word, that 
they should be kings and princes, and should reign for ever with 
Christ, and should be ministered to by angels, with other expres- 
sions of a similar nature. 44 Follow me,” said the angel to them, 
44 and I will introduce you to your joys.” So he led them into a 
portico constructed of pillars and pyramids; in the front there 
was a low porch forming the entrance into the portico. Through 
this porch he introduced them, and there appeared to be about 
twenty people assembled within. After waiting some time, they 
were accosted by a certain person, who had assumed the charac- 
ter of an angel, and who said to them, 44 The way to heaven is 
through this portico : wait a while and prepare yourselves, for the 
elder among you are to be kings, and the younger princes.” As 
he spoke there appeared near each pillar a throne, and on each 
throne a silken robe, and on these a sceptre and crown ; and 
near each pyramid there appeared a seat raised about three feet 
from the ground, and upon each seat a chain with links of gold, 
and the ensigns of an order of knighthood fastened at each end 
with rings of diamonds. After this there was a voice heard, say- 
ing, 44 Go, now, put on your robes, be seated, and wait ;” and 
instantly the elders ran to the thrones, and the younger to the 
6eats, and put on their robes and seated themselves. Then there 
appeared a mist arising from below, which those who sat on the 
thrones and the seats inhaled : then they began instantly to as- 
sume airs of authority, and to swell with their new greatness, 
and to be persuaded in good earnest that they were kings and 
princes. This mist was an exhalation from the phantasy which 
possessed their minds. Then on a sudden several young pages 
presented themselves as if they came on wings from heaven, and 
two of them stood in waiting behind every throne, and one be- 
hind every seat. Proclamation was afterwards made at intervals 
by a herald to the following effect : 44 Ye kings and princes, wait 
yet a little longer ; your palaces in heaven are making ready for 
you ; your courtiers and guards will soon attend to introduce 
you.” So they waited and waited in anxious expectation till their 
spirits were exhausted, and they grew weary with desire. After 
the space of three hours the heaven above them was seen to open, 
727 


THE HOLY SUPPEK. 


736, 737 

and the angels looked down in pity upon them, and said, “ Why 
sit ye in this state of infatuation, personating characters which 
do not belong to you ? They have made a mockery of you, and, 
in consequence of the infatuation which has possessed you, that 
ye should reign with Christ as kings and princes, and that angels 
should minister to you, they have changed you from men into 
mere images. Have ye forgotten the Lord’s words, that whoso- 
ever would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven must be least 
of all, and servant of all ? Learn then what is meant by being 
kings and princes, and by reigning with Christ, that it is to be 
wise and to perform uses. The kingdom of Christ, which is heav- 
en, is a kingdom of uses ; for the Lord loves every one, and is 
desirous to do good to every one, and good is the same thing as 
use ; and as the Lord does good or use by the mediation of his 
angels in. heaven, and of men on earth, therefore to those who 
faithfully perform uses, he communicates the love of them, to- 
gether with its reward, — internal blessedness, and this is what 
constitutes eternal happiness. In the heavens, as on earth, there 
are distinctions of dignity and pre-eminence, with abundance of 
the richest treasures ; for there are governments and forms of 
government, and thus a variety of ranks and orders, of greater 
and lesser power and dignity. Those too who discharge the su- 
preme authority, have palaces and courts, w T hich for magnificence 
and splendor, far exceed those of emperors and kings on earth, 
and they are surrounded with honor and glory from the multi- 
tude of courtiers, ministers, and guards in magnificent apparel ; 
but then these chiefs are chosen out of the number of those whose 
heartfelt delight consists in promoting the public good, and who 
are only externally pleased with this amplitude of magnificence 
for the sake of obedience ; and since the public good requires 
that every individual, as being a member of the common body, 
should be an instrument of use in the society to which he be- 
longs ; and since ail use is from the Lord, and is effected by 
angels and men as of themselves, it is plain that this is what is 
meant by reigning with the Lord.” As soon as the angels had 
ended, the mock kings and princes descended from their thrones 
and seats, and threw away their sceptres, crowns, and robes ; 
and then the mist was dispersed which contained the atmosphere 
of phantasy, and a bright cloud encompassed them, which con- 
tained an atmosphere of wisdom, and thus they were restored to 
sanity of mind. 

737. After this the angel returned to the house of assembly, 
and called to him those who had impressed themselves with the 
belief that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness consisted in 
paradisiacal delights, to whom he said, “ Follow me, and I will 
introduce you into your paradisiacal heaven, that you may enter 
upon the beatitudes of your eternal happiness.” Straightway he 
introduced them through a lofty portal, formed of the boughs 
728 


THE HOLT SUPPER. 


737 


and shoots of the noblest trees, interwoven with each other. 
Alter their admission he conducted them through a variety of 
winding paths in different directions. The place was a real para 
dise on the confines of heaven, intended for the reception of such 
as during their abode on earth had fancied the whole heaven tc 
be a single paradise, because it is so called, and had impressed 
themselves with the idea that after death there would be a per- 
fect rest from all kinds of labor, which rest would consist in a 
perpetual inspiration of delights, in walks on beds of roses, in 
being exhilarated with the most exquisite wines, and in cele- 
brating all kinds of festive rites, and that it was not possible to 
enjoy such a life but in a celestial paradise. As they followed 
the angel, they saw a great multitude of old men, young men, 
and boys, and also of women and girls, w r ho were sitting by 
threes and tens in a company, on banks of roses, wreathing gar- 
lands to adorn the heads of the old men, the arms of the young, 
and the bosoms of the children ; others were pressing the juice 
out of grapes, cherries, and mulberries, which they collected in 
cups, and then drank with much festivity ; others were delight- 
ing themselves with the fragrant smells that exhaled far and wide 
from the flowers, fruits, and odoriferous leaves of a variety of 
plants ; others were singing most melodious songs, that soothed 
the ears of all present ; others were sitting by the sides of foun- 
tains, and directing the bubbling streams into various forms and 
channels ; others were walking and enlivening their conversation 
with sallies of wit ; others were retiring into shady arbors, to 
repose on couches, besides a variety of other paradisiacal enjoy- 
ments. After observing these things the angel led his compan- 
ions through various winding paths, till he brought them at last 
to a most beautiful grove of roses, surrounded with olive, orange, 
and citron trees. Here they found many persons sitting in a 
disconsolate posture, with their heads resting on their hands, 
mourning and shedding tears. The companions of the angel ac- 
costed them, and inquired into the cause of their grief. “This 
is the seventh day,” they replied, “ since we came into this para- 
dise : on our first admission we seemed to ourselves to be elevated 
into heayen, and introduced into an intimate participation of its 
joys ; but after three days our pleasures began to pall on the ap- 
petite, and the relish was lost, until at last we became insensible 
to their taste, and found they had lost their power of pleasing. 
Our imaginary joys being thus annihilated, we were afraid ot 
losing with them all the enjoyment of life, and we began to en- 
tertain doubts about eternal happiness, whether or no any such 
thing exists. After this we wandered through a variety of paths 
and passages in search of the gate at which we were admitted ; 
but we kept wandering round and round in vain ; for on inquir- 
ing the way of some persons we met, they informed us that it 
was impossible to find the gate, this paradisiacal garden being a 
721 ) 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


737, 738 

spacious lab linth, of such a nature, that whoever wishes to get 
out, enters t irther and further into it; ‘therefore,’ said they, 
‘ you must of necessity remain here to eternity ; you are now in 
the middle of the garden, where all delights are centred.’ 51 
The persons who related this further said to the companions ot 
the angel, “ We have now sat in this place for a day and a half, 
and being in despair of ever tinding our way out, we have set 
down to rest on this bank of roses, where we view around us 
olive-trees, vines, orange and citron trees in great abundance ; 
but the longer we look at them, so much the more are our eyes 
wearied with seeing, our nostrils with smelling, and our palates 
with tasting : and this is the cause of the sadness, sorrow, and 
weeping you behold.” On hearing this relation, the attendant 
angel said to them, “ This paradisiacal labyrinth is truly an en- 
trance into heaven ; I know the way that leads out of it, and if 
you will follow me, I will point it out.” He had no sooner said 
this than they rose from the ground, and embracing the angel, 
attended him together with his companions. As they went along, 
the angel instructed them in the true nature of heavenly joy, and 
eternal happiness thence derived. “They do not consist,” said 
he, “in external paradisiacal delights, unless they are attended 
also with internal paradisiacal delights. External paradisiacal 
delights reach the senses of the body only, but internal paradi- 
siacal delights belong to the affections of the soul : and if the 
former be without the latter, they are void of all heavenly life, 
because they are devoid of soul ; and every delight, without its 
corresponding soul, grows continually more and more languid 
and dull, and fatigues the mind more than labor. There are in 
every part of heaven paradisiacal gardens, which afford joy to the 
angels ; and so far as it is attended with a delight of the soul, 
the joy is real and true.” On this they all inquired, “ What is 
the delight of the soul, and whence is it derived ?” The angel 
replied, “ The delight of the soul is derived from love and wis- 
dom proceeding from the Lord ; and as love is a principle that 
operates by wisdom, therefore they both have their seat in the 
effect, which effect is use. This delight enters into the soul by 
influx from the Lord, and descends through the superior and in- 
terior regions of the mind into all the bodily senses, and in them 
is complete and full ; here then joy becomes truly joy, and is 
also eternal, because lie is eternal from whom it proceeds. You 
have just now seen a paradisiacal garden, and I can assure you, 
there is not a single thing therein, no, not even the smallest leaf, 
but what exists from the marriage of love and wisdom in use. 
If a man is in this marriage, he is then in a celestial paradise, and 
thus in heaven.” 

738. After this the conducting angel returned to the house 
of assembly, and addressed those who had firmly persuaded 
themselves that heavenly joy and eternal happiness consist in 
730 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


738 


the perpetual glorification of God, and in one continued festival 
of prayer and praise to all eternity ; and this in consequence of 
a belief they had entertained in the world that they should then 
see God, and because the life of heaven is called, in reference to 
the worship of God, a perpetual sabbath. “Follow me,” said 
the angel to them, “ and I will introduce you to your joy.” So 
he conducted them into a little city, in the midst of which was 
a temple, and all the houses of which were said to be consecrated 
chapels. In that city they observed a great concourse of people, 
flocking together from all quarters of the neighboring country, 
and among them a number of priests, who received and saluted 
them on their arrival, and led them by the hand to the gates of 
the temple, and from thence into some adjoining chapels, and 
initiated them into the perpetual worship of God : telling them, 
that the city was one of the courts leading to heaven, and the 
temple was introductory to a most spacious and magnificent tem- 
ple in heaven, where the angels glorified God by prayers and 
praises to all eternity. “ It is ordained,” said they, “ both here 
and in heaven, that you are first to enter into the temple, and 
there remain for three days and three nights ; after this initia- 
tion you are to go into the houses of the city, which are so many 
chapels consecrated to divine worship, and in every house to join 
the congregation in a communion of prayers and praises, and to 
listen to the sermons delivered : you are to take heed too that 
nothing but pious, holy, and religious subjects enter into your 
thoughts, or make a part of your conversation.” After this, the 
angel introduced his companions into the temple, which they 
found filled and crowded with many persons who on earth had 
lived in exalted stations, and with many likewise of the inferior 
class ; there were also guards stationed at the doors to prevent any 
one from departing until he had completed his stay of three days. 
The angel then said, “This is the second day since the present 
congregation entered the temple ; look at them, and you will see 
their manner of glorifying God.” So they looked at them, and 
observed that most of them were fast asleep, and that even those 
who were awake were continually yawning. Some in conse- 
quence of the constant elevation of their thoughts to God, with- 
out any relapse into the inferior concerns of the body, appeared 
like faces unconnected with any bodies, for so they seemed to 
themselves and thence also to others ; some again had a wild and 
delirious look with their eyes, in consequence of their long ab- 
straction from visible objects ; in short, every one being quite 
tired out, seemed to feel an oppression at the chest, and great 
weariness of spirits : and they saw them turn away from the pul- 
pit, and heard them cry out to the preacher, “ End your dis- 
course, for our ears are stupified. We can no longer make out 
a word you say, and are beginning to be disgusted at the very 
sound of your voice.” They then all left their seats, and crowd 
731 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


738, 739 

ing in a body to the doors, broke them open, and by mere vio- 
lence made their way through the guards. On this the priests 
followed, and walking close beside them, reiterated their instruc- 
tions, praying, sighing, and saying, u Stay and celebrate the 
solemn festival, glorify God, and sanctify yourselves, in this 
court of heaven, and then we will initiate you into the eternal 
glorification of God in that most magnificent and spacious tem- 
ple which is in heaven, and so will introduce you to the enjoy- 
ment of eternal happiness.” These exhortations, however, were 
not understood, and indeed scarcely heard, from the dulness in- 
duced over them, in consequence of their minds having been 
kept for two days in a state of elevation above their domestic 
and ordinary employments. But when they attempted to dis- 
engage themselves, the priests caught hold of their hands and 
garments, urging them to go into the chapels, where sermons 
were to be delivered, but all in vain ; “ Leave us,” they cried ; 
“ for we feel as if we should faint away.” At that instant, lo ! 
there appeared four men in white garments, with mitres on their 
heads ; one of them while on earth had been an archbishop, and 
the three other bishops, all of whom were now become angels. 
As they approached they addressed themselves to the priests, 
and said, “ ¥e have observed from heaven how you feed these 
sheep. You feed them till you drive them to madness : do you 
not know what is meant by glorifying God ? Its meaning is, 
to bring forth the fruits of love, that is, to discharge all the 
duties of our callings with faithfulness, sincerity, and diligence ; 
for this is indeed the love of God and the love of our neighbor, 
and constitutes the bond of society and the public good. Herein 
is God glorified, as well as by worship also at stated times suc- 
ceeding these duties. Have you never read these words of the 
Lord, “ Herein is my father glorified, that ye bring forth much 
fruit ; so shall ye be my disciples” (John xv. 8) ? You priests 
indeed may glorify God by attendance on his worship, since this 
is your office, and from the discharge of it you derive honor, 
glory, and recompense : but it would be impossible for you, 
any more than others, thus to glorify God, unless honor, glory, 
and recompense were annexed to your office.” The bishops then 
directed the door-keepers to give free ingress and egress to all 
persons, there being so great a number of people, who from their 
ignorance of the state and nature of heaven, can form no other 
idea of heavenly joy, than that it consists in the perpetual wor- 
ship of God. 

739. After this the angel returned with his companions to 
the place of assembly where the several companies of the wise 
were still waiting ; and next he called to him those who fancied 
that heavenly joy and eternal happiness depend only on admit- 
tance into heaven, purely of divine grace and favor, and that in 
such case the persons introduced would enter into the enjoymente 
732 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


739 


of heaven, just as persons introduced to a court festival, or a 
marriage, enter into the enjoyment of their festivities. To these 
the angel said, “Wait here awhile until I sound my trumpet, to 
call together those who have been most distinguished for their 
wisdom in the spiritual things of the church.” After some hours 
there appeared nine men, each of them distinguished by a wreath 
ot laurel on his head, in token of his celebrity : these the angel 
introduced into the house of assembly, where all the companies 
before collected were still waiting, and then in their presence he 
addressed the nine strangers, and said, 44 I know that in compli- 
ance with your desire, and in accordance to your ideas, you 
have been permitted to ascend into heaven, and that you have 
returned to this inferior or sub-celestial land, perfectly well in- 
structed as to the nature and state of heaven : relate to us then 
what you have seen, and how heaven appeared to you.” They 
replied in order, and the first began thus : u My idea of heaven, 
from my earliest infancy to the end of my life on earth, was, that 
it was a place abounding with all blessings, satisfactions, enjoy- 
ments, gratifications, and pleasures, and that if I were but 
introduced, I should be encompassed as with an atmosphere ol 
such felicities, and should imbibe it with an expanded bosom 
like a bridegroom at the celebration of his nuptials, and when he 
enters the bride-chamber. Full of this idea, I ascended into 
heaven, and passed the first guard, and also the second ; but 
when I came to the third, the captain of the-guard accosted me, 
and said, 4 Who are you, friend?’ 4 Is not this heaven?’ I asked : 
‘-my longing desire to go there has brought me here : permit me, 
I pray, to go in.’ Then he let me in ; and I saw angels in white 
garments, who came around me, and examined me, and whis- 
pered one to another, 4 What new guest is this who is not clothed 
with heavenly raiment ?’ I heard what they said, and thought 
within myself!, 4 Surely I am in a case like the person described 
by the Lord, who came to the wedding without a wedding gar- 
ment :’ so I said to the angels, 4 Give me such garments ;’ at 
which they smiled. Then one came in haste from the court of 
the prince with this command : 4 Strip him naked, cast him out, 
and throw his clothes after him ;’ which was accordingly done.” 
The second in order then began as follows : 44 1 too supposed 
that if 1 were only admitted into heaven, which was over my 
head, I should there be encompassed with joys, and should 
breathe them to eternity : I likewise wished to be there, and my 
wish was granted ; but the angels, on seeing me, fled away, and 
said one to another, 4 What portentous circumstance is this ! — 
how came this bird of night here ?’ On hearing this, I felt as if 
I had really undergone some change, and was no longer a man ; 
and yet I was not changed, but the appearance w r as produced by 
inhaling the heavenly atmosphere. Presently there came one 
running from the prince’s court, with an order that two servants 
733 


739 THE HOLY SUPPER. 

should lead me out, and conduct me back by the way I had 
ascended, till I reached my own home ; and when I got there, 
I again appeared as a man, both to others and to myself.” The 
third said, u I always conceived of heaven as a place, and not 
as a state dependent on the love of its inhabitants ; so soon, 
therefore, as I came into this world, I felt a most ardent desire 
to go to heaven. Accordingly I followed some whom I saw 
ascending thither, and was admitted along with them ; but I 
advanced only a few paces ; for when I was desirous to delight 
my mind ( animus ) according to the idea I had of the joys and 
blessings to be experienced there, a stupor, occasioned by the 
light of heaven, which is white as snow, and whose essence is 
said to be wisdom, seized my mind ( mens ), and darkness my 
eyes, and I was reduced to ’a state of insanity. A short time 
after, the heat of heaven, which corresponds with the brightness 
of its light, and whose essence is said to be love, produced a 1 
violent palpitation of my heart : I was seized with anxiety, and 
was inwardly excruciated to such a degree, that I threw myself 
flat on the ground. While in this situation, one of the guards 
came from the palace of the prince, with an order to carry me 
gently to my own light and heat ; and when I came thither, my 
spirit and my heart once more returned to me.” The fourth 
said, that he also had conceived of heaven as a place, and not as 
a state of love. u When first I came,” said he, u into the spir- 
itual world, I asked certain wise persons whether I might be 
permitted to ascend into heaven, and was informed that this 
liberty was granted to all, but there was need of caution how 
they used it, lest they should be cast down again. I made light 
of this caution, and ascended, in full confidence that all men 
were alike qualified for the reception of heavenly bliss in all its 
fulness ; but, alas ! I was no sooner within the confines of 
heaven, than my life seemed to be departing from me, and from 
the violent pai. s and the anguish which seized my head and 
body, I threw myself prostrate on the ground, where I writhed 
about like a snake when it is brought near the fire. In this 
state I crept to the brink of a precipice, and threw myself down ; 
when being taken up by some people standing near the spot 
where I had fallen, I was carried to a place of refreshment, and 
was soon brought to myself again.” The other five also related 
the wonderful occurrences which befell them in their ascents 
into heaven, and compared the changes they experienced as to 
their states of life, with the state of fish when raised out of 
water into air, and with that of birds when raised out of the air 
into ether; and they declared, that after having suffered so 
severely, they had no longer any desire to ascend into heaven, 
but only wished to live a suitable life, among their like, 
wherever it mightbe. “We are well informed,” they added, “ that 
in the world of spirits, where we are at present, all persons un 
734 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


739, 740 

dergo a previous preparation, the good for heaven, and the 
wicked for hell, and that after such preparation, they see ways 
opened to conduct them to societies of their like, with whom 
they are to remain to eternity : these ways they enter with de- 
light, because they are suitable to their love.” When those of 
the first assembly had heard these relations, they all likewise 
acknowledged that they had never entertained any other notion 
of heaven than as of a place, wherewith open mouths they should 
inhale the surrounding joys for ever. Then the angel who had 
the trumpet addressed them thus : “You now see that the joys 
of heaven and eternal happiness depend not upon place, but 
upon the state of the life of man. A state of heavenly life is 
derived from love and wisdom ; and since it is use that contains 
love and wisdom, and in which they are fixed and subsist, there- 
fore a state of heavenly life is derived from the conjunction of 
love and wisdom in use. It amounts to the same if we call them 
charity, faith, and good works ; because charity is love, faith is 
truth whence wisdom is derived, and good works are uses. In 
our spiritual world, however, there are places as in the natural 
world, or else there could be no habitations and distinct abodes : 
nevertheless, place with us is not place, but an appearance c ■ 
place, according to the state of love and wisdom or of charity 
and faith. Every one who becomes an angel carries his own 
heaven within himself, because he carries in himself the love ot 
his own heaven ; for a man by creation is the smallest effigy, 
image, and type of the great heaven, and thence the human 
form is derived* therefore everyone after death comes into that 
society of heaven of whose general form he is an individual effigy ; 
so that on entering into that society, he enters into a form cor- 
respondent with his own, and thus enters as it were from him- 
self into that form, as into another self, and again from that 
other self into the same form in himself, enjoying thus his own 
life as that of the society, and that of the society as his own ; 
for every society in heaven may be considered as one common 
body, and the angels as similar parts, from which the common 
body coexists. Hence it follows, that those who are in evils, 
and thence in falses, have formed in themselves the effigy of hell, 
and this, when in heaven, suffers torment from the influx and 
violent activity of one opposite upon another ; for infernal love 
is opposite to heavenly love, and there is a like collision between 
their delights, as between enemies, who destroy each other when 
they meet in conflict. 

740. After this a voice was heard from heaven, saying to the 
angel with the trumpet, “ Select ten out of the whole assembly, 
and introduce them to us : we have heard from the Lord, that 
he will prepare them, so that for three days the heat and light, 
or the love and wisdom of our heaven, shall not do them any 
injury.” Then ten were selected, and followed the angel. Thev 
735 


740 


THE HOLY STJPPER. 


ascended bj a steep path, up a certain hill, and from thence up 
a mountain, on whose summit was the heaven of those angels, 
which had before appeared to them at a distance like an expanse 
m the clouds. The gates were opened for them, and after they 
had passed the third gate, the introducing angel hastened to the 
prince of the society, or that of heaven, and announced to him 
their arrival. The prince said, “ Take some of my train with 
you, and carry them word that their arrival is acceptable to me, 
and introduce them into the building before my palace, and pro- 
vide for each a separate apartment w T ith a bedchamber, and ap- 
point some of my attendants and servants to wait on them, and 
to obey their orders :” all which was done. On being intro- 
duced by the angel, they asked if they might go and see the 
prince ; but the angel replied, “ It is now morning, and it is not 
permitted before noon ; till that time every one is engaged in his 
particular office and employment ; but you are invited to dinner, 
and then you will sit at table with the prince ; in the mean time 
I wfill introduce you into his palace, and show you the magnifi- 
cent and splendid things it contains.” 

When they had arrived at the palace, they first viewed it 
from without : it was large and spacious, and built of porphyry, 
with a foundation of jasper, and before the gate were six lofty 
columns of lapis lazuli ; the roof was of plates of gold, the 
windows high, of the most transparent crystal, and the frames 
also were of gold. After viewing the outside they were intro- 
duced within, and were conducted from one apartment to an- 
other, in each of wdiich they saw ornaments of inexpressible 
elegance and beauty ; and beneath the roof were sculptured 
decorations of inimitable workmanship. Against the walls were 
set tables of silver overlaid with gold, on which were placed 
various utensils made of precious stones, and of entire gems in 
celestial forms, with several things besides, which no eye on earth 
had ever seen, and consequently such as could never be conceived 
to exist in heaven. While they were struck with astonishment 
at these magnificent sights, the angel said, “Be not surprised; 
these things which you behold are not the production and work- 
manship of any angelic hand, but were framed by the Builder 
of the universe, and presented as a gift to our prince. Here 
then the architectonic art is in its essential perfection, and hence 
are derived all the rules of that art as known and practised in 
the world.” The angel added further, “ You may possibly con- 
ceive that such objects bewitch our eyes, and so infatuate them 
as to induce us to believe that they constitute the joys of our 
heaven ; but far from it : as our hearts are not in them, they are 
only accessory to the joys of our hearts; and therefore so far as 
we contemplate them as accessory, and as the workmanship ol 
God, in them we contemplate the divine omnipotence and be- 
nignity.” 

736 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


741 


741. After this the angel said to them, “ It is not yet noon : 
come with me into our prince’s garden, which is near the palace.” 
So they went with him ; and as they were entering, he said, 
“ Behold here the most magnificent of all the gardens in our 
heavenly society !” But they replied, “ IIow ! there is no garden 
here ; we see only one tree, and on its branches and its top as it 
were golden fruit, and leaves of silver, w r ith their edges adorned 
with emeralds, and underneath the tree little children with their 
nurses.” Hereupon the angel, with an inspired voice, said, 
“ This tree is in the midst of the garden, and we call it the tree 
of our heaven, and some the tree of life; but advance and draw 
nearer, and your eyes will be opened, and you will behold the 
garden.” They did so, and their eyes were opened, and they 
saw abundance of trees laden most plentifully with fine-flavored 
fruit, intwined about with young vines, whose tops with their 
fruit inclined towards the tree of life in the midst. These trees 
were planted in a continuous series, which spread out, and so 
proceeded into endless orbs, or gyrations, as of a perpetual spiral ; 
thus it formed a perfect spiral of trees, where one species suc- 
ceeded another in a continuous order, according to the worth and 
excellence of their fruit. The beginning of the circumgyration 
was at a considerable distance from the tree in the midst, and the 
intervening space glowed with a radiance of light which made 
the trees in the circle shine with a graduated splendor that was 
continued from the first to the last. The first trees were the 
most excellent of all, luxuriant in the choicest fruits, and were 
called paradisiacal trees, being such as are never seen in any 
country of the natural world, because none such ever grew there, 
or could grow. These were succeeded by olive-trees, the olives 
by vines, these by sweet-scented shrubs, and those by such trees 
as afford timber adapted for building. At stated intervals in this 
spiral or gyre of trees, were interspersed seats, formed of the 
young shoots of the trees behind them, brought forward and in- 
twined in each other, while the fruit hanging over at once en- 
riched and adorned them. In this perpetual winding orb of trees 
there were passages which opened into flower-gardens, and from 
them into shrubberies, laid out in areas and beds. At the sight 
of all these things the companions of the angel exclaimed, “Be- 
hold heaven in form ! wherever we turn our eyes we feel an in- 
flux of somewhat celestially paradisiacal, which is not to be ex- 
pressed.” When he heard this declaration, the angel rejoiced^ 
and said, “All the gardens of our heaven are representative 
forms or types of heavenly blessings in their origins, and be- 
cause the influx of these blessings elevated your minds, therefore 
you exclaimed, 4 Behold heaven in form !’ but those who do not 
receive that influx, see these paradisiacal gardens only as common 
woods and forests. All those receive the influx who are influ- 
enced by the love of use ; but those do not receive it who are in 
737 bbb 


741 — 743 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


fiuenced by the love of glory not originating in use.” Afterwards 
he explained and taught them what each thing in the garden rep- 
resented and signified. 

742. While they were thus employed, there came a messen 
ger from the prince, with an invitation to them to eat bread with 
him, and at the same time two pages of the court brought gar- 
ments of fine linen, and said, “ Put on these; for no one is ad 
mitted to the prince’s table unless he be clothed in the garments 
of heaven.” So they put them on, and, accompanying theii 
angel, were shown into an antechamber belonging to the palace, 
where they waited for the prince. There the angel introduced 
them to the company and conversation of the grandees and no- 
bles, who were also in expectation of the prince’s appearing. 
And lo ! in about half an hour the doors were opened, and, 
through one wider than the rest, on the western side, he entered 
in great order and pomp of procession. His inferior officers went 
before him, after them his privy counsellors, and next the chiet 
officers of the court : in the midst of these was the prince, and 
after him various attendants, and lastly the guards ; in all they 
amounted to a hundred and twenty. Then the angel advancing 
before the ten strangers, who by their dress appeared now like 
inmates of the place, approached with them towards the prince, 
and reverently introduced them to his notice ; and the prince, 
without stopping the procession, said to them, u Come and eat 
bread with me.” So they followed him into the dining-room, 
where they saw a table magnificently set out, having in the mid- 
dle a lofty golden pyramid, with a hundred branches in triple 
order., and to each branch a small paten or basket, containing a 
variety of sweetmeats and preserves, with other delicacies made 
of bread and wine ; and through the middle of the pyramid there 
issued as it were a bubbling fountain of nectareous wine, the 
stream of which, shooting from the summit of the pyramid, 
divided Itself into different branches, and filled the cups. At 
the side of this high pyramid were various celestial forms of gold, 
on which were dishes and plates covered with all kinds of food. 
The celestial forms supporting the dishes and plates were artificial 
forms derived from wisdom, such as could not be contrived by 
any human art, or expressed by any human words : the dishes 
and plates were of silver, on which were sculptured forms similar 
to those that supported them ; the cups were of transparent gems 
Such was the apparatus of the table. 

743. The prince and his ministers were thus attired : the 
prince was dressed in a long purple robe, adorned with silver stars 
wrought in needle- work; under this robe he wore a bright silk 
tunic of a blue or hyacinthine color; this was open about the 
breast, where there appeared the front part of a kind of zone, 
with the distinguishing badge of his society : the badge was an 
eagle sitting on her young at the top of a tree ; this was wrought 

738 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


743, 744 

in refulgent gold, and set round with diamonds. The counsellors 
were dressed nearly after the same manner, but without the badge, 
instead of which they wore sapphires curiously cut, hanging from 
their necks by a gold chain. The attendants wore cloaks of a 
red-brown color, wrought with flowers encircling young eagles ; 
their tunics were of silk of an opal color, as were also the gar- 
ments that covered their thighs and- legs. Thus were they clad. 

744. The counsellors and nobles, stood around the table, and 
by order of the prince folded their hands together, and at the 
same time uttered in a low voice a prayer of thanksgiving to the 
Lord ; after this, at a signal from the prince, they reclined on 
couches at the table. The prince then said to the ten strangers, 
“Recline also with me.; behold, there are your couches so they 
reclined, and the pages that were before sent by the prince to 
wait upon them, stood behind them. Then said the prince to 
them, u Take each of you a plate from its supporting form, and 
afterwards a paten from the pyramid and they did so ; and lo ! 
instantly new plates and patens appeared upon the stands in the 
place of those that were taken away ; and their cups were filled 
with wine that streamed from the fountain out of the great pyra- 
mid : and they ate and drank. When dinner was about half 
ended, the prince addressed the ten new guests, and said, “ 1 
have been informed that you were convened in the country which 
is immediately beneath this heaven in order to disclose your 
thoughts on the joys of heaven and eternal happiness thence 
derived, and that you professed different opinions, each accord 
ing to his peculiar ideas of delight originating in the bodily 
senses. But what are the delights of the bodily senses, with- 
out those of the soul? It is the soul which inspires them 
with delight. The delights of the soul are in themselves im- 
perceptible beatitudes ; but as they descend into the thoughts of 
the mind, and from thence into the sensations of the body, 
they become more and more perceptible : in the thoughts of 
the mind they are perceived as satisfactions, in the sensa- 
tions of the body as delights, and in the body itself as pleas- 
ures. Eternal happiness is derived from the latter and the 
former taken together : from the latter alone there results a 
happiness, which not being eternal, but temporary, is quickly 
ended and passes away, and is sometimes turned into unhappi- 
ness. You have now seen that all your joys are also joys of heav- 
en, and far more excellent than you could possibly have con- 
ceived ; but such joys do not inwardly affect our minds ( unimi ). 
There are three things which enter by influx from the Lord as a 
one into our souls ; these three as a one, or this trine, are love, 
wisdom, and use. Love and wisdom of themselves exist onlv 
ideally, being confined to the affections and thoughts of the 
mind*; but in use they exist really, because they are then to- 
gether in the act and operation of the body ; and where they 
739 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


744, 745 

exist really, there they also subsist. Since then love and wisdom 
exist and subsist in use, it is use which affects us ; and use con- 
sists in a faithful, sincere, and diligent discharge of the duties ot 
our calling. The love of use, and the consequent application to 
it, keep together the powers of the mind, and secure it from 
wandering about at random, and imbibing all the lusts which 
flow in, with their enchanting delusions, through the senses, from 
the body and the world, by which the truths of religion and mo- 
rality, with all that is good in either, become the sport of every 
wind ; but the application of the mind to use, keeps in stnd binds 
together those truths, and arranges the mind into a form recep- 
tible of the wisdom thence derived, and also extirpates from its 
circumference the idle and ridiculous sports of falsities and vani- 
ties. But you will hear more on this subject from the wise per- 
sons of our society, whom I will send to you in the afternoon.’’ 
So saying, the prince rose, and the new guests along with him ; 
and bidding them farew T ell, he gave charge to the conducting 
angel to lead them back to their apartments, and there to show 
them every token of civility and respect, and also to invite some 
courteous and agreeable company to entertain them with conver- 
sation respecting the various joys of their society. 

745. The angel executed the prince’s charge; and as they 
w T ent back to their private apartments, the company, invited 
from the city to entertain them with conversation respecting the 
various joys of the society, arrived, and after the usual compli- 
ments entered into conversation with them as they walked along 
in a strain at once entertaining and elegant. The conducting 
angel then said, “ These ten men were invited into this heaven 
to see its jo} r s, and so to receive a new idea of eternal happiness ; 
mention then a few particulars of such of its joys as affect the 
bodily senses : we expect some wise persons by and by, who will 
tell us of. many things which render those joys satisfactory and 
happy.” Then the company who were invited from the city 
spoke to the following effect : 1. u There are here days of festivity 
appointed by the prince, that the mind {animus), by a due relax- 
ation, may recover from the weariness wTiich in some instances 
may be produced by the desire of emulation. On these days 
we have concerts of music and singing in the public places, 
and out of the city games and exhibitions; at such times we 
have orchestras, raised in the public places, surrounded with 
balusters formed of vines wreathed together, from which hang 
bnnches of ripe grapes ; wdthin these balusters, in three rows 
one above another, sit the musicians, wdth their wind and 
stringed instruments, of various tones, both high and low, 
loud and soft ; and by them are seated singers of both sexes^ 
who entertain the citizens with the sweetest music and singing, 
both in concert and in solo, varied at times as to its particular 
kind : these concerts continue on those days of festivity from 
740 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


745, 746 

morning till noon, and are afterwards renewed until the evening. 
2. Moreover, every morning, from the houses around the public 
places we hear the sweetest songs of virgins and young girls, 
which resound over the whole city : it is one of the affections of 
spiritual love, which is rendered sonorous by modifications of the 
voice in singing, or by modulations. The affection in the song 
is perceived as the very affection itself, flowing into the minds of 
the hearers, and exciting them to a corresponding state : such is 
the nature of heavenly singing. The virgin singers say, that the 
sound of their song as it were inspires and animates them from 
within, and their minds are delightfully raised, according to its 
reception by the hearers. This ended, the windows of the houses 
around the public places, and likewise of those in the streets, 
are shut, and so also are the gates, and then the whole city is 
silent. No noise is heard in any part of it, and no person is seen 
loitering in the streets ; but all are intent on their work and the 
duties of their calling. 3. At noon however the gates are opened, 
and in the afternoon the windows also in some houses, and the 
boys and girls play in the streets, while their masters and gover- 
nesses sit in the porches of the houses, watching over them and 
keeping them in order. 4. On the sides of the city, at its ex- 
tremity, there are various sports of boys and young men, such 
as running, hand-ball, and tennis : there are besides trials of 
skill among the boys, in order to discover the readiness of their 
wit in speaking, acting, and perceiving ; and to those who excel 
are given some laurel leaves as a reward ; not to mention other 
similar things, designed to call forth and exercise the latent tal- 
ents of the young people. 5. There are moreover dramatic en- 
tertainments exhibited upon theatres out of the city, the actors 
representing the various graces and virtues of moral life, among 
whom are inferior characters for the sake of relatives.” One of 
the ten inquired, “ How for the sake of relatives ?” they replied, 
“ No virtue with its graces and decencies can be represented to 
the life, but by means of relatives in which all its graces and de- 
cencies from the greatest to the least are comprised and repre- 
sented ; and the inferior characters represent the least, even till 
they become none ; but it is provided by law, that nothing of 
the opposite, which is called indecorous and dishonorable, should 
be exhibited, except figuratively and as it were remotely. It is 
so provided, because nothing that is becoming and good in any 
virtue can by successive progressions pass over to what is unbe- 
coming and evil : it only proceeds to its least, where it perishes; 
then, and not till then, the opposite commences ; so that heaven, 
where all things are becoming and good, has nothing in common 
with hell, where all thing are licentious and evil. 

746. While they were thus engaged, a servant entered, and 
brought word that the eight wise persons invited by the prince’s 
order were arrived, and requested to be admitted ; on which the 
741 


746 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


angel went out to receive and introduce them. And presently 
these wise persons, after the customary ceremonies of introduc- 
tion, began to converse with them on the beginnings and incre- 
ments of wisdom, with which they intermixed various remarks on 
its succession, showing that with the angels it never ceases or 
comes to a period, but advances and increases to eternity. Here- 
upon the attendant angel said to them, “ Our prince at table 
talked with these strangers on the seat or abode of wisdom, 
showing that it is in use : if it be agreeable to you, be pleased to 
discourse with them further on the same subject.” Upon this, 
they said, “ Man at his first creation was endued with wisdom 
and the love of it, not for the sake of himself, but for the sake of 
its communication with others from himself. Hence it is a maxim 
inscribed on the wisdom of the wise, that no one be wise dor 
himself alone, or live for himself, but for others at the same 
time : this is the ground and origin of society, which otherwise 
could not exist. To live for others is to perform uses : uses are 
the bonds of society, and these are as many in number as there 
are good uses, and the number of uses is infinite. There are 
spiritual uses, such as belong to love towards God and love 
towards our neighbor ; there are moral and civil uses, such as 
belong to the love of the society and state in which a man lives, 
and of his fellow-citizens among whom he dwells ; there are 
natural uses, which belong to the love of the world and its neces- 
sities ; and there are corporeal uses, such as belong to the love 
of self-preservation, for the sake of uses of a superior order. All 
these uses are inscribed on man, and follow in order one after 
another; and when they are together, then one is within the other. 
Those who are in the first uses, which are spiritual, are in all those 
which succeed, and these persons are wise; those who are notin 
the first, but yet are in the second, and thence in the succeeding, 
are not so highly principled in wisdom, but only appear to be 
so from an external morality and civility ; those who are neither 
in the first nor second, but only in the third and fourth, have 
not the least pretensions to wisdom, for they are satans, loving 
only the world, and themselves for the sake of the world ; but 
those who are only in the fourth, are least of all wise, for they 
are devils, because they live to themselves alone, and if they 
consider others it is only for the sake of themselves. Every love, 
moreover, has its particular delight, for by delight love is kept 
alive ; and the delight of the love of uses is heavenly delight, 
which enters into succeeding delights in their order, and accord- 
ing to the order of succession exalts them, and makes them eter- 
nal.” After this they spoke of the number of the heavenly de- 
lights proceeding from the love of use, and said that they were 
myriads of myriads, and that all who enter heaven enter into 
those delights. With further conversation of wisdom on the love 
of use they lengthened out the day with them until the evening 
742 


THE HOLY SDrrEK. 


746, 747 

Towards evening there came a servant clothed in linen to 
the ten companions of the angel, and invited them to a wedding 
which was to be celebrated the next day ; and the strangers were 
much rejoiced to think that they were also to be present at a 
wedding in heaven. After this they were conducted to the house 
of one of the counsellors in waiting, and supped with him ; and 
after supper they returned to the palace, and each retired apart 
into his own bedchamber, where they slept till morning. When 
they awoke they heard the singing of the virgins and young girls 
from the houses round the public places of resort, of which men- 
tion was made above. They sung that morning the affection of 
conjugial love, the sweetness of which did so affect and penetrate 
the strangers, that they perceived sensibly a blessed serenity 
instilled into their joys, which at the same time exalted and 
renewed them. At the hour appointed the angel said, “ Make 
yourselves ready, and put on the heavenly garments which our 
prince sent you.” They did so, and lo ! the garments were 
resplendent with a flaming light ; and they asked the angel, 
u Whence is this ?” He replied, “ Because you are going to a 
wedding ; and when that is the case, our garments always assume 
a shining appearance, and become wedding garments. 

747. After this the angel conducted them to the house where 
the nuptials were to he celebrated, and the porter opened the 
door; and presently being admitted within the house, they were 
received and complimented by an angel sent from the bridegroom f 
and were introduced and shown to the seats intended for them. 
And soon after they were invited into the ante-room to the bride- 
chamber, where they saw in the middle a table, on which was 
placed a magnificent candelabra with seven branches and sconces 
of gold ; and to the walls were hung lamps of silver, which being 
lighted made the atmosphere appear as of a golden hue ; and 
they observed near the candelabra two tables, on which were set 
loaves of bread in a triple order ; there were tables also at the 
four corners of the room, on which were placed crystal cups. 
While they were viewing these things, lo ! a door opened from 
a chamber beside the bride-chamber, and they saw six virgins 
come out, and after them the bridegroom and bride, holding 
each other by the hand, and leading each other to a seat placed 
over against the candelabra, on' which they seated themselves, 
the bridegroom on the left, and the bride at his right hand; 
while the six virgins stood by the seat near the bride. The 
bridegroom wore a bright purple robe, and a tunic of fine shin- 
ing linen, with an ephod, on which was a golden plate set round 
with diamonds, and on the plate was engraved a young eagle, 
being the nuptial ensign of that heavenly society ; and he had a 
mitre on his head : the bride wore a scarlet mantle, and under 
it a gown embroidered with needle-work, reaching from her 
neck to her fcet, and below her bosom she had a golden girdle, 
743 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


747, 748 

and on her head a crown of gold set with rubies. When they 
were thus seated, the bridegroom turned himself towards the 
bride, and put a golden ring upon her finger ; he then took a 
pair of bracelets and a pearl necklace, and fastened the bracelets 
on her wrists, and the necklace about her neck, and said, “ Ac- 
cept these pledges,” and as she accepted them he kissed her, 
and said, “ Now thou art mine and he called her his wife. On 
tl is all the company cried out, “ May the divine blessing be 
upon you !” These words were pronounced first by each sepa- 
rately, and afterwards by all together. A certain person sent 
from the prince as his representative also pronounced them for 
him, and at that instant the ante-chamber was filled with an 
aromatic smoke, which was a token of blessing from heaven. 
Then the servants in waiting took bread from the two tables 
near the candelabra, and cups, now filled with wine, from the 
tables at the corners of the room, and gave to each of the guests 
his bread and his cup, and they ate and drank. After this the 
husband and his wife rose, and the six virgins attended them 
with the silver lamps, now lighted, in their hands, to the thresh- 
old ; and the married pair entered the bride-chamber, and the 
croor was shut. 

748. Afterwards the conducting angel talked with the guests 
about his ten companions, acquainting them how he was com- 
missioned to introduce them, and show them the magnificent 
objects contained in the prince’s palace, and other wonderful 
sights ; how they had dined at table with him ; and had after- 
wards conversed with certain wise men of the society : and he 
added, “May I request that they be permitted to enjoy the 
pleasure of your conversation also ?” So they drew nearer and 
discoursed together. Then a certain wise personage who was 
one of the marriage guests, said, “ Do you understand the signi- 
fication of what you have seen ?” “ But little,” they replied ; and 
then they asked him, “ Why was the bridegroom, who is now a 
husband, clad in that particular manner?” “Because the bride- 

f room,” he answered, “ who is now a husband, represented the 
,ord ; and the bride, now a wife, represented the church ; for 
nuptials in heaven represent the marriage of the Lord with .the 
church. This is the reason why he had a mitre on his head, 
and wore a robe, a tunic, and an ephod, like Aaron, and why 
the bride, now a wife, had a crown on her head, and wore a man- 
tle, like a queen ; but to-morrow they will be dressed differently, 
because this representation lasts no longer than to-day.” “ Since 
he represented the Lord, and she the church, why,” they asked, 
“did she sit at his right hand?” “Because there are two 
things,” the wise personage replied, “ which constitute the mar- 
riage of the Lord and the church ; these are love and wisdom : 
the Lord is love, and the church is wisdom, and wisdom is at 
the right hand of love ; for everv member of the church is wise 
744 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


748,749 , 

as of himself, and in proportion as he is wise he receives love 
from the Lord. The right hand also signifies power, and love 
has pow r er by means of wisdom ; but, as just observed, after the 
nuptials, the representation is changed, for then the husband 
represents wisdom, and the wife the love of his wisdom. This 
however, is not a primary but a secondary love; for the wife 
has it from the Lord, through the wisdom of the husband : the 
love of the Lord, which is the primary love, is the love of being 
wise abiding with the husband ; therefore after the nuptials, both 
together, the husband and his wife, represent the church.” But 
again they asked, “ Why did not you men stand by the bride- 
groom, now the husband, as the six virgins stood by the bride, 
now the wife ?” To this the wise one replied, u Because we to- 
day are numbered among the virgins, and the number six signi- 
fies all, and what is complete.” But they said, “ Explain your 
meaning.” 44 Virgins,” he replied, “signify the church, and the 
church consists of both sexes. Hence we also, as members of 
the church, are virgins. That this is the case, is evident from 
these words in the Revelation : 4 These are those who were not 
defiled with women, for they are virgins , who follow the Lamb 
whithersoever he goeth’ (xiv. 4). And as virgins signify the church, 
therefore the Lord compares it to ten virgins invited to the wed- 
ding (Matt. xxv). And as the church is signified by Israel, Zion, 
and Jerusalem, mention is therefore so frequently made in the 
Word of the virgin and daughter of Israel, of Zion, and of Je- 
rusalem. The Lord also thus describes his marriage with the 
church : 4 On thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir ; 
her clothing is of wrought gold ; she shall be brought unto the 
king in raiment of needle-work ; the virgins, her companions, 
that follow her, shall enter into the king’s palace’ (Psalm xlv. 9 
— 16).” 44 But is it not expedient,” they afterwards inquired, 

44 that a priest be present, and minister at the nuptial ceremony?” 

44 This is expedient on earth,” the wise one answered, 44 but not 
in heaven, on account of the representation of the Lord him- 
self and the church. On earth they are not aware of this ; 
and yet wfith us a priest ministers in whatever relates to be- 
trothings, or marriage contracts, and hears, receives, confirms, 
and consecrates the consent of the parties. Consent is the 
essential of marriage, and all succeeding ceremonies are its for- 
malities.” 

749. After this the conducting angel w r ent to the six virgins, 
and gave them an account of his companions, and requested they 
would vouchsafe to join company with them. They accordingly 
came : but as soon as they were near them, they suddenly retired, 
and entered the women’s apartment, where they mixed with the 
virgins, their friends. On seeing this, the conducting angel 
followed them, and asked them why they retired so suddenly 
without conversing with the strangers. They replied, 44 We can 
745 


749—751 


THE HOLY SUPPER. 


not approach them.” “ Why not ?” he asked ; and they an 
swered, u We do not know : but w T e perceived something which 
repelled us and drove us back again : we hope they will excuse 
us.” So the angel returned to his companions, and told them 
what the virgins had said, and added, u I conjecture that your 
love of the sex is not chaste : in heaven we love virgins for their 
beauty and the elegance of their manners, and we love them in- 
tensely, but chastely.” Hereupon his companions smiled, and 
said, u You conjecture right : who can behold such beauties near, 
and not feel some desire ?” 

750. After much entertaining conversation the nuptial-guests 
departed, and also the ten strangers with their attendant angel ; 
and the evening being far advanced, they retired to rest. At 
day -dawn they heard a proclamation made, To-day is the sab- 
bath. Then they arose, and asked the angel what it meant. 
He replied, “ It is a call to the worship of God, which returns 
at stated periods, and is proclaimed by the priests. The wor- 
ship is performed in our temples, and lasts about two hours ; 
therefore, if it is agreeable, come along with me, and I will in- 
troduce you.” So they made themselves ready, and attended 
the angel, and entered the temple. It was a large building ca- 
pable of containing about three thousand persons, in the form 
of a semi-rotunda, with benches or seats carried round in a con- 
tinued sw r eep, according to the figure of the temple. The pulpit 
in front of the seats was drawn a little from the centre ; the door 
was on the left hand behind the pulpit. The ten strangers en- 
tered with their conducting angel, who pointed out to them the 
places where they were to sit, telling them, “ Every one who 
enters the temple knows his own place, and this by a kind of in- 
nate perception ; and he cannot sit in any place but his own ; in 
case he takes another, he neither hears nor perceives any thing, 
and he also disturbs order, and when this is the case, the priest 
is not inspired.” 

751. When the congregation had assembled, the priest as- 
cended the pulpit, and preached a sermon full of the spirit of 
wisdom. The subject was on the sanctity of the Holy Scripture, 
and the conjunction of the Lord with both worlds, the spiritual 
and the natural, by its means. Illustrated as he then was, he 
fully proved, that that Holy Book was dictated by Jehovah th6 
Lord, and that consequently he is in it, so as to be the wisdom 
it contains; but that the wisdom which is himself therein, lies 
concealed under the sense of the letter, and is opened to none 
but those who are in truths of doctrine, and at the same time 
in goodness of life, and thus who are in the Lord, and the Lord 
in them. To this discourse he added a votive prayer, and de- 
scended. As the audience were going out, the angel requested 
the priest to speak a few words of peace with his ten companions : 
60 he came to them, and they conversed together for the spactj 

746 


THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 


751—754 


of iiA.h tin hour. He discoursed on the Divine Trinity, that it 
is in Jesus Christ, in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells 
bodily, according to the declaration of the apostle Paul ; and 
afterwards on the union of charity and faith ; but he said, “ the 
union of charity and truth,” because faith is truth. 

752. After expressing their thanks, they departed home ; and 
when they were come there the angel said to them, “ This is the 
third day since you ascended into the society of this heaven, and 
as you were prepared by the Lord to stay here three days, it is 
now time that we be separated : put off therefore the garments 
sent you by the prince, and put on your own.” When they had 
done so, they were inspired with a desire to be gone; so they 
departed and descended, the angel attending them to the place 
of assembly ; and there they gave thanks to the Lord for vouch- 
safing to bless them with knowledge, and so with intelligence, 
respecting heavenly joys and eternal happiness. 


CHAPTEK XIY. 

THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE, THE COMING OF THE LORD, AND 
THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH. 

I. That the consummation of the age is the last time or end 

OF THE CHURCH. 

753. On this earth there have been several churches, all oi 
which in process of time have come to their consummation, and 
then' have been succeeded by new ones, and so on to the present 
time. The consummation of the church comes to pass when 
there remains no divine truth but what is falsified or rejected, in 
which case there cannot remain any genuine good, because the 
whole quality of good is formed by truths, good being the es- 
sence of truth, and truth being the form of good, and no quality 
can exist without a form. Good and truth can no more be sep- 
arated than will and understanding, or what is the same thing, 
than affection of love and thought thence originating ; so that 
when truth comes to its consummation in the church, good also 
comes to its consummation, and when this is the case the church 
is at an end, or, in other words, its consummation is arrived. 

754. The church is brought to a consummation by various 
means, but especially by such as make the false appear like truth, 
in which case the good which is truly so, and is called spiritual 
good, ceases also ; that which is then supposed to be good is only 
the natural good produced by a moral life. The causes of this 
consummation of truth, and along with it of good, are princi* 

747 


754, 755 THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 

pally these two natural loves, the love of self and the love of the 
worid, which are diametrically opposed to the two spiritual loves ; 
the love of self, when predominant, being opposed to love to 
God, and the love of the world, when predominant, being op- 
posed to love towards the neighbor. The love of self consists 
in a man’s wishing well to himself only, and to no other except 
for the sake of himself : the case is similar with the love of the 
world ; and where those two loves have once been appropriated, 
they extend their ensnaring and baneful influence, just as a mor- 
tification spreads through the body, till by degrees it wastes away , 
all its parts and members. That such love has invaded churches, 
is very evident from the description given of Babylon in Gen. 
xi. 1 — 9 ; Isaiah xiii. xiv. xlvii. Jerem. 1. ; and in Daniel ii. 31 
— 17 ; iii. 1 — 7 ; v. vi. 8 to the end ; vii. 1, 14 ; and in the Reve- 
lation xvii. and xviii. from the beginning to the end of both ; 
and at length it exalted itself to such a height, that it not only 
transferred the divine power of the Lord to itself, but even strove, 
by every possible art, to accumulate to itself all the treasures of 
the world. And there is but too much reason to conclude, from 
certain omens and appearances of no delusive kind, that the 
same loves would burst forth with the same violence in many ot 
the rulers of the churches separated from Babylon, were it not 
for the limitation and consequent restriction of their power. 
What then must be the necessary consequence of such evil un- 
governable love, but that a man under its influence will regard 
himself as God, and the world as heaven, and pervert every 
truth of the church ? For real truth, which in itself is truth, 
cannot be known and acknowledged by the merely natural man, 
or be communicated to him by God ; for falling into an inverted 
receptacle, the truth is changed into the false. There are how- 
ever several other causes, besides these two loves, for the con- 
summation of truth and goodness, and consequently for the 
consummation of the church ; but these are only secondary 
causes, and subordinate to the other two. 

755. That the consummation of the age is the last time of 
the church, is evident from those passages in the Word where 
the expression occurs ; as from the following : “ I have heard 
from Jehovah a consummation and a decision upon the whole 
land” # (Isaiah xxviii. 22). The consummation is decreed, right- 
eousness is overflowed ; for the Lord Jehovah of Hosts shall make 
a consummation and a decision over all the land” (x. 22, 23). 
“ By the fire of the zeal of Jehovah the whole land shall be de- 
voured ; for he shall make a speedy consummation of all them 
that dwell in the land” (Zeph. i. 18). The church is signified 

* In the English version of the Bible these words are rendered a consumptio n 
even determined , as also in Dan. ix. 2*7 ; whereby the distinction is lost between 
consummation and decision ; but the original Hebrew favors the construction here 
given by the author. 

748 


THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 755, 756 

by land in the above passages,’ because the land of Canaan is 
understood, where the church was established. That the churclj 
is signified by land, may be seen fully proved from many pas- 
sages ot the Word in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 285, 902. 
Again : u And over the bird of abominations shall be desolation , 
even to consummation and decision / it shall drop upon the 
devastation ” (Dan. ix. 27). That these words were spoken by 
Daniel in relation to the end of the present Christian Church, 
may be seen, Matt. xxiv. 15. “Thus hath Jehovah said, The 
whole land shall be wasteness , yet will I not make a consuming 
tion ” (Jer. iv. 27). “The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet 
consummated ” (Gen. xv. 16). Jehovah said, “ I will go down 
and see whether they have made a consummation according to 
the cry which is come unto me” (Gen. xviii. 21) ; speaking of 
Sodom. The last time of the present Christian Church is also 
meant by the consummation of the age spoken of by the Lord in 
the following passages : “ His disciples came unto him, saying, 
What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of 
the age f ” (Matt. xxiv. 3). “ As therefore the tares are gathered 

together and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the consumma- 
tion of the age ” (xiii. 40). “ So shall it be at the consummation 

of the age , the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from 
the just” (xiii. 49). “ Jesus said to his disciples, Lo ! I am with 

you always, even to the consummation of the age ”* (xxviii. 20). 
It is to be observed, that wasting, desolation, and decision, sig- 
nify the same as consummation ; but desolation signifies the 
consummation of truth, wasting or vastation, the consummation 
of good, and decision, the full consummation of both : the ful- 
ness of time, in which the Lord came into the world, and is 
about to come again, is also the consummation. 

756. The consummation of the age may receive illustration 
from various circumstances in the natural world ; for whether it 
be considered either as a whole or singly, every thing on the 
face of the earth grows old and wastes away, but then it is by 
alternate changes called the circles of things. Times or seasons, 
both in general and in particular, describe such circles. In 
general the year passes from spring to summer, and through 
summer to autumn, and closes in winter, and thence returns 
again to spring ; this is the circle of warmth. In particular the 
day passes from morning to noon, and through noon to evening, 
and closes in night, and thence returns again to morning ; this 
is the circle of light. Every man also passes through the circle 
of nature ; he begins life in infancy, from which he advances to 
youth and manhood, and thence to old age, and then dies. In 

* In the common English version of the Bible, instead of the co.vsummatioh 
of the age, these passages are translated the exd of the world : it will how 
ever be admitted by every one acquainted with the original that the former is theu 
true signification. 

749 


756—758 


THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 


like manner every bird of the air, and every beast of the earth, 
describe the circles of their natures. Every tree likewise has its 
beginning in the bud, whence it proceeds to its full stature, and 
by degrees dies away till it falls to the ground. The case i ? 
similar with everj^ shrub, and with every twig, yea, with every 
leaf and flower, and even with the ground itself, which in time 
becomes sterile ; and likewise with all stagnant waters, which by 
degrees grow putrid. All these are alternate consummations 
which are natural and temporary, but yet periodical ; for when 
one thing has passed from its beginning to its end, another 
. springs up like it, and so every thing is born, and dies, and then 
is born again, to the intent that creation may be continued. 
The reason why there is a similar law in respect to the church 
:s, because it consists of the human race, of which, in its com- 
mon form, it is composed, and one generation of men succeeds 
another, and there is a variety in the minds of all, and iniquity, 
once rooted in their inclination, is propagated to their posterity ; 
and it can only be extirpated by regeneration, and this can only 
be effected by the Lord. 

II. That the present day is the last time of the Christian 

CHURCH, WHICH THE LORD FORETOLD AND DESCRIBED IN THE 

GOSPELS AND IN THE REVELATION. 

757. That the consummation of the age signifies the last 
time of the church, has been shown in the foregoing article ; 
whence it is evident what is meant by the consummation of the 

I in the gospels, Matt. xxiv. ; Mark 



written, “ As Jesus sat upon the 


mount of Olives, his disciples came unto him privately, saying, 
Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign 
of thy coming, and of the consummation of the age?” (Matt, 
xxiv. 3). And then the Lord began to foretell and describe the 
consummation in all its successive states, even to his advent, and 
that then he should come in the clouds of heaven with power 
and great glory, and should gather together his elect, with many 
other particulars (verses 30, 31), which did not at all come to 
pass at the destruction of Jerusalem. On that occasion the 


Lord described these events in prophetic language, every word 
whereof is weighty and significative. The spiritual import ol 
every particular expression may be seen explained in the Ar- 
cana Ccelestia, n. 3353 — 3356, 3486 — 3489, 3650 — 3655, 3751 
—3757, 3898—3901, 4057—4060, 4229—4231, 4332—4335, 
4422—4424. 

758. That all those prophetic declarations of the Lord to Jiis 
disciples were spoken of the last time of the Christian church, is 
very evident from the Revelation, where similar events are fore- 
told of the consummation of the age, and the Lord’s advent, all 
which are particularly explained in the Apocalypse Revealed, 
published in the year 1766. Row as the particulars spoken oi 


750 


THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 758, 759 

by the Lord to his disciples concerning the consummation of the 
age, and his advent, coincide with what he afterwards revealed 
in the Apocalypse by John concerning the same subjects, it is 
evident that he could mean no other consummation than that of 
the present Christian church. The end of this church is, more- 
over, foretold in Daniel ; therefore the Lord says, “ When ye 
shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the 
prophet, standing in the holy place, whoso readeth let him 
understand” (Matt. xxiv. 15 ; Dan. ix. 27) : so also in the other 
prophets. That there is at this day such an abomination of 
desolation in the Christian church, will further appear from the 
Appendix, where it will be seen that there is not a single gen- 
uine truth at this time remaining in the church, and also that 
unless a new church were to be raised up in the place of the 
present, “ no flesh could be saved,” according to the Lord’s 
words in Matt. xxiv. 22. That the Christian church, such as it 
is at this day, is consummated and laid waste to so great an 
extent, cannot be seen by those on earth who have confirmed 
themselves in its falses, because a confirmation of the false is a 
denial of the true ; and for this reason he that is in such a state 
places as it were a vail beneath his understanding, and so keeps 
guard that nothing else creeps in to pull down the ropes and 
stakes, by which he has built up and put together his theological 
system like a strong tent. Moreover, the natural rational prin- 
ciple can confirm whatever it pleases, whether it be false or true, 
and both, when confirmed, appear in similar light ; and it is 
not known whether the light be false, such as is experienced in 
a dream, or whether it be true, such as is seen in the clear 
day. But" the case is altogether otherwise with the spiritual 
rational principle, such as those enjoy who look to the Lord, 
and from him are in the love of truth. 

759. Hence it is that every church composed of those who 
see by the above light of confirmation, appears to itself as if it 
were the one only church which enjoyed the light of truth, while 
all others which differ from it are in darkness ; for those who 
see by the light of confirmation, are not unlike owls, which see 
light during the shade of night, but in the day-time see the sun 
and its rays as thick darkness. Such was, and such also is, 
every church which is in falses, when once it is founded by 
leaders, who being sharp-sighted as lynxes in their own conceit, 
form to themselves a morning light from their own under- 
standings, and an evening light from the Word : thus, did not 
the Jewish Church, when it was altogether laid waste, which 
was the case when our Lord came into the world, contend loudly, 
by its scribes and lawyers, that because it possessed the Word 
it was the one only church which was in heavenly light, although 
at that very time they crucified the Messiah, or Christ, who was 
the Word itself, and the all in all thereof? And what does the 
753 


759, 760 THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 

church, which in the prophets and the Revelation is under- 
stood by Babylon, contend for, but that she is the queen and 
mother’ of all churches, and that others, which recede from her, 
are illegitimate children, who ought to be excommunicated ; 
and this, notwithstanding she has thrust down the Lord the 
Saviour from his throne and altar, and placed herself thereon 
in his stead ? Does not every church, be it ever so heretical, 
when once it is established, till all countries and cities with a 
cry, that it is the only one which is orthodox and ecumenical, 
and that it is in possession of the gospel, which the flying angel 
preached in the midst of heaven ? (Rev. xiv. 6). And who does 
not hear the voice of the vulgar, echoing the same cry? Did not 
the whole Synod of Dort look upon the doctrine of predestina- 
tion as a star falling from heaven upon their heads, and kiss it 
as the Philisthines did the image of Dagon in the temple ot 
Ebenezer at Ashdod, and as the Greeks did the Palladium in 
the temple of Minerva? for they called it the Palladium oi 
religion, not aware that a falling star is a meteor composed of a 
false light, which, when it falls on the brain, can confirm, by 
fallacious arguments, whatever is most false, even till it is be- 
lieved to be a true light, decreed to be a fixed star, and at length 
peremptorily pronounced the glory of all constellations. Who 
can speak with stronger persuasion of the certainty- of his fan- 
tastic opinions, than an atheistical naturalist? and how heartily 
does he laugh at the divine operations of God, the celestial 
things of heaven, and the spiritual things of the church 1 What 
lunatic does not fancy his own infatuation to be wisdom, and 
s another’s wisdom to be infatuation ? Who can distinguish, by 
* ocular vision alone, the false light of rotten wood from the light 
of the moon ? Who that has an aversion to sweet smells, which 
is the case with those who are affected with the morbus ute- 
rinus , does not repel them from the nostrils, and give the 
preference to stinking odors ? Not to mention other cases of a 
similar kind. These instances are adduced for the sake of illus- 
tration, and to evince that it cannot be discovered, by natural 
light alone, before truth shines in its own light from heaven, 
that the church is come to its consummation, in other words, 
that it is in mere falses ; for the false does not see the true, but 
the true sees the false ; and every man is so constituted, that he 
can see and comprehend the truth, when he hears it. But it 
he is confirmed in falses, he cannot introduce it into his under- 
standing so that it may remain there, because he can find no 
place for it ; and if by chance it gains admission, the crowd of 
falsities before collected rejects it as heterogeneous. 

III. That this last time of the Christian church is the very 

NIGHT IN WHICH FORMER CHURCHES HAVE SET. 

760. Since the creation there have been four churches in 
general on this earth, in a regular succession one .after another, 
752 


THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 760, 761 

as ma}^ appear from both the historical and the prophetical parts 
of the Word, but especially from the book of Daniel, where 
those four churches are described by the statue that Nebuchad- 
nezzar saw in a dream (chap, ii.), and afterwards by the four 
beasts ascending out of the sea (chap, vii.) The first church, 
which may be called the most ancient, was extant before the flood, 
and its consummation or end is described by the flood. The 
second^ church, which may be called the ancient, was in Asia and 
part of Africa, and this was brought to its consummation and 
destruction by idolatries. The third church, which was the Is- 
raelitish, began at the promulgation of the decalogue on mount 
Sinai, was continued by the Word written by Moses and the 
prophets, and was consummated or ended by its profanation of 
the Word, which profanation was at its fulness when the Lord 
came into the world ; therefore, because he was the Word, they 
crucified him. The fourth church is the Christian, which the 
Lord established by the evangelists and the apostles. This church 
has had two epochs, one extending from the time of the Lord 
till the council of Nice, and the other from that council to the 
present time. This latter however, in its progress, was divided 
into three branches, — the Greek, the Roman Catholic, and the 
Reformed ; nevertheless all these three are called Christian. 
Moreover, within every general church there have been several 
particular churches, which, notwithstanding their separation 
from the general, have still retained its name, as is the case with 
the different heresies in the Christian church. 

761. The last time of the Christian church is the very night, 
in which former churches have set, as is plain from the Lord’s 
prediction concerning this night in the evangelists and in 
Daniel: in the evangelists from these words: “Ye shall see 
the abomination of desolation : for then shall be great afflic- 
tion, such as has not been since the beginning of the world, 
and never shall be ; and except those d«ays should be short- 
ened there should no flesh be saved,” and lastly, “the sun 
shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the 
stars shall fall from heaven” (Matt. xxiv. 15, 21, 22, 29). In 
other passages in the evangelists, that time is also called night ; 
as in Luke : “ In that night there shall be two in one bed, the 
one shall be taken, and the other shall be left” (xvii. 34). And 
in John : “ I must work the works of him that sent me while it 
is day ; the night cometh when no man can work” (ix. 4). Since 
all light departs at midnight, and the Lord is the true light (John 
i. 4 ; viii. 12 ; xii. 35, 36, 46), therefore he said to his disciples, 
when he ascended into heaven, “ Lo ! I am with you always even 
unto the consummation of the age” (Matt, xxviii. 20) ; and then 
he departs from them to a new church. This last time of the 
church is the very night in which former churches have set, as is 
plain also from this passage in Daniel : “ In the end, upon the 
753 * o c o 


761. 762 


THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 


bird of abomination shall be desolation, even until the consum 
mation and decision, it shall drop upon the devastation” (ix. 27). 
This prophecy relates to the end of the Christian church, as is 
very plain from the Lord’s own words (Matt. xxiv. 15). The 
same too is evident from this passage in Daniel relating to the 
fourth kingdom, or the fourth church, represented by the image 
which Nebuchadnezzar saw: “And whereas thou sawest iron 
mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed 
of man, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron 
is not mixed with clay” (ii. 43). The seed of man is the truth 
of the Word. It is further evident from this passage relative to 
the fourth church represented by the fourth beast ascending out 
of the sea; “I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth 
beast, terrible and dreadful; it shall, devour the whole earth, 
and shall tread it down and break it in pieces” (vii. 7, 23) ; which 
expressions mean, that every truth of the church should be 
brought to a consummation, and then there will be night, because 
the truth of the church is light. Many similar things are pre- 
dicted of this church in the Revelation, especially in the sixteenth 
chapter, where it speaks of the vials of the anger of God poured 
out upon the earth, signifying the falsities which should then 
overflow and destroy the church. There are also several passages 
in the prophets to the same purpose ; as for example : “ Shall 
not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light, even very dark, 
and no brightness in it ?” (Amos v. 20 ; Zeph. i. 15). And again, 
“ In that day, if one look unto the land, behold, darkness and 
sorrow, and the light is darkened in the ruins thereof” (Isaiah v. 
30 ; viii. 22). The day of Jehovah rs the day of the Lord’s advent. 

762. That there should have been four churches on this earth 
since the creation of the world, is agreeable to divine order, 
which requires that there should be a beginning and its end, be- 
fore a new beginning arises. Hence every day begins w r ith 
morning, advances to mid-day, and closes in night, and after 
that begins afresh ; every year too commences from the spring, 
advances in its progress through summer to autumn, and then 
closes in winter, and after that enters on a new beginning. It 
is to produce these effects that the sun rises in the east, thence 
proceeds through the south to the west, and sets in the north, 
after which he rises again. Similar to this is the case with 
churches ; the first of them, which was the most ancient, was as 
the morning, the spring, and the east; the second or the ancient, 
was as mid-day, the summer, and the south ; the third was as 
the evening, the autumn, and the west; and the fourth as the 
night, the winter, and the north. From these progressions ac- 
cording to order, the wise ancients drew their conclusions of the 
foul ages of the world, the first of which they called gulden, the 
second silver, the third copper, and the fourth iron, by which 
metals also the churches themselves were represented in the image 
754 


THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 


762 , 763 

seen by Nebuchadnezzar. But moreover in the Lord’s sight the 
church appears as one man, and this grand man must needs pass 
through his different ages, like the individuals of which he is 
composed, advancing from infancy to youth, through youth to 
manhood, and at length to old age, and then, when he dies, he 
rises again : the Lord says, “ Except a grain of wheat fall into 
the ground and die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth 
forth much fruit” (John xii. 21). 

763. It is according to order, that in all cases, both general 
and particular, the first should proceed to its ultimate; for such 
a process gives birth and existence to all kinds of variety, and 
by varieties to all quality; for qualities are produced and per- 
fected by the differences in relation to what is more or less oppo- 
site. Who cannot see, for instance, that truth receives its quality 
from the existence of the false, and in like manner good from 
the existence of evil, just as light receives its quality from the 
existence of darkness, and heat from the existence of cold ? 
What w r ould become of color, supposing white alone to exist 
without black ? Must not the quality of intermediate colors, on 
such a supposition, necessarily be very imperfect ? So again, 
what are the perceptions of sense without some kind of relation ? 
and wdiat is relation but as respecting opposites ? Is not ocular 
vision darkened by looking on white alone, and rendered clear 
and lively by looking on a color that inwardly takes some tint 
of blackness, as is the case with green ? Is not the ear deafened 
by the continual action of one tone upon its organs, and excited 
by modulation varied according to the different relations of har- 
monious and discordant notes ? What is beauty without relation 
to ugliness ? Hence it is a common practice with painters, when 
they would exhibit a beautiful figure to the greatest advantage, 
to place a deformed one beside it. What are pleasure and pros- 
perity without relation to what is unpleasant and unprosperous ? 
How hurtful is it to the mind to be constantly brooding over one 
idea, without admitting a variety of such as have some opposite 
quality ? The case is similar with the spiritual things of the 
church, whose opposites have relation to the evil and the false : 
not that the evil and the false are from the Lord, but from man, 
who, being endowed with free-will, may direct it either to good 
or evil purposes ; and this comparatively, as in the case of dark- 
ness and cold, which come not from the sun, but are a conse- 
quence of the earth’s circumvolutions, which cause it succes- 
sively to withdraw its face and turn it away from the sun ; and 
yet without such circumvolutions of the earth, there would be 
neither day nor year, and consequently neither animate nor 
inanimate creatures could exist upon it. I have been informed 
that those churches which are in different goods and truths, pro- 
vided only their goods have relation to love to the Lord, and their 
755 


763, 7 64 THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE. 

truths to faith in him, are like so many precious jewels in a king’s 
crown. 

IY. That after this night, morning succeeds, and the coming 

of the lord is this morning. 

764. Since the successive states of the church, both in 
general and in particular, are described in the Word by the 
four seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, 
and by the four times of the day, morning, mid-day, evening, 
and night, and as it is now night with the present church in 
Christendom, it follows that the morning is at hand, in other 
words, the dawn or beginning of a new church. The successive 
states of the church are described in the Word by the four states 
of the light of the day, as is evident from these passages : u Unto 
two thousand three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be 
made righteous : the vision of the evening and the morning is 
truth” (Dan. viii. 14 — 26). “ He calleth to me out of Seir, 

Watchman, what of the night f The watchman said, the morn- 
ing coineth, and also the night ” (Isaiah xxi. 11, 12). “The end 
is come ; the morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest 
in the land : behold, the day it is come, the morning is gone 
forth” (Ezek. vii. 6, 7, 10). “ Jehovah is in the midst thereof ; 

morning by morning doth he bring his judgments to light; he 
faileth not” (Zeph. iii. 5). “ God is in the midst of her, God 

will help her when the morning appeareth” (Psalm xlvi. 5). “ I 

wait for Jehovah ; my soul doth wait for the Lord, more than 
they that wait for the morning-watch : for with the Lord is 
plenteous redemption, and he will redeem Israel from all his 
iniquities” (cxxx. 5 — 8). In these passages, the last time of the 
church is meant by evening and night, and its first time or com- 
mencement by morning. The Lord himself also is called the 
morning in the following passages : “ The God of Israel said, 
the rock of Israel spake to me ; he is as the light of the morning , 
even a morning without clouds” (2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4). “ I am the 

root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning sta/r ” 
(Kev. xxii. 16). “ From the womb of the morning thou hast the 

dew of thy youth” (Psalm cx. 3). These passages are spoken of 
the Lord ; for the Lord is the morning. Tie therefore arose 
from the grave early in the morning, being about to lay the 
foundation of a new church (Mark xvi. 2, 9). That the Lord’s 
coming is to be expected, is very evident from his own prediction 
respecting it in Matthew. “ As Jesus sat upon the Mount of 
Olives, his disciples came unto him saying, Tell us what will be 
the sign of thy coming , and of the consummation of the age ?” 
(xxiv. 3.) “ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall 
the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and 
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens 
shall be shaken ; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of 


THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE 


765 — 767 


man, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
heaven with power and great glory” (verses 29, 30 ; Mark xiii. 26 : 
Luke xxi. 27). “ As the days of Noah were, so shall also the 

coming of the Son of man be ; therefore be ye also ready, for in 
such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh ” (Matt, 
xxiv. 37, 44.) In Luke: “When the Son of mam cometh , will 
he find faith on the earth?” (xviii. 8). In John: “Jesus said 
of John, If I will that he tarry till 1 come” (xxii. 22). In the 
Acts of the Apostles : “ And while they looked steadfastly to- 
ward heaven, as he went up, lo! two men stood by them in 
white apparel, and said, This same Jesus, who is taken up from 
you into heaven, shall so come in like jnanner as ye have seen 
him go into heaven ” (i. 10, 11). In the Revelation : “The Lord 
God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants 
the things that shall shortly be done: Behold , I come quickly ; 
blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this 
Book; and 'behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, 
to give every man according as his work shall be” (xxii. 6, 7, 12) ; 
and again : “ I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you 
these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring 
of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit ana 
the bride say, Come ; and let him that heareth say, Come ; and 
let him that is athirst, Come ; and whosoever will, let him take 
the water of life freely” (verses 16, 17). And again : “ He that 
testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly ; Amen. 
Even so, come. Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
be with you all. Amen” (verses 20, 21). 

766. The Lord is present with every man, and is urgent and 
instant to be received ; and when a man receives him, which he 
does by acknowledging him to be his God, his Creator, Re- 
deemer, and Saviour, it is then his first advent, which is called 
day-dawn. From this period the man as to his understanding 
begins to be enlightened in spiritual subjects, and to advance 
towards a wisdom more and more interior ; and as he receives 
this wisdom from the Lord, such in proportion is his progression 
from morning to mid-day, and this mid-day continues with him 
to old age, even till death, and after death he is • elevated into 
heaven to the Lord himself, where, though he may have died an 
old man, he is restored to the morning of his life, and continues 
to eternity to grow in that wisdom which was implanted in the 
natural world. 

767. Every man who is principled in faith to the Lord, and 
in charity towards his neighbor, is a church in particular, the 
church in common being composed of such individuals. It is 
a wonderful circumstance, that every angel beholds the Lord 
immediately before him, however he may change the direction 
of his body and face ; for the Lord is the sun of the angelic 
heaven, and it is this which appears before the eyes of the 

757 


767 


THE COMING OF THE LORD. 


angels, while in spiritual meditation. The case is similar with a 
man in the natural world as to the sight of his spirit, if the 
ciiurch be implanted in him ; but as his spiritual sight is veiled 
by natural sight, and as this is favored and fostered by the othei 
senses, which are engaged about bodily and worldly objects, he 
is ignorant of this state of his spirit. The ground of the above 
circumstance, that angels and good men look to the Lord, what- 
ever be the direction of their bodies, is this, that all truth from 
which wisdom and faith are derived, and all good, by which love 
and charity are formed, are from the Lord, and are the Lord’s, 
both in angels and men ; thence every truth of wisdom is as it 
were a mirror in which the Lord is seen, and every good of love 
is the image of the Lord. This then is the ground of the above 
wonderful circumstance. On the other hand, an evil spirit per- 
petually turns himself away from the Lord, and is constantly 
looking towards his own Iqve, and this too, however he may 
change the direction of his body and face. Now the reason in 
this case is the same, though the application is reversed ; for 
every evil is in some shape or other an image of his ruling love, 
and the false which proceeds from it presents that image as in a 
mirror. That there is a similar law implanted in nature, may 
be concluded from the growth of certain jflants which shoot out 
their branches, and so raise themselves aloft above the grass and 
the weeds that encompass them that they may behold the sun. 
Some of them, also, change their aspect from east to west, that 
they may always be turned towards the sun, and so advance to 
their maturity under his auspices ; and I entertain no doubt 
that there is a like tendency and propensity in every single bud 
and shoot of every tree, although, from not possessing elasticity 
of flexure and conversion, the tendency cannot be determined to 
outward act. It is besides a fact well known to the curious 
inquirer, that all whirlpools of water, and those of the ocean, 
move spontaneously according to the common progress of the 
sun. How much more then would this spiritual tendency in- 
fluence a man, created as he is to be an image of God, did he 
not use the gift of free-will to turn this propensity implanted in 
him by his Creator into another direction ! This tendency may be 
likened to the state of a bride, who has something of the image 
of the bridegroom constantly present to her mind’s eye; she 
beholds him in his favors and gifts, as in so many mirrors ; she 
longs for his coming, and when he comes receives him with joy, 
and by her joy expresses the love that is swelling in her bosom. 
V. That the coming of the lord is not a coming to destroy 

THE VISIBLE HEAVEN AND THE HABITABLE EARTH, AND TO 
CREATE A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH, ACCORDING TO 
THE OPINIONS WHICH MANY, FROM NOT UNDERSTANDING THE 
SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD. HAVE HITHERTO ENTER- 
TAINED. 

•758 


THE COMING OF THE LOUD. 


768 - -770 


768. It is the prevailing opinion at this day in every church, 
that the Lord, when he comes to the last judgment, will appear 
in the clouds of heaven with angels and the sound of trumpets ; 
that he will gather together all who are then dwelling on the 
earth, as well as all who are deceased, and will separate the evil 
from the good, as a shepherd separates the goats from the sheep ; 
that then he will cast the evil, or the goats, into hell, and raise 
up the good, or the sheep, into heaven ; and further, that he 
will at the same time create a new visible heaven and a new 
habitable earth, and on the latter he will cause a city to de- 
scend, which is to be called the New Jerusalem, and is to be 
built according to the description given in the Revelation (chap, 
xxi.) of jasper and gold, and the foundation of its walls of every 
precious stone, and its height, breadth, and length, to be equal, 
each twelve thousand furlongs ; and that all the elect are to be 
gathered together into this city, both those that are then alive 
and those that have died since the beginning of the world ; and 
that the latter will then return into their bodies, and enjoy 
everlasting bliss in that magnificent city, as in their heaven. 
This is the prevailing opinion of the present day, in all Chris- 
tian Churches, respecting the coming of the Lord and the last 
judgment. 

769. In regard to the state of souls after death, both uni- 
versally and particularly, it is the common belief at this day, 
that human souls after death are mere aerial beings, of which it 
is impossible to form any idea but as of a vapor or exhalation, 
and that such being their state and nature, they are reserved to 
the day of the last judgment, either in the middle of the earth, 
where their Pu is placed, or in the limbus of the ancient fathers. 
But on these points there are various opinions; some suppose 
them to be ethereal or aerial forms, and thus that they are like 
ghosts and spectres, some of them dwelling in the air, others in 
woods, and others in waters ; some again suppose that the souls 
of the deceased are translated to the planets or the stars, and 
there have abodes allotted them ; and some again, that after 
thousands of years they return into material bodies. But the 
general supposition is, that they are reserved till the time when 
the whole firmament, together with the terraqueous globe, will 
be destroyed, and that this is to be effected by fire either burst 
ing from the centre of the earth, or cast down from heaven in a 
universal blaze of lightning ; that then the graves will be opened, 
and the souls that were reserved will be clothed again with their 
bodies, and be translated into that holy city, Jerusalem, there to 
dwell together on another earth in purified bodies, some in a 
lower region, some in a higher; for the height of the city will 
be twelve thousand furlongs, the same as its length aud its 
breadth (Rev. xxi. 16). 

770. When a clergyman or a layman is asKed whether he 
759 


770, 771 THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

firmly believes that the antediluvians, along with Adam and 
Eve, and the postdiluvians, with Noah and his sons, and also 
that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with all the prophets and apos- 
tles, are, in like manner as the souls of all other men, still re- 
served in the middle of the earth, or flying about in the ether, 
or air; and also whether he believes that their souls will be 
again clothed with their bodies, and again enter into connection 
with carcasses eaten by worms, by mice, by fish, or, as in the 
case of Egyptian mummies, by men, and with skeletons parched 
in the sun, and reduced to powder; and further, whether he 
believes that the stars of heaven will fall upon the earth, which 
yet is smaller than any of them ; — if clergymen or laymen, I 
say, be asked whether they believe all these things, or whether 
they are not mere paradoxes, which, like all other contradictory 
notions, are dispelled an 1 dissipated by right reason, some of 
them will make no reply ; some will insist that such points are 
matters of faith, to which the understanding must be kept in 
obedience ; some again will argue, that not only these things, 
but also many others, which are above the comprehension of 
reason, are works of divine omnipotence ; and when they men- 
tion faith and omnipotence, sound reason is banished, and 
either disappears like a thing annihilated, or becomes like a 
spectre, and is called insanity. To this they will add, “ Are not 
such opinions agreeable to the Word? and ought not that to be 
the rule and measure of our thoughts and speech ?” 

771. That the Word, as to the letter, is written by appear- 
ances and correspondences, and that thus there is a spiritual 
sense contained in each expression, in which sense truth appears 
in its light, while the sense of the letter is in shade, has been 
already shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture. Lest 
therefore the members of the New Church should wander, like 
those of the old, in the shade of the literal sense of the Word, 
particularly on the subjects of heaven and hell, and of a life after 
death, and on this of the coming of the Lord, it has pleased the 
Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and thus to let me into the 
spiritual world, permitting me not only to converse with spirits 
and angels, and with my relations and friends, yea, with kings 
and princes, who have departed out of the natural world, but 
also to behold the stupendous sights of heaven, and the miser- 
able scenes of hell, demonstrating by this, that a man does not 
li ve after death in any region of the earth called Pu, or flit about 
blind and dumb in the air, or in emptiness, but that he lives as 
a man in a substantial body, and in a far more perfect state, if 
he goes among the blessed, than when he lived before in a 
material body. To prevent man from plunging deeper into this 
false opinion of the destruction of the visible heaven and the 
habitable earth, and thereby of the spiritual world, in conse- 
quence of that ignorance which has given rise to so much nat- 
760 


THE COMING OF THE LORD. 


771_773 


uralism and atheism from spreading, as a mortification in a limb, 
through man’s external mind, whence his speech originates, just 
as they have already begun to affect and take root in the interior 
rational mind, especially among the learned, I have been enjoined 
by the Lord to publish some of the various circumstances of what 
I have seen and heard concerning Heaven and Hell, and the 
Last Judgment ; and also to unfold the Apocalypse, which treats 
of the Lord’s coming, the former heaven, the new heaven, and 
the Holy Jerusalem ; which when read and understood, will 
enable every one to see what is there meant by the coming of 
the Lord, the new heaven, and the Hew Jerusalem. 

VI. That this, which is the second coming of the lord, is 

FOR THE SAKE OF SEPARATING THE EVIL FROM THE GOOD, 
THAT THOSE WHO HAYE BELIEVED AND WHO DO BELIEVE IN 
HIM MAY BE SAVED, AND THAT THERE MAY BE FORMED OF 
THEM A NEW ANGELIC HEAVEN, AND A NEW CHURCH ON EARTH ; 
AND WITHOUT THIS COMING NO FLESH COULD BE SAVED (Matt 
xxiv. 22). 

772. That this second coming of the Lord is not for the de 
struction of the visible heaven and the habitable earth, has been 
shown in the foregoing article. That it is not to destroy any 
thing, but to build up, consequently not to condemn, but to 
save those who have believed on him since his first coming, and 
who shall hereafter believe on him, is plain from the Lord’s words : 
“ God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but that the world through him might be saved : he that believ- 
eth on him is not condemned ; but he that believeth not is con- 
demned already, because he hath not believed in the name of 
the only begotten Son of God” (John iii. 17, 18) : and in another 
place : “ If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him 
not ; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that 
judgeth him ; the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge 
him” (xii. 47, 48). The last judgment took place in the spiritual 
world in the year 1757, as was shown in a small treatise on the 
Last Judgment, published at London in the year 1758, and 
further in a Continuation of that Judgment, published at 
Amsterdam in the year 1763. This I solemnly attest, because I 
saw it with my own eyes, when I was broad awake. 

773. That the coming of the Lord is to form a new heaven 
of those who have believed on him, and to establish a new church 
of those who shall hereafter believe on him, is grounded in this 
circumstance, that these two purposes are the end of his com- 
ing The very end of the creation of the universe was, that an 
angelic heaven might be formed out of mankind, where all who 
believe in God might live in eternal blessedness ; for the divine 
love which is in God, and which essentially is God, can intend 
nothin o- else : and the divine wisdom, which is also in God, and 

7&1 


773, 774 THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

is God, can produce nothing else. Since then the creation of 
the universe had for its end an angelic heaven, to be formed out 
of the human race, and at the same time a church on earth, 
man’s passage into heaven lying through the church, and since 
the salvation of mankind, being effected upon men that are born 
in the world, is thus a continuation of creation, therefore we so 
frequently meet in the Word with the term to create , the mean- 
ing of which is to form for heaven ; as in the following passages : 
u Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right ‘spirit 
within me” (Psalm li. 10). “ Thou openest thy hand, they are 

filled with good ; thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created ” 
(civ. 28, 30). “ The people that shall be created' shall praise the 

Lord” (cii. 18). “ Thus saith Jehovah that created thee, O Ja- 

cob, and he that formed thee, O Israel ; I have redeemed thee, 
I have called thee by my name ; every one that is called by my 
name I have created him for my glory” (Isaiah xliii. 1, 7). “ They 
were prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created ; thou 
wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created , 
till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezek. xxviii. 13, 15). This is 
spoken of the king of Tyre. “ That they may see and know, and 
consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah 
hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it” 
(Isaiah xli. 20). Hence will appear the meaning of create in the 
following passages: “Thus saith Jehovah, he that createth the 
heavens, he that spreadeth forth the earth, he that giveth breath 
unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein” 
(Isaiah xlii. 5 ; xlv. 12, 18). “ Behold, I create a new heaven 

and a new earth: be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I 
create ; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing” (lxv. 17, 18). 

774. The presence of the Lord is continual with every one, 
whether wicked or good, for without his presence no man can 
live ; but his coming is with those only who receive him, and 
these are those who believe on him, and do his commandments. 
The continual presence of the Lord is the efficient cause of man’s 
rationality, and of his capacity to become spiritual. This is an 
effect of the light that proceeds from the Lord as the sun in the 
spiritual world, which light man receives wuth his understanding, 
and this light is truth, by which he enjoys rationality ; but the 
coming of the Lord is with those who conjoin heat with that light, 
that is, with those who conjoin love with truth ; for the heat 
proceeding from the same sun is love to God and towards our 
neighbor. The mere presence of the Lord, and the illustra- 
tion of the understanding thereby, may be compared with the 
presence of solar light in the natural world, which, unless con- 
joined with heat, cannot prevent a universal desolation on the 
face of the earth ; but the coming of the Lord may be compared 
with the coming of heat, as in the time of spring, in consequence 
of which, and its conjunction with light, the earth is softened 
762 


THE COMING OF THE LORD. 


774-770 


aud the seeds sown therein begin to vegetate and bear fruit. 
Such a parallelism is there between spiritual things with which 
the spirit of man is connected, and natural thing 3 with which 
nis body is connected. 

775. The case and circumstances of man, considered as form- 
ing a compound church, or in the concrete, are similar with those 
of the individual or particular man. Man considered in the 
compound or concrete, is a church consisting of several mem- 
bers*; and man considered as an individual, or a particular, is a 
church in each of those several members. It is according to 
divine order that there be common things and particulars, and 
that both be together in every created subject, and that the parts 
exist and subsist in no other manner. Thus in the case of man, 
no part within him could exist or subsist, unless there were a 
common bond in which it was included. The parts in man are 
the viscera with their several divisions, while the coats and cov- 
erings are the common bonds, which not only encompass the 
entire man, but likewise surround each single viscus, and every 
single part in each. The case is similar in every beast, bird, and 
worm, and also in every tree, shrub, or seed ; and no sound 
could be expressed either by a stringed or a wind instrument, 
unless there were somewhat most common, from which the parts 
of the melody derived their common principle that they might 
exist. The case is similar with all the bodily senses, as with 
sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and also with every inter- 
nal sense belonging to the mind. These instances are adduced for 
the sake of illustration, to show that the church also has its com- 
mon principles and its particulars, and likewise its most common 
principles, and that it is on this ground that four churches have 
proceeded in regular order, from which progression the most 
common principle of the church has arisen, and in process oi 
time what is common and particular in each church. In man 
also there are two most common forms, from which all common 
forms, with each part, derive their existence. These two most 
common forms in the body are the heart and the lungs, and in 
the spirit, the will and the understanding, on which all things of 
his life depend both in common and in particular : without them 
they would fall to decay and die. The same would happen to 
the whole angelic heaven and the whole race of mankind, yea, 
to the whole created universe, unless all things in common, and 
each thing in particular, were dependent on God, his love and 
wisdom. 

VTI. That this second coming • of the lord is a coming not 

IN TERSON, BUT IN THE WORD, WHICH IS FROM HIM, AND IS 

HIMSELF. 

776. It is written in many places that the Lord will come in 
the clouds of heaven, as Matt. xvii. 5 ; xxiv. 30 ; xxvi. 64 ; 
Mark xiv. 62; Luke ix. 34, 35; xxi. 27 ; Rev. i. 7 ; xiv 14; 

763 


776 


THE COMING OF THE LORD. 


Dan. vii. 13 ; but no one has heretofore known what is meant by 
the clouds of heaven, and hence mankind have believed that the 
Lord will appear in them in person. But it has remained un- 
discovered to this day that the Word in its literal sense is meant 
by the clouds of heaven, and that the spiritual sense of the Word 
is meant by the power and glory in which also the Lord is to 
come (Matt. xxiv. 30) ; tor no one until this time has had the 
least conjecture of there being in the Word any spiritual sense, 
such as it is in reality and truth. Now since the spirituaPsense 
" of the Word has been opened to me by the Lord, and it has 
been granted me to be with angels and spirits in their world as 
one of themselves, it has been revealed to me that the clouds ot 
heaven signify the Word in its natural sense, and glory the Word 
in its spiritual sense, and power the effectual operation of the 
Lord by the Word. That the clouds of heaven have this signifi- 
cation, may be seen from the following passages in the Word : 
“ There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon 
the heaven, and in his excellency on the clouds ” (Deut. xxxiii. 
26). “ Sing unto God, sing praises to his name, extol him that 

rideth upon the clouds ” (Psalm lxviii. 4). “ Behold, the Lord 

rideth upon a swift cloud ” (Isaiah xix. 1). To ride signifies to 
instruct in divine truths from the Word ; for a horse signifies the 
understanding of the Word, as may be seen in the Apocalypse 
Revealed, n. 298 ; for who cannot see that God does not ride 
on the clouds ? Again : “ God rode upon the cherubs ; his pa- 
vilion round about him were thick clouds of the heavens ” (Psalm 
xviii. 10 — 13). Cherubs also signify the Word, as may be seen 
in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 239, 672. “ Jehovah bindeth 

up the waters in his thick clouds : he spreadeth his cloud upon 
his throne” (Job xxvi. 8, 9). u Ascribe ye strength unto Jeho- 
vah, his strength is in the clouds ” (Psalm lxviii. 34). “ Jehovah 

will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion a cloud by 
day ; and upon all the glory shall be a covering” (Isaiah iv. 5). 
The Word in its literal sense was also represented by the cloud 
in which Jehovah descended on mount Sinai, when he delivered 
the law; the precepts of the law, which were at that time de- 
livered, being the first fruits of the Word. In confirmation of 
what has been said, the following particulars maybe mentioned. 
There are clouds in the spiritual world just as in the natural 
world, but from another origin. In the spiritual world there are 
sometimes bright clouds above the angelic heavens, but over the 
hells hang dusky clouds. The bright clouds over the angelic 
heavens are a representative of obscurity there, proceeding from 
the literal sense of the Word, and the dispersion of those clouds 
signifies that they are then in clearness from its spiritual sense ; 
but the dusky clouds over the hells signify the falsification and 
profanation of the Word. The origin of this signification ot 
clouds in the spiritual w o' Id is grounded in this circumstance. 
764 


THE COMING OF TIIE LORD. 


776 , 777 

tlat the light which proceeds from the Lord as a sun there, sig 
nifies divine truth, whence he is called the Light (John i. 9 ; xii. 
35). It is on this account too that the Word itself, which in that 
world is kept deposited in the sacred recesses of their temples, 
appears encompassed with a bright light ; and the light is ob- 
scured .by the interposition of clouds. 

777. That the Lord is the Word, is evident from this passage 
in John : “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with »God, and the Word was God: and the Word was made 
flesh” (i. 1, 14). That the Word in this passage is divine truth, 
is plain from this consideration, that Christians obtain divine 
truth from no other source than the Word, which is a fountain 
from which all churches, that take their name from Christ, draw 
living waters in their fulness ; and yet in the natural sense of 
the Word divine truth is in a cloud, but in its spiritual and 
celestial sense it is in glory and power. There are three senses 
in the Word, the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial, one 
within the other, as has been .shown in the chapter on the Sa- 
cred Scripture, and in that on the Decalogue or Catechism. 
Hence it appears, that the Word mentioned in John signifies 
divine truth. John also testifies the same in his first epistle: 
“We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an 
understanding , that we may know the truth, and we are in the 
truth , in his Son Jesus Christ” (v. 20). It is for this reason that 
the Lord so often said “ Verily , I say unto you for Amen 
[which is the word translated Verily ], in the Hebrew tongue, 
is truth : and for the same reason he is called the Amen (Rev. iii. 
14) ; and the truth (John xiv. 6). If you inquire of the learned, 
what they understand by the Word spoken of in John i. 1, they 
will tell you they understand the Word in its supereminence ; 
and what is the Word in its supereminence but divine truth? 
From these considerations it is evident, that the Lord will now 
also appear in the Word. The reason why he will not appear in 
person, is, because since his ascension into heaven he is in his 
glorified humanity, and in that humanity he cannot appear to any. 
man unless the eyes of his spirit be first opened, and this opening 
cannot be effected in any that are in evils and the falses thence 
derived, thus not in any of the goats whom he sets on his left 
hand : therefore when he showed himself to his disciples, he first 
opened their eyes, for it is written, “ And their eyes were opened, 
and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight” (Luke 
xxiv. 31). The case was the same with the women who visited 
the sepulchre after his resurrection ; hence at the same time they 
also saw angels sitting in the sepulchre, and conversing with 
them, whom yet it is impossible for any man to see with the 
material eye. It is plain from his transfiguration before Peter. 
James, and John, that the apostles before the Lord’s resurrec- 
tion lid not see him in his glorified humanity with their bodily 
765 


777—779 


THE COMING OF THE LORD. 


eyes, but in the spirit (which vision appears after waking as if 
it was seen in sleep) ; for it is written, u their eyes were heavy 
with sleep” (Luke ix. 32). It is vain then to imagine that the 
Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven in person, when the 
truth is, that he will appear in the Word, which is from him, 
and is thus himself. 

778. Every man is his own love, and his own intelligence, 
and whatever proceeds from him takes its essence from those two 
essentials, or properties of his life : so that the angels know a 
man, such as he is in his essence, from a very short acquaint- 
ance with him, discovering his love by the tone of his voice, and 
his intelligence by his conversation. For as the two universals 
of the life of every man are will and understanding, and the will 
is the receptacle and habitation of his love, and the understand- 
ing the receptacle and habitation of his intelligence, whatever 
proceeds from him, whether it be action or discourse, constitutes 
the man, and is the man himself. In like manner, but in a 
supereminent degree, the Lord is divine love and divine wisdom, 
or what is the same, divine good and divine truth ; for his will 
is of divine love, and divine love is of his will, and his under- 
standing is of divine wisdom, and divine wisdom is of his under- 
standing, the human form being their continent : hence some 
conception may be formed how the Lord is the Word. But on 
the other hand, whoever is in opposition to the Word, that is, 
in opposition to the divine truth which it contains, consequently 
in opposition to the Lord and his church, is his own evil and his 
own false, as well in respect to mind, as to its effects proceeding 
from the body, which belong to actions and speech. 

YIII. That this second coming of the lord is effected by 

THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF A MAN, BEFORE WHOM HE HAS MANI- 
FESTED HIMSELF IN PERSON. AND WHOM HE HAS FILLED WITH 

HIS SPIRIT, TO TEACH FROM HIM THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW 

CHURCH BY MEANS OF THE WORD. 

779. Since the Lord cannot manifest himself in person [to 
the world], which has just been shown to be impossible, and yet 
he has foretold that he would come and establish a New Church, 
which is the New Jerusalem, it follows, that he will effect this 
by the instrumentality of a man, who is able not only to receive 
the doctrines of that church in his understanding, but also to 
make them known by the press. That the Lord manifested 
himself before me his servant, that he sent me on' this office, and 
afterwards opened the sight of my spirit, and so let me into the 
spiritual world, permitting me to see the heavens and the hells, 
and also to converse with angels and spirits, and this now con- 
tinually for many years, I attest in truth ; and further, that from 
the first day of my call to this office, I have never received any 
thing relating to the doctrines of that church from any angei, 
but from the Lord alone, while I was reading the Word. 

736 


THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH. 780, 781 

780. To the end that the Lord might he constantly present, 

he revealed to me the spiritual sense of his Word, in which sense 
divine truth is in its light, and in this light he is continually 
present ; for his presence in the Word is only by means of the 
spiritual sense, through the light of which he passes into the 
shade, in which is the sense of the letter, as is comparatively the 
case with the light of the sun in the day-time by the interposi- 
tion of a cloud. That the literal sense of the Word is as a cloud, 
and the spiritual sense glory, and the Lord himself the sun from 
which the light proceeds, and that thus the Lord is the Word, 
has been proved above. That the glory in which he is to come 
(Matt. xxiv. 30), signifies divine truth in its own light, in which 
the spiritual sense of the Word is, is clearly proved by the fol- 
lowing passages : “ The voice of him that crieth in the wilder- 
ness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah. And the glory of Jehovah 
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah xl. 
3, 5). “ Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of 

Jehovah is risen upon thee” (lx. 1 to the end). “I will give thee 
for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles , and my 
glory will I not give to another” (xlii. 6, 8 ; xlviii. 11). “Thy 
light shall break forth as the morning, the glory of Jehovah shall 
gather thee up” (lviii. 8). “The whole earth shall be filled with 
the glory of Jehovah ” (Isaiah vi. 3 ; lxvi. 18). “ In the be- 

ginning was the Word ; in him was life, and the life was the 
light of men : this was the true light : and the word was made 
flesh, and we beheld his glory , the glory as of the only-begotten 
of the Father ” (John i. 1, 4, 9, 14). “ The heavens declare the 

glory of God ” (Psalm xix. 1). “The glory of God shall lighten 
the Holy Jerusalem, and the Lamb is the light thereof: and the 
nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it” (Rev. xxi. 
23, 24) : not to mention several other passages to the same pur- 
pose. The reason why glory signifies divine truth in its fulness 
is, because every thing magnificent in heaven is from the light 
which proceeds from the Lord, and the light proceeding from 
him as the sun of heaven is in its essence divine truth. 

IX. That this is meant by the new heaven and the new 

EARTH, AND THE NEW JERUSALEM DESCENDING OUT OF HEAVEN, 

SPOKEN OF IN THE REVELATION. 

781. It is written in the Revelation, “ I saw a new heaven 
and a new earth ; for the former heaven and the former earth 
were passed away. And I John saw the holy city Hew Jerusalem 
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride 
adorned for her husband” (xxi. 1, 2). The like also is written 
in Isaiah : Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth : be 
ye glad and rejoice for ever ; for behold I create Jerusalem a 
rejoicing, and her people a joy” (lxv. 17, 18). It has been shown 
already in this chapter, that a new heaven is at this day forming 
by the Lord, of such Christians as acknowledged him in the 

767 


THE NEW HEAVEN 


781, 782 

world, and were able after their departure out of the world, to 
acknowledge him to be the God of heaven and earth, according 
to his own words in Matt, xxviii. 18. 

782. The reason why a new church is meant by the New 
Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. xxi.), is 
because Jerusalem was the metropolis of the land of Canaan. 
There were the temple and the altar, and there also sacrifices 
. were offered, and there, consequently, divine worship itself was 
performed, which every male throughout the whole land was re- 
quired to attend three times in a year. A further reason is, 
because the Lord was in Jerusalem, and taught in its temple, 
and afterwards glorified his Humanity there : this then is the 
true ground why Jerusalem signifies the church. That Jeru- 
salem signifies the church, appears clearly from the prophetical 
parts of the Old Testament, where speaking of the New Church 
which was to be instituted by the Lord, it is there called Jeru- 
salem. I shall adduce the following passages only, from which 
any one endued with interior reason may see, that Jerusalem 
means the church : “ Behold, I create a new heaven and a new 
earth , and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind : 
behold I create Jerusalem for an exultation, and her people for 
gladness ; and I will exult over Jerusalem , and be glad over my 
people. Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together ; they 
shall not hurt or destroy in all the mountain of my holiness” 
(Isaiah lxv. 17, 19, 25). “ For Zion’s sake I will not hold my 
peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righte- 
ousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof 
as a lamp that burneth. Then the gentiles shall see thy righte- 
ousness, and all kings thy glory ; and thou shalt be called by a 
new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name ; thou shalt 
also be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal 
diadem in the hand of thy God ; for Jehovah shall delight in 
thee, and thy land shall be married. Behold,, thy salvation 
cometh ; behold his reward is with him ; and they shall call 
them The holy people, The redeemed of Jehovah ; and thou shalt 
be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken” (Isaiah lxii. 1 — 4, 
11, 12). u A wake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion ; put on 
the garments of thy beauty, 0 Jerusalem , the city of holiness ; 
for henceforth there shall no more cor ne into thee the uncircum- 
cised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust ; arise, and 
sit down, 0 Jerusalem. My people shall know my name ; they 
shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak : behold it 
is I. Jehovah hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed 
Jerusalem i” (lii. 1, 2, 6, 9). “ Sing, O daughter of Zion ; be glad 

with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem ; the king of Israel 
is in the midst of thee ; fear not evil any more ; he w r ill rejoice 
over thee with joy ; he will rest in thy love ; he will exult over 
thee with singing ; I will make you a name and a praise among 
768 


AND THE NEW CHURCH. 


782 


aL people of tlie earth” (Zeph. iii. 14 — 17, 20). “Thus saith 
Jehovah, thy Redeemer, saying to Jerusalem , Thou shalt be 
inhabited” (Isaiah xliv. 24, 26). “ Thus saith Jehovah, I will 

return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem ; and Jeru- 
salem shall be called the city of truth, and the mountain of 
Jehovah of hosts, the mountain of holiness” (Zech. viii. 3, 20 — 
23). . “ Then shall ye know that I Jehovah am your God dwell- 
ing in Zion, the mountain of holiness; then shall Jerusalem be 
holiness ; and it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains 
shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and Jeru- 
salem shall remain from generation to generation” (Joel iii. 17 — 
20). “In that day shall the branch of Jehovah be beautiful and 
glorious ; and it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and 
lie that remaineth in Jerusale7n , shall be called holy, every one 
that is written for life in Jerusalem ” (Isaiah iv. 2, 3). “ But in the 
last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of 
Jehovah shall be established on the top of the mountains : for the 
law shall go forth out of Zion, and the Word of Jehovah from Je- 
rusalem ir” (Micah iv. 1, 2). “At that time they shall call Jerusalem 
the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall be gathered, 
because of the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem ; neither shall 
they walk any more after the confirmation of their evil heart” 
(Jerem. iii. 17). “Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; 
thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle 
that shall not be taken down ; not one of the stakes thereof shall 
ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be 
broken” (Isaiah xxxiii. 20) ; not to mention other passages, as 
Isaiah xxiv. 23; xxxvii. 32; lxvi. 10 — 16; Zech. xii._3, 6 — 10; 
xiv. 8, 11, 12, 21 ; Mai. iii. 4 ; Psalm cxxii. 1 — ■ 7 ; cxxxvii. 5 — 
7. That the church which was- to be instituted by the Lord, is 
meant by Jerusalem in these passages, and not the city of Jeru- 
salem inhabited by the Jews, is plain from every particular of its 
description ; as that Jehovah God would create a new heaven and 
anew earth, and also Jerusalem at the same time; and that this 
Jerusalem would be a crown of glory and a royal diadem; that 
it was to be called holiness, and' the city of truth, the throne of 
Jehovah, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that should not be 
taken down ; that the wolf and the lamb should feed together 
there, that the mountains should drop new wine, and the hills 
flow with milk, and that it should remain from generation to 
generation ; besides other circumstances, as respecting the people 
there, that they should be holy, all written for life, and should 
be called the redeemed of Jehovah. Moreover, all those pas- 
sages relate to the coming of the Lord, particularly to his second 
coming, when Jerusalem shall be such as it is there described ; 
for before this she was not married, that is, made the bride and 
the wife of the Lamb, as the New Jerusalem is declared to be 
in the Revelation. The former or present church is meant by # 
769 D D D 


782—784 


THE NEW HEAVEN 


Jerusalem in Daniel, and its commencement is described by these 
words: “ Know therefore and understand, that from the going 
forth of the Word to the restoration and the building oi Jerusa- 
lem, even unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks ; and 
after threescore and two weeks the streets shall be built again, 
and the trenches, but in troublesome times” (ix. 25). Its end, 
however, is described in these words: u At length, upon the 
bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even to the con- 
summation and decision it shall drop on the devastation” (verse 
27). This end the Lord thus describes in'Matthew: “ When ye 
shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the 
prophet standing in the holy place, whoso readeth let him un^ 
derstand” (xxiv. 15). That Jerusalem, in the passages above 
adduced, does not mean the city of Jerusalem, which was in- 
habited by the Jews, may appear from many places in the Word, 
as where it is said of that city that it was entirely destroyed, and 
that it was to be pulled down (as Jer. v. 1 ; vi. 6, 7 ; vii. 17, 18 ; 
viii. 6 — 8 ; ix. 10 — 12 ; xiii. 9, 10, 14 ; xiv. 16 ; Lam. i. 8, 9, 
17 ; Ezek. iv. 1 to the end; v. 9 to the end ; xii. 18, 19; xv. 6 
— 8 ; xvi. 1 — 63 ; xxiii. 1 — 40 ; Matt, xxiii. 37, 38 ; Luke xix. 
11 — 44; xxi. 20 — 22; xxiii. 28 — 30); besides many other pas- 
sages ; and also where it is called Sodom (Isaiah iii. 9 ; Jer. xxiii. 
14 ; Ezek. xvi. 46, 48), and in other places. 

783. That the church is the Lord’s, and that by virtue of a 

spiritual marriage, which is that of good and truth, the Lord is 
called the bridegroom and husband, and the church the bride 
and wife, is known among Christians from the Word, particu- 
larly from the following passages : John said of the Lord, u He 
that hath the bride is the bridegroom y but the friend of the 
bridegroom , who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly 
because of the bridegroom's voice” (John iii. 29). “ Jesus said, 

Can the children of the bridechamber fast so long as the bride- 
groom is with them?” (Matt. ix. 15; Mark ii. 19, 20; Luke v. 
35). “ I saw the holy city, Hew Jerusalem, coming down from 

God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband " 
(Rev. xxi. 2). The angel said to John, “ Come hither, I will 
show thee the bride , the Lamb's wife: and he carried me away 
in spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that 
great city, the holy Jerusalem” (xxi. 9, 10). “ The marriage of 
the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready : blessed 
are they that are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb" 
(xix. 7, 9.) “ I am the root and the offspring of David, and the 

bright and morning star. The spirit and the bride say, Come ; 
and let him that is athirst come ; and whosoever will, let him 
take the water of life freely” (xxii. 16, 17). 

784. It is agreeable to divine order, that a new heaven be 
formed before a Hew Church on earth ; for the church is both 
internal and external, and the internal church forms a one with 

770 


AND THE NEW CHURCH, 


784, 785 

the church in heaven, and consequently with heaven ; and that 
the internal must be formed before the external, and afterwards 
the external by the internal, is a truth known and acknowledged 
by the clergy in the world. In proportion as this new heaven, 
which constitutes the internal of the church in man, increases, 
in the same proportion the Hew Jerusalem, that is, the Hew 
Church, comes down' from that heaven ; so that this cannot be 
effected in a moment, but in proportion as the falses of the for- 
mer church are removed ; for what is new cannot gain admission 
where falses have before been implanted, unless those falses be 
first rooted out ; and this must first take place among the clergy, 
and by their means among the laity ; for the Lord says, “ Ho 
man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and 
the wine runneth out ; but they put new wine into new bottles, 
and both are preserved” (Matt. ix. 17 ; Mark ii. 22 ; Luke v. 37, 
38). That these things cannot come to pass till the consummation 
of the age, which means the end of the church, is plain from the 
Lord’s words : “ Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto 
a man that sowed good seed in his field ; but while men slept, his 
enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way ; 
and when the blade was sprung up, then appeared the tares also : 
so the Servant of the householder came and said to him, Wilt thou 
that we go and gather up the tares? But he said, Hay ; lest 
while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them ; 
let both grow together until the harvest ; and in the time of har- 
vest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, 
and bind them in bundles to burn them ; but gather the wheat 
into my barn. The harvest is the consummation of the age. As 
therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so also 
shall it be in the consummation of the age” (Matt. xiii. 24 — 30, 
39, 40). Wheat in this passage means the truths and goods of 
the Hew Church, tares the falses and evils of the former church, 
and the consummation of the age, the end of the church, as 
may be seen in the first article of this chapter. 

785. That there is in every thing an internal and an external, 
and that the external depends on the internal, as the body does 
on its soul, must be evident from every particular in the world, 
if attentively considered. In a man this truth is very manifest ; 
his whole body is dependent on his mind, and consequently there 
is an internal and an external in whatever proceeds from him. 
In every action there is the will of his mind, and in every ex- 
pression of speech there is the understanding of his mind ; and 
the case is the same in every bodily sense. There is an internal 
and an external also in every bird and beast, in every insect and 
tform, as well as in every tree, plant, and shrub, yea, in every 
stone and smallest particle of mould. It may suffice, for the il- 
lustration of this fact, to mention a few particulars of the silk- 
worm, the bee, and a particle of mould. The internal of the 
771 


THE NEW HEAVEN 


785, 786 

silk-worm is that from which its external is impelled to spin its 
silken web, and afterwards to assume wings as a moth, and to 
fly abroad. The internal of a bee is that from which its external 
is" impelled to suck honey out of flowers, and to construct its 
waxen cells after a wonderful form. The internal of a particle 
of mould, by which its external is impelled, is its tendency to 
make the seeds of plants vegetate, exhaling somewhat from its 
little bosom which insinuates itself into the inmost parts of the 
seed, and produces this effect ; and that internal attends the 
plant’s vegetation even to the formation of new seeds. The case 
is the same in forms of an opposite nature, which also have both 
an internal and an external ; as for instance, in a spider : its 
internal, by which its external is impelled, consists in the faculty, 
and the inclination thence derived, to weave a most curious web, 
in the centre whereof it may lie in wait for intruding flies, and 
may seize upon them for its food : the same is true with every 
other noxious insect, and also with every serpent and wild beast 
of the forest ; it is also true of every wicked, cunning, and de- 
ceitful man. 

X. That this new church is the crown of all the churches 

WHICH HAVE BEEN UNTIL THIS TIME ON THE TERRESTRIAL 

GLOBE. 

786. It has already been shown there have been from the 
beginning in common, four churches on this earth, — one before 
the flood, another after the flood, a third called the Israelitish 
Church, and a fourth the Christian ; and as all churches depend 
on the knowledge and acknowledgment of one God, with whom 
the members of the church can have conjunction, and none of 
the four churches above named have been in that truth, it fol- 
lows that a church is to succeed those four, which shall know 
and acknowledge the one God ; for the divine love of God could 
have had no other end or design in creating the world than to 
conjoin man to himself, and himself to man, and thus to dwell 
with him. That the former churches were not in the truth is 
plain from this circumstance, that the Most Ancient Church, 
which existed before the flood, worshipped the invisible God with 
whom there can be no conjunction ; so likewise did the Ancient 
Church which existed after the flood. The Israelitish Church 
worshipped Jehovah, who in himself is the invisible God (Exod. 
xxxiii. 18 — 23) ; but under a human form, which Jehovah God 
put on by means of an angel, and in which form he was seen by 
Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua, and sometimes 
by the prophets, which human form was representative of the 
Lord who was to come, and this being representative, therefore 
all and every thing in that church were made representative also. 
Indeed it is well known that their sacrifices and other ceremonies 
of worship were representative of the Lord who was to come, and 
that they were abrogated at his coming. But the fourth church, 
772 


AND THE NEW CHUECH. 786, 787 

which was called Christian, did indeed acknowledge one God 
with the lips, but in three persons, each whereof singly or by 
himself was God, and thus acknowledged a divided trinity, and 
not united in one person : the consequence of which was, that an 
idea of three gods was fixed in the mind, notwithstanding the 
declaration of the lips in favor of one ; and moreover the doctors 
of the church insist from that very doctrine of theirs, which they 
composed after the Council of Nice, that men ought to believe in 
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, all 
three invisible, because existing in a similar divine essence before 
the world was, when yet, as was said above, there can be no con- 
junction with an invisible God ; for they are not yet aware that 
the one God, who is invisible, came into the world and assumed 
the Humanity, not only that he might redeem men, but also 
that he might be made visible, and thus such a one as they might 
have conjunction with ; for it is written, “ The Word was with 
God, and the Word was God ; and the Word was made flesh” 
(John i. 1, 14). And in Isaiah : u Unto us a child is born, unto 
us a Son is given ; and his name shall be called the Mighty God , 
the Everlasting Father ” (ix. 6). And in the prophets it is fre- 
quently declared that Jehovah himself would come into the 
world, and be the Redeemer, which was also done in the Hu- 
manity which he assumed. 

787. The reason why this New Churcji is the crown of all 
the churches which have been to 'this time on the terrestrial 
globe is, because it will worship one visible God, in whom is the 
invisible God, as the soul is in the body ; for thus, and no other- 
wise, can conjunction be effected between God and man ; the 
reason of which is, because man is natural, and consequently 
thinks naturally, and the conjunction must be effected in his 
thought, and so in the affection of his love, and such conjunction 
is produced when a man thinks of God as a Man. Conjunction 
with an invisible God is like the conjunction of ocular sight with 
the expanse of the universe, of which it sees no end ; it is also 
like sight in the midst of the ocean, which falls on air and water, 
and is lost in their immensity : but conjunction with a visible 
God is like the visible appearance of a man in the air or on the 
sea, stretching forth his hands and inviting to his embraces ; for 
all conjunction of God with man must be likewise reciprocal on 
the part of man with God ; and this reciprocality on man’s part 
is not possible but with a visible' God. That God was not visible 
before he assumed the Humanity, the Lord himself teaches iu 
John : “ Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father, nor seen 
his shape” (v. 37). And in Moses : “ No man can see me and 
live” (Exod. xxxiii. 20) ; but that he is seen by his humanity, is 
declared in John : “No man hath seen God at any time; the 
only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath 
declared him” (i. 18). And again : “ Jesus saith, I am the Way, 
773 


787—789 


THE NEW HEAVEN 


the Truth, and the Life; no man cometli unto the Father but 
by me : if ye had known me, ye would have known my Father 
also : he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (xiv. 6, 7, 9). 
That conjunction is effected with the invisible God by him who 
is visible, that is, by the Lord, he himself teaches in these words : 
“ Abide in me, and I in you : he that abideth in me, and I in 
him, the same bringing forth much fruit” (John xv. 4, 5). “ In 

that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, 
and I in you” (xiv. 20). “The glory which thou gavest me I 
have given them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in 
them and thou in me, that the love wherewith thou hast loved 
me may be in them, and I in them” (xvii. 22, 23, 26 ; and vi. 
56). Also that the Father and he are one, and that it is neces- 
sary to believe on him to attain eternal life. That salvation 
depends on conjunction with God, has been abundantly shown 
above. 

788. That this church is to succeed the churches which have 
been extant from the beginning of the world, and that it will 
endure for ages of ages, and is thus to be the crown Qf all the 
churches that have been before it, was foretold by the prophet 
Daniel, first when he related and explained to Nebuchadnezzar 
his dream concerning the four kingdoms, by which the four 
churches, represented by the statue that appeared to him, are 
understood ; for he says, “ In the days of these kings shall the 
God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, 
and it shall consume all these kingdoms, but it shall stand for 
ever” (ii. 44) ; and that this should be effected by a “ stone that 
became a great rock, and filled the whole earth” (verse 35). A 
rock, in the Word signifies the Lord as to divine truth. The 
same prophet says in another place, “ I saw in the night visions, 
and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of 
heaven ; and to him was given dominion, and glory, and a king- 
dom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. 
His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass 
away, and his kingdom that' which shall not be destroyed” (vii. 
13, 14). And this he says after he had seen the four beasts 
ascending out of the sea (verse 3), which also represented the 
four former churches. That this prophecy of Daniel has relation 
to the present time, is evident from his words (xii. 4) ; and also 
from the Lord’s words (Matt. xxiv. 15, 30). The like is said in 
the Kevelation : “ And the seventh angel sounded, and there 
were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world 
are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he 
shall reign for ever and ever” (xi. 15). 

789. But besides these, the other prophets have in many 
passages foretold this church, and its future state; from which 
it may suffice to adduce these few. It is written in Zechariah, 
'• ft shall be one dav, which shall be known to Jehovah, iieitboj 

i 74 


AND THE NEW CHURCH. 789 

day nor night ; but at evening time it shall be lighi ; and in that 
day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, and Jehovah 
shall be king over all the earth : in that day shall there be one 
J ehovah, and his. name one” (xiv. 7 — 9). In Joel : “ It shall come 
to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop new wine, and 
the hills shall flow with milk ; and Jerusalem shall remain to 
generations of generations” (iii. 18—20). In Jeremiah : “ At 
that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and 
all nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to 
Jerusalem, neither shall they walk any more after the confirma- 
tion .of their evil heart” (iii. 17 ; Rev. xxi. 24, 26). In Isaiah : 
“ Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle 
that shall not be taken down ; not one of the'stakes thereof shall 
ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be 
broken” (xxxiii. 20). In these passages the holy Hew Jerusalem 
is .meant which is described in the Revelation (chap, xxi.) and by 
this again the Hew Church. Again, in Isaiah : “There shall 
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and righteousness 
shall be the girdle of his loins and truth the girdle of his reins ; 
the wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the 
fatling together, and a little child shall lead them ; and the cow 
and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down to- 
gether ; and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, 
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den ; 
they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain ; for the 
earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah. And in that, 
day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an 
ensign of the people ; to it shall the gentiles seek, and his rest 
shall be glorious” (xi. 1, 5 — 10). That these things have not as 
yet come to pass in any churches, much less in the last, is gen- 
erally allowed. In Jeremiah : “ Behold, the days come, saith 
Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant ; and this shall be the 
covenant : I will put my law in the midst' of them, and write 
it on their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be 
my people, and they shall all know me, from the least of them 
unto the greatest of them” (xxxi. 31 — 34 ; Rev. xxi. 3). That 
this prophecy has not been fulfilled in former churches, is also 
generally acknowledged : the reason was, because they did not 
approach a visible God, whom all may know, and who is himself 
the Word, or Law, which he will put in the midst of them, and 
write on their hearts. Again, in Isaiah : “ Y or Jerusalem’s sake 
I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as bright- 
ness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth ; and thou 
shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah 
shall name ; and thou shalt be a ci own of glory , and a royal 
diadem in the hand of thy God : Jehovah shall delight in thee, 
and thv land shall be married. Behold, thy Salvation cometh* 
775 


789 791 - THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH. 

behold, his reward is with him ; and they shall call them The 
holy people, The redeemed- of Jehovah ; and thou shalt be called, 
Sought out, A city not forsaken” (lxii. 1 to the end). 

790. The future state of this church is also described at large 
in the Revelation, which treats of the end of the former church, 
and the rise of the new. This new church is described by the 
New Jerusalem, with all its magnificence, and is represented as 
the bride and wife of the Lamb (chap. xix. 7 ; xxi. 2, 9). I shall 
here only transcribe from the Revelation what is said when the 
New Jerusalem was seen to descend out of heaven : 44 Behold, 
the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, 
and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them, 
and be their God ; and the nations of them that are saved shall 
walk in the light of it ; and there shall be no night there. I 
Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in 
the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and 
the bright and morning star. The Spirit and the Bride say, 
Come ; and let him that heareth say, Come ; and let him that 
is athirst come ; and whosoever will, let him take the water of 
life freely. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen” (xxi. 3, 24, 25 : 
xxii. 16, 17, 20). 


Memorandum. 

791. After this work was finished, the Lord called together 
his twelve disciples, who followed him in the world, and the 
next day he sent them throughout the whole spiritual world 
to preach the gospel, that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigneth, 
whose kingdom shall endure for ever and ever, according to the 
prophecy in Daniel (vii. 13, 14) ; and in the Revelation (xi. 15) ; 
and that 44 Blessed are those who are called to the marriage- 
supper of the Lamb” (Rev. xix. 9). This was done on the 19th 
day of June, in the year 1770. This is understood by the 
Lord’s words : 44 He shall send his angels, and they shall gather 
together his elect from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt 
xxiv. 31). 


SUPPLEMENT, 


792. I have already treated of the spiritual world in a par- 
ticular work on Heaven and Hell, which work contains a de- 
scription of many things relating to that world ; and because 
every one after death enters into that world, the state of men 
there has been also described. Who does not know, or who may 
not know, that a man lives after death, both because he is born 
a man and created an image of God, and because the Lord de- 
clares it in his Word? But the real state and nature of this 
future life have been hitherto unknown ; for it has been generally 
believed that a man after death is a mere soul, and the common 
idea of a soul has been that it is something like ether, or air, 
thus that it is the breath which goes out of a man’s body when 
he dies, in which however it is supposed his vitality resides ; but 
then this has been conceived to have neither sight, such as be- 
longs to the eye, nor hearing, such as belongs to the ear, nor 
speech, such as belongs to the mouth ; when yet a man after 
death is as much a man as he was before, and so completely 
such, that he does not know but that he is still living in the for- 
mer world ; for he sees, hears, and speaks as in the former world ; 
he walks, runs, and sits, as in the former world ; he lies down, 
sleeps, and wakes, as in the former world ; he eats and drinks, 
as in the former world ; he enjoys conjugial delight, as in the 
former world ; in a word, he is, in all and every respect, a man. 
From these circumstances it is evident that death is not an ex- 
tinction but a continuation of life, and consequently that it is 
only a passage from one state to another. 

793. That a man after death is as much a man as he was 
before, although he is not then apparent to the eyes of the ma- 
terial body, may be concluded from the angels that appeared 
to Abraham, Hagar, Gideon, Daniel, and some of the prophets, 
and also from those that were seen in the Lord’s sepulchre, and 
afterwards frequently by John, as he relates in the Revelation: 
but it may appear still more evident from the Lord himself; for 
he proved himself to be a man both by the touch, and by eating 
before his disciples, and yet he became invisible to their sight. 
Who can be so extravagantly absurd as not to acknowledge that 
notwithstanding his being invisible, he was still a man as before? 
The reason why the disciples saw him was because their spiritual 
eyes were at that time opened ; and when this is the case, the 
objects of the spiritual world appear as distinctly as those of the 
natural world. There is this difference between a man in the 

777 


793—795 


OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 


natural world and a man in the spiritual world, that the latter is 
clothed with a substantial body, but the former with a material 
body, within which is his substantial body; and a substantial 
man sees a substantial man as clearly and distinctly as a material 
man sees a material man. A substantial man however cannot 
see a material man, nor can a material man see a substantial 
man, in consequence of the difference between material and sub- 
stantial, the nature of which difference may be described, but 
not in a few words. 

794. From what I have been an eye-witness of for so many 
years, I can assert the following facts relating to the spiritual 
world. In that world there are countries, just as in the natural 
world, and there are also plains and valleys, mountains and hills, 
fountains and rivers; there are paradises, gardens, groves, and 
forests ; there are cities, containing palaces and houses ; there 
are also writings and books ; there are likewise employments and 
trading ; and there are gold, silver, and precious stones ; in a 
word, there are in the spiritual world all things which are in the 
natural world, but in heaven immeasurably more perfect. The 
difference is, that all things which are seen in the spiritual world 
are created in a moment by the Lord, as houses, paradises, food, 
and other things ; and that they are created in correspondence 
with the interiors of the angels and spirits, that is, with their 
affections and thoughts ; whereas all things in the natural world 
begin to exist and grow from seed. 

795. As this is the truth of the case, and as I have been ad- 
mitted to converse frequently in that world with the nations and 
people of this world, thus, not only with Europeans, but also 
with the inhabitants of Asia and Africa, consequently with per- 
sons of various religions, I will here, by way of conclusion to 
the present work, add a short description of the state of some of 
the persons with whom I have conversed. It is to be observed, 
that in the spiritual world the state of every nation and people 
in common, as well as of each individual in particular, depends 
on the acknowledgment and worship of God, and is determined 
accordingly ; and that all who in heart acknowledge a God, and 
from henceforth all who acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ to be 
God, the Redeemer and Saviour, are in heaven, while those who 
do not acknowledge him are under heaven, and are there in- 
structed ; and those who receive him after instruction are taken 
up into heaven, but those who do not receive him are cast down 
into hell. Of this description are those who, like the Socinians, 
have approached God the Father alone, or who, like the Arians, 
have denied the Divinity of the Lord’s Humanity ; for the Lord 
has said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no one 
cometh to the Father but by me ;” and to Philip, who wished to 
see the Father, “ He that seeth and knoweth me, seeth and know- 
eth the Father,” (John xiv. 6, &c.) 

778 


LUTHER. 


796 


Of Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, in the spiritual 
world. 

796. Having frequently conversed with these three leaders, 
who were the reformers of the Christian church, I have been in 
structed concerning the state of th,eir lives from the first, down 
to the present time. With respect to Luther, he, from his first 
coming into the spiritual world, was a most bitter asserter and 
defender of his own tenets, and his zeal for them increased in 
proportion as the numbers from earth increased who agreed with 
and favored them. He had a house allotted him, such as he had 
at Eisleben during his life in the body, and in one of the rooms 
of this house he set up a desk, raised a little from the ground, 
in which he took his seat ; and setting open the door to admit 
his hearers, he disposed them in ranks, assigning the places 
nearest himself to such as were most favorable to his opinions, 
and remoter places to such as favored them less. Then he began 
his harangue, and at intervals allowed the audience to ask him 
questions, for the purpose of resuming the thread of his discourse 
from some new subject that might be started. In consequence 
of the general favor and applause which he acquired by this, he 
at last contracted a power of persuasion ; and this in the spir- 
itual world is of such efficacy, that no person is able to resist it, 
or to controvert what is thence asserted ; but as this was a species 
of enchantment, in use among the ancients, he was seriously 
enjoined not to speak from it any longer ; accordingly he taught 
afterwards, as he had done before, from his memory and under- 
standing. This power of persuasion, which is a species of en- 
chantment, derives its origin from the love itself* in consequence 
of which the person under its influence grows by degrees so im- 
patient of contradiction as to attack not only the sentiments but 
even the person of his opponent. This was his state of life till 
the last judgment, which took place in the spiritual world in 
the year 1757. The year after he was removed from his first 
house to another, and was at the same time brought into another 
state; and being ipformed that I, who am in the natural world, 
conversed with those who are in the spiritual world, he among 
several others came to me ; and after asking some questions and 
receiving my answers, he perceived that the end of the former 
church is at this day accomplished, together with the beginning 
of the Hew Church foretold by Daniel, and by the Lord himself 
in the Evangelists, and that this new church is meant by the 
Hew Jerusalem in the Revelation, and by the everlasting gospel 
which the angel flying in the midst of heaven preached to those 
who dwell on the earth (xiv. 6). At this he grew very indignant, 
and railed against it ; but as he perceived the Hew Heaven to 
increase, which was formed and is forming of those who acknowl- 
779 


796 


LUTHER. 


edge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, accord- 
ing to his own words (Matt, xxviii. 18) ; and as he observed his 
own congregations to diminish, his railing ceased, and then he 
approached nearer to me, and began to converse more familiarly 
with me ; and when he was convinced that he had taken his 
principal tenet of justification by faith alone not from the Word 
of God, but from his own intelligence, he then suffered himselt 
to be instructed concerning the Lord, charity, true faith, free- 
will, and lastly concerning redemption, and this from the Word 
alone. At length, after conviction, he began to favor, and after- 
wards to confirm himself more and more in the truths on which 
the New Church is built and established. At this time he was 
with me daily, and then as often as he recollected the truths ol 
the New Church, he began to ridicule his former tenets as in 
direct opposition to the Word ; and I heard him say, “Do not 
be surprised that I laid hold so eagerly of that doctrine of jus- 
tification by faith alone, and excluded charity from its spiritual 
essence, and likewise took away from men all free-will in spiritual 
concerns, besides falling into other errors which are dependent 
on the doctrine of faith alone, when once it is received, as the 
links of a chain are on each other ; for my object was to be sep- 
arated from the Roman Catholics at any rate, which could not 
otherwise be accomplished ; so that I am not surprised that I 
have erred, but my surprise is, that the ravings of one should 
have deprived so many others of their senses.” On saying this 
he cast a glance at some writers standing beside him, who were 
celebrated in their time for their theological works, and were firm 
adherents to his doctrine, not observing its contradictions to 
Holy Scripture,, although they are so palpable. I was informed 
by the examining angels that this chieftain of the church is in a 
state of conversion far before many others who have confirmed 
themselves in the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and 
that because in his youthful days, before he began his work of 
reformation, he had received a strong tincture of the doctrine 
which maintains the pre-eminence of charity. This was the 
reason why, both in bis writings and sermons, he gave such ex- 
cellent instruction in regard to charity ; and hence it came to 
pass, that the faith of justification with him was implanted in 
nis external natural man, but not rooted in his internal spiritual 
man. The case is different with those who in their youthful 
days confirm themselves against the spirituality of charity, which 
they must needs do, while they use proofs and arguments to 
establish justification by faith alone. I have conversed with the 
Prince of Saxony, who received and entertained Luther during 
his life on earth. He told me that he had often blamed him, 
particularly for separating charity from faith, and pronouncing 
the latter and not the former to be effective of salvation, when 
yet the Holy Scripture not only joins together those two univer* 
780 


MELANCTHON. 


796, 797 


sal means of salvation, but Paul even gives charity the preference, 
saying, “ There are these three, faith , hope, and charity , and 
the greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor. xiii. 13) ; but Luther as 
often replied, that he could not do otherwise because of the 
Roman Catholics. This prince is among the blessed. 

797. With respect to Melancthon, it has been granted me 
to know many particulars of his condition, what it was when he 
first came into the spiritual world, and what it w r as afterwards, 
not only from the angels, but also from himself ; for I have con- 
versed with him at times, though not so frequently or so inti- 
mately as with Luther. The reason why I did not converse with 
him so frequently and so intimately was, because he was so 
intent upon justification by faith alone, to the exclusion of 
charity, that the angelic spirits who encompassed me, and who 
are in charity, prevented his near approach to me. I have been 
informed that as soon as he entered the spiritual world he had a 
house provided for him similar to that which he inhabited in this 
world. (This is the case with most persons on their first arrival 
in the spiritual world ; therefore they are not aware but that they 
are still in the natural world, and that the time elapsed since 
their death has been passed in sleep.) There were similar objects 
also in his chamber, a similar table, writing desk with drawers, 
and also a similar library. As soon then as he came into his 
new habitation, like one awaking out of sleep, he seated himself 
at his table, and proceeded to write as usual on justification by 
faith alone, and so continued for several days without writing a 
word about charity. This being perceived by the angels, he was 
questioned by messengers why he did not also write about char- 
ity : he replied that charity was in no respect a constituent of 
the church ; for that if it were to be received as an essential of 
the church, man would ascribe to himself the merit of justifica- 
tion, and thence of salvation, and thus would deprive faith of its 
spiritual essence. When this was perceived by the angels who 
were over his head, and heard by the angels who were associated 
with him while he was out of his house, they withdrew from him ;• 
for angels are. associated with every new-comer at his first en- 
trance into the spiritual world. A few weeks after this, the 
furniture in his chamber began to be obscured, and at last to 
vanish away, so that in the end there remained only his table, 
paper, and ink ; moreover the walls of his study appeared in- 
crusted over with plaster, and the floor covered with a yellow 
material like brick, and he himself clad in a coarser garment. 
Wondering in himself at these changes, he asked those about 
him what could be the reason ; and received for answer, Because 
he removed charity from the church, which nevertheless is the 
heart of it. But because he still continued to contradict this 
truth, and persisted in writing about faith as the only essential 
of the church, and the only means of salvation, and in removing 
781 


797 


MELANCTHON. 


charity farther and farther off, on a sudden he appeared to him- 
self under ground in a kind of workhouse, where similar spirits 
were confined ; and on his desiring to be let out, he was pre- 
vented, and given to understand that those who banish charity 
and good works from the church, have no other condition to 
expect. But as he had been one of the reformers of the church, 
he was released by the Lord’s command, and sent back into his 
former chamber, where he found only his table, paper, and ink ; 
still however, in consequence of the ideas which were rooted and 
confirmed in his mind, he continued blotting over sheet after 
sheet with his former erroneous notions, so that it was impossi- 
ble to keep him from sinking down at times among his impris- 
oned companions, from whence he was again alternately released. 
When he was released he appeared clad in a rough hairy skin, 
because faith without charity is cold. He told me himself that 
at the back of the house there was a chamber adjoining his 
own, containing three tables, at which were seated persons of a 
like character with himself, who had also banished charity from 
the church ; and that at times a fourth table appeared there ako, 
on which were seen monstrous figures in various forms, but that 
still they were not deterred by such appearances. He added 
likewise, that he had entered into discourse with the latter, and 
that he was every day more and more confirmed by them in 
favor of his own sentiments. After some time, however, being 
seized with fear, he began to scribble something concerning 
charity^ but what he wrote one day he could not see the next ; 
for this is Universally the case in the spiritual world. If a person 
commits any thing to paper from the external man only, and not 
at the same time from the internal man, thus from constraint 
and not from freedom, it is presently obliterated of itself. But 
after the new heaven was begun to be established by the Lord, 
he then began to think, under the influence of light from that 
heaven, that possibly he was in error ; and this being attended 
with anxiety on account of his lot, he perceived in consequence 
• some interior ideas impressed on his mind concerning charity, in 
which state he consulted the Word, and then his eyes were 
opened, and he saw that it is throughout full of love to God, 
and love towards our neighbor, and that it is consequently 
true, as the Lord says, that on those two commandments hang 
all the law and the prophets, that is, the whole Word. From 
this time he was translated interiorly to the south, verging to- 
wards the west, and thus into another house, from which he 
conversed with me, and said, that now his writing concerning 
charity did not vanish as before, but that on the following day it 
appeared faintly. One circumstance in relation to him is extra- 
ordinary, that when he walks his steps make a noise just like a 
person walking with iron shoes on a stone pavement. Another 
particular circumstance may be mentioned, which is, that when 
782 . 


CALVIN. 


797, 798 

any spirits newly arrived from the world entered his chamber to 
Bee and converse with him, he was accustomed to call one ol 
those magical spirits, who by the power of phantasy could produce 
various appearances of beauty and ornament, and who in an 
instant would deck out his chamber with handsome furniture, 
and tapestry with roses worked in it, and a bookcase also in the 
middle of it ; but no sooner did his company leave him than all 
these appearances vanished, and the former coat of plaster and 
bare walls returned. This however only happened when he was 
in his former state. 

798. Concerning Calvin I have had the following account. 
1. When he first entered the spiritual world, he thought no 
other than that he was still in the world where he was born ; and 
although he was told by the angels associated with him at his 
first coming, that he was now in their world, and not in the 
former, he replied, “ I have the same body, the same hands, and 
similar senses but the angels instructed him that he was then 
in a substantial body, and that before he was not only in the 
same substantial body, but also in a material body, which in- 
vested the substantial ; that he had cast off the material body, 
and retained the substantial, by virtue of which a man is a man. 
This he at first understood ; but the day following he relapsed 
into his former belief, that he was still in the world where he 
w r as born ; for he was a sensual man, believing nothing but what 
he drew in from the objects of the bodily senses ; and this being 
his quality, he framed all the tenets of his faith from his own 
understanding, and not from the Word. He made indeed quo- 
tations from the Word, but this was only to engage the favor 
and approbation of the vulgar. 2. After this first period, having 
left the angels, he wandered about, and inquired where he might 
meet with such spirits as in ancient times had believed in Pre- 
destination : he was informed that they were removed to a 
distant place, where they were close shut up and kept concealed, 
and that there was no way open to their abode but from the 
hinder side under the earth ; but that the disciples of Godoschal- 
chus still wandered about at large, and sometimes assembled to- 
gether in a place called in the spiritual tongue Pyris. On 
receiving this information, and being desirous to associate with 
them, he was conducted to the place of assembly where some of 
them were standing, and when he came among them he was in 
the delight of his heart, and was linked in an interior friendship 
with them. 3. But when the followers of Godoschalchus were 
led away to be confined with their brethren in the cavern, he 
grew weary of himself, sc that he wandered here and there in 
quest of an asylum, and at length was received into a certain 
society, consisting of simple-minded spirits, among whom there 
were also some of a religious character ; but when he discovered 
that they neither knew nor could at all comprehend the doctrine 
783 


798 CALVIN. 

of predestination, he betook himself to one corner of the society; 
and there lay concealed for a considerable time, without ever 
opening his mouth on any subject relating to the church. This 
was of providential appointment, that he might recede from his 
error respecting predestination, and that the numbers might be 
filled up of those, who, since the Synod of Dort, had adhered to 
that detestable heresy, all of whom were successively removed to 
their associates to be confined in the cavern. 4. But when at 
last inquiry was made after him by the modern predestinarians, 
and when on searching for him he was discovered in the extreme 
confines of a certain society, which consisted merely of simple- 
minded spirits, he was called forth from his retirement, and 
conducted to a certain governor, who had drunk of the same 
dregs of false doctrine. This governor received him into his 
house, and protected him ; and in this situation he continued 
until the new heaven was begun to be established by the Lord, 
at which time, because the governor his protector, with all his 
band of associates, was cast out, Calvin betook himself to a cer- 
tain house inhabited by harlots, and there remained for some 
time. 5. But as he then enjoyed the liberty of wandering about, 
and also of approaching nearer to the place of my abode, it was 
permitted me to converse with him ; and first I talked to him of 
the new heaven which is at this day constructing of those who 
acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, 
according to his own words (Matt, xxviii. 18); observing that 
these believe that he and the Father are one (John x. 30) ; and 
that he is in the Father, and the Father in him; and that whoso 
seeth and knoweth him, seeth and knoweth the Father also, 
(John xiv. 6 — 11) ; and that thus there is one God in the church 
as there is in heaven. On hearing what I said, he at first, ac- 
cording to his usual manner, w T as silent for some time, but in 
about half an hour he broke silence and said, “ Was not Christ 
a man, the Son of Mary, who was married to Joseph ? How can 
a man be worshipped as God ?” I replied, “Is not Jesus Christ 
our Redeemer and Saviour, both God and Man ?” To which he 
answered, “ He is God and Man ; yet still Divinity does not be- 
long to him, but to the Father.” “And where then is Christ?” 
asked I. He said, “ He is in the lowest parts of heaven ;” which 
he confirmed by his humiliation before the Father, and by suffer- 
ing himself to be crucified. He then added some scoffing ex- 
pressions against the worship of Christ, which at that instant 
entered his memory from the world, and which were in general 
to this effect, “That such worship is mere idolatry.” He was 
desirous to condemn it in more blasphemous terms; but the 
angels who were with me closed his lips. In answer to what he 
tiad urged, and instigated by a warm zeal for his conversion, I 
said that the Lord our Saviour is not only God and Man, but 
also that in him God is Man, and Man is God ; and this I corn 
784 


CALVIN. 


798 


firmed by the words of Paul, that in him “dwelleth all the ful- 
ness of the Godhead bodily” (Coloss. ii. 9) ; and by what John 
says, that he is the “ true God, and eternal life” (1 Epist. v. 20) ; 
and also by the Lord’s own words, that it is the will of the Fa- 
ther, that every one who believeth on the Son should have eter- 
nal life, and that whosoever believeth not, will not see life, but 
the anger of God abideth on him (John vi. 39, 40 ; iii. 36) ; 
and moreover, by what is declared in the confession of Faith, 
called the Athanasian Creed, that in Christ, God and Man are 
not two, but one, and that they are in one person like the soul 
and body in man. On hearing this reasoning he replied, “ What 
are all these passages which you haye quoted from the Word, 
but vain and empty sounds ? Is not the Word the book of all 
heresies ? and is it not thus like vanes on. the tops of houses and 
ships, which turn with every wind that blows? It is Predes- 
tination alone which fixes and determines all points of religion. 
Here they have their habitation, and this is the tabernacle ot 
their congregation ; and the faith that is effective of justifi- 
cation and salvation is the sanctuary and holy of holies in that 
tabernacle. Is any man possessed of free-will in spiritual con- 
cerns ? Are not all things relating to salvation of free grace ? 
All arguments then which oppose this reasoning, and so oppose 
predestination, sound in my ears only as eructations from the 
stomach ; and this being the case, I have thought with myself, 
that a temple where any other doctrine is taught, even though 
derived from the Word, is, with its congregation, like a den in 
which sheep and wolves are confined together. The wolves how- 
ever are muzzled by the laws of civil justice to prevent them from 
assaulting the sheep; by the sheep I mean the predestinate. 
But I will declare my faith, which is this, c There is a God, and 
he is omnipotent, and there is no salvation for any but those 
who are elected and predestinated by God the Father ; every one 
else is consigned to his lot, that is, to his fate.’ ” On hearing 
this, in the warmth of zeal I rejoined, “You talk impiously; 
begone, you wicked spirit ! Do you not know since you are in 
the spiritual world, that there are a heaven and a hell, and that 
nredestination implies that some are appointed for heaven, and 
some for hell ?• Can you then form to yourself any other idea of 
God, than as of a tyrant, who admits his favorites into his city, 
but condemns the rest to a slaughter-house? Be ashamed, then, 
and blush for your doctrine.” After this I read to him what is 
written in the Formula Concordia (a book containing the 
doctrines of the Evangelical Protestants), on the worship of the 
Lord, and on Predestination : — On the Worship of the Lord, 
as follows : u It is damnable idolatry, if the trust and faith of the 
heart be placed on Christ, not only according to his divine but 
also according to his human nature, and if the honor of adora- 
tion be directed to both ;” and on Predestination, as follows ; 

785 E E E 


CALVIN. 


798, 799 

“ Christ did not die for all men, but only for the elect : God has 
created the greatest part of mankind for eternal damnation, and 
is not willing that they should be converted and live. The elect 
and regenerate cannot lose faith and the Holy Spirit, although 
they commit every kind of the most enormous sin and wicked- 
ness : but those who are not elect are necessarily condemned, 
and cannot possibly attain salvation, even though they should be 
a thousand times baptized, and should come every day to the eu- 
charist, and should besides lead as holy and unblamable lives 'as 
it is possible to do,” pp. 837, 838, of the Leipsic edition, pub- 
lished in the year 1756. After reading these passages,- Tasked 
him, Whether the sentiments contained in that book were de- 
rived from his doctrine, or not ? He replied, They were derived 
from his doctrine, but he did not remember whether those very 
words flowed from his pen, though they did from his mouth. 
On hearing this, all the servants of the Lord retired from him, 
and he betook himself hastily to a way that led towards a cave, 
inhabited by those who have confirmed themselves in the execra- 
ble doctrine of predestination. I afterwards conversed with some 
of the spirits imprisoned in that cave, and inquired into their 
condition : they informed me they were compelled to labor for 
food, and were all at enmity one against another, and every one 
was watching for an excuse to do some mischief to his companion, 
and really did it whenever the slightest occasion offered ; and 
this was the delight of their lives. For a further account of 
Predestination and Predestinarians, see what has been said 
above, n. 486, 488. 

799. I have conversed with many other spirits, followers of 
the three leaders above described, as well as heretics ; and from 
their several cases it was granted me to see clearly that such of 
them as have lived a life of charity, and particularly if they have 
loved the truth for its own sake, suffer themselves to be instructed 
in the spiritual world, and receive the doctrines of the Hew 
Church ; but that on the contrary, such as have confirmed them- 
selves in the falses of religion, and likewise such as have led evil 
lives, do not suffer themselves to be instructed, but by degrees 
remove themselves from the new heaven and consociate them- 
selves with their like in hell, where they confirm themselves 
more and more obstinately against the worship of the Lord, and 
that to such a degree that they cannot endure to hear the name 
of Jesus mentioned ; which is exactly contrary to what occurs 
in heaven, where all unanimously acknowledge the Lord to be 
the God of heaven. 


786 


THE DUTCH. 


800, 80i 


Of the Dutch in the spiritual world. 

800. In the Treatise concerning Heayen and Hell, it is 
shown that Christians, among whom the Word is read, and who 
know and acknowledge the Lord the Redeemer and Saviour, are 
in the middle of all the nations and people that inhabit the spir- 
itual world ; for they possess the greatest spiritual light, and 
the light is propagated from them, as from a centre, to all, even 
the most remote circumferences, agreeably to what was shown 
above in the phapter on the Sacred Scripture, n. 267 — 272. 
In this middle region, possessed by Christians, the Reformed 
havo places allotted them according to their reception of spiritual 
light from the Lord ; and as the Dutch possess that light more 
deeply and fully inserted into their natural light, and are thus 
more receptible than others of whatever relates to reason, they 
have therefore, in that middle region of Christians, acquired 
habitations in the east and south ; in the east by the faculty of 
receiving spiritual heat, and in the south by the faculty of re- 
ceiving spiritual light. The quarters, or cardinal points, in the 
spiritual world, are not like those in the natural world, and an 
allotment of habitations according to such quarters is an allot- 
ment according to the reception of faith and love : those who 
excel in love are in the east, and those who excel in intelligence 
are in the south : see the Treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, 
n. 141 — 153. 

801. A further reason why the Dutch are in those quarters of 
the middle region possessed by Christians is, because trade is 
their final love, and money is a mediate subservient love, and 
the former is of a spiritual nature ; but where money is a final 
love, and trade the mediate subservient love, as it is with the 
Jews, then that love is merely natural, and grounded in avarice. 
But what causes the love of trade, if it be final, to be of a spir- 
itual nature, is its use ; for it administers to the general good, 
with which the particular good of the person who exercises it is 
indeed connected, and this particular good is more directly ap- 
parent than the general good, because the person thinks from 
his natural man ; but nevertheless where trade is the end, the 
love of it is also the final love, and every one is regarded m 
heaven according to his final love ; for this is as the lord of a 
kingdom, or as the master of a house, and the other loves are 
as subjects and servants. The final love too resides in the high- 
est and mmost regions of the mind, and the mediate -loves are in 
a region beneath and without, and are subservient to its control. 
The Dutch more than all other people, are under the influence 
of this spiritual love of trade; whereas the Jews are under the 
influence of an opposite or inverted love, so that their love of 
trade is merely natural, in which there is no latent respect to 
the general good, but only to private emolument. 

787 


802 


THE DUTCH. 


802. The Dutch adhere to their religious principles more te- 
naciously than others, not being easily tempted to forsake them ; 
and even if they are convinced they are wrong upon particular 
points, still they will not confess it, but turn back to their old 
opinions, and there remain unmoved ; thus they remove them- 
selves from the interior intuition of truth, not suffering their 
reason to exert itself in any freedom of inquiry. In consequence 
of this pertinacity, when they come after death into the spiritual 
world, they are prepared after a particular manner to receive the 
spiritual knowledges of heaven, which are divine truths. They 
are not taught truths, because they are in no disposition to re- 
ceive them ; but heaven is described to them as to its nature and 
quality, and afterwards they are permitted to ascend and behold 
it, and then whatever agrees with their genius is infused into 
them, and in this state they return to their associates, possessed 
with a strong desire for heaven. After this process they are in- 
structed that God is one both in essence and person, and that 
the Lord, the Redeemer and Saviour, is that God, and that the 
Divine Trinity is in him ; and also that faith and charity are of 
no avail, if they are only known and talked about, without being 
determined to life, and that they are communicated by the Lord 
to those who actually repent after self-examination ; but in case 
they are averse from these truths when they are taught them, 
and still persist in conceiving of God as being in three persons, 
and of religion, merely that there is such a thing, they are then 
reduced to a state of much misery, and their trade is taken away 
from them, until they find themselves brought to a state of ex- 
treme distress. Then they are conducted to those who, in con- 
sequence of being in divine truths, have abundance of every 
thing, and enjoy a flourishing trade ; and here a thought is in- 
sinuated into them from heaven as to the cause of their own sit- 
uation, and they reflect at the same time on the faith and life of 
those persons who enjoy such prosperity, observing how they 
shun and detest evils as sins; they also make a few inquiries, 
and perceive an agreement between what they thus learn and 
their thoughts and reflections. This they do at intervals repeat- 
edly. At length it occurs' to them, in the exercise of their own 
thoughts, that to be released from their miseries they must be- 
lieve and live like those around them ; and then, as they receive 
that faith, and live that life of charity, wealth is given them, 
and every satisfaction of life. This is the process by which those 
who in any degree have led a life of charity in the world are 
enabled to amend themselves, and are prepared for heaven. 
These afterwards become more fixed and constant than others, 
so that they may well be called constancies, for they do not 
suffer themselves to be led away by any reasoning or fallacy, by 
obscurity induced by sophistry, or by any mistaken views con 
788 * . 


THE DUTCH. 


802- -805 


firmed merely by arguments, for they then become more clear- 
sighted than before. 

803. The doctors who teach in their public schools are par- 
ticularly attentive to the mystical parts of the present faith, 
especially those teachers who are called Co'cceians ; and as these 
mysteries inevitably give birth to the dogma of predestination, 
and as this too received the sanction of, and was confirmed by, 
the Synod of Dort, it is sown and implanted, like seed in the 
ground, gathered from the fruit of any tree, without regard to 
its quality. Hence it is that the laity talk much together about 
predestination, but with very different views ; for though some 
embrace it with both their hands, others take it only with one 
hand, and with a smile, while others cast it from them as they 
would a snake. Indeed, they are ignorant of the mysteries of 
faith whence that viper was hatched ; for being intent on their 
business, the mysteries of that faith touch indeed their under- 
standing, but do not penetrate into it ; so that the dogma of pre- 
destination among the laity, and among the clergy too, is like 
an image in a human form, placed on a rock in the midst of the 
sea, with a great shell in its hand that glitters like gold, at the 
sight of which some captains strike their topsails in passing by, 
as a token of h'onor and reverence, while some only wink at it 
with their eyes and salute it, and others hiss at it as an object 
of ridicule, "it is also like an unknown bird from the Indies 
placed on a high tower, which some swear to be a turtle, some 
conjecture to be a cock, while others say with oaths, “ It cer- 
tainly is an owl.” 

801. The Dutch are particularly distinguished from others in 
the spiritual world, by appearing in garments similar to those 
they wore in the natural world, with this difference only, that 
they are neater with those who have received faith and spiritual 
life. The reason for their appearing in similar garments is, 
because they rest steadfastly in the principles of their religion, 
and all in the spiritual world are clothed according to those prin- 
ciples ; hence white garments, and of fine linen, are worn in the 
spiritual world by those who are in divine truths. 

805. The cities which the Dutch inhabit are guarded in a 
particular manner : all their streets are roofed over, and are 
provided with gates, to prevent their being seen from the neigh- 
boring rocks and hills. This arises from their inherent prudence 
in concealing their designs, and not divulging their intentions ; 
for in the spiritual world the designs and intentions are dis- 
covered by inspection. When any one enters their cities for the 
purpose of exploring their condition, at his departure he is led 
to the different gates of the streets, which are shut, and thus he 
is conducted backward and forward from one gate to another, 
till he is completely tired, and then he is let out : * this is done 
789 


805—808 


THE ENGLISH. 


that he may be induced never to return. Wives wh.> affect 
authority over their husbands, dwell on one side of the city, and 
never meet their husbands but when they are invited, which is 
done with civility; and on these occasions the husbands lead 
them to houses where the married pairs live without affecting 
any authority over each other, and there they show them how 
elegant and neat the houses are, and how happily they live 
together, informing them at the same time that this is the con- 
sequence of mutual and conjugial love. Those wives who are 
attentive to, and affected with these things, cease to assume any 
dominion over their husbands, and then they live together, and 
a habitation is allotted them nearer the middle of the city, and 
they are called angels. The reason of this is, because true con- 
jugial love is a heavenly love, in which there is no dominion. 


Of the English in th*e spiritual world. 

806. Man has two states of thought, external and internal. 
He is in the external state in the natural world, and in the 
internal state in the spiritual. These two states of thought form 
a one with the good, but not with the wicked. The nature and 
quality of a man’s internal state are seldom discoverable in the 
world, because he learns from infancy to be moral and rational, 
and loves to appear so ; but in the spiritual world its quality is 
clearly discovered, for he is then a spirit, and the spirit is the 
internal man. How, as I have been permitted to be in the 
spiritual world, and there to behold the nature and quality of the 
internal man in people of different countries and kingdoms, it 
behooves me, from the importance of the subject, to communicate 
what has been revealed to me. 

807. With respect to the people of England, the better sort 
among them are in the centre of all Christians, in consequence 
of possessing an interior intellectual light. This, though it is 
not apparent to any one in the natural world, is very conspicuous 
in the spiritual world. They derive this light from the liberty of 
speaking and writing, and thence of thinking; while others who 
do not enjoy such liberty have that light presented in a confused 
manner, because it wants an outlet. That light, however, is not 
active of itself, but is made so by others, especially by men of 
reputation and authority, shining with peculiar brightness as soon 
as such men declare their sentiments. It is on this account that 
the English in the spiritual world have governors set over them, 
and priests given them, of distinguished character and great 
talents, in whose opinions, in consequence of this their natural 
character, they acquiesce. 

808. There is among them a similitude of disposition ( 'animuti 
790 


THE ENGLISH. 


808, 809 

which leads them to an intimate connection with friends of their 
own country, but seldom with others. They are kind in relieving 
each other’s necessities, and love sincerity. They are lovers of 
their country, and zealous for its glory ; and they regard 
foreigners as a person looking through a telescope from the top 
of his palace regards those who dwell and wander about at a 
distance from the city. The political concerns of their country 
engage their attention and possess their hearts, sometimes to 
such a degree as to indispose their spirits for those studies of a 
sublimer sort which lead to the acquisition of superior intelli- 
gence. These sublimer studies are indeed pursued eagerly by 
the young people educated in their public seminaries, but they 
pass away like meteors and other such phenomena ; still, how- 
ever, their rationality is rendered quick and lively by their 
attention to political concerns, and sparkles with light, which 
they form into beautiful images, as a crystal prism, turned 
towards the sun, presents the several colors of the rainbow, and 
tinges a plane surface presented to it with glowing hues. 

809. There are two large cities like London, into which 
many of the English enter after death. I was permitted to see 
the more excellent of the two, and to walk through if. The 
middle of it answers to that part of London where the mer- 
chants meet, called the Exchange, and there the governors 
dwell ; above that middle part is the east, below it is the west, 
on the right side is the south, and on the left the north. The 
eastern quarter is inhabited by those who have been particularly 
distinguished for leading a life of charity, and in that quarter 
there are magnificent palaces ; the southern quarter is inhabited 
by those who have been distinguished for wisdom, and there 
many of the objects which surround them are full of brightness 
and splendor ; the northern quarter is inhabited by those who 
have been particularly delighted with the liberty of speaking and 
writing ; and in the western quarter are those who glory in the 
doctrine of justification by faith alone. In this quarter, on the 
right, lies the entrance into the city, as well as the way out of 
it, through which those who lead wicked lives are conducted out. 
The clergy who live in the western quarter, and teach the doc- 
trine of justification by faith alone, dare not enter the city 
through the great streets, but only through by-alleys; for no 
inhabitants are tolerated in the city but those who are in the 
faith of charity. I have heard them complain of the preachers 
from the’ west, how they compose their discourses with such art 
and eloquence, and so intermix the strange doctrine of justifi- 
cation by faith, that their hearers do not know whether good 
ought to be done or not. They preach faith as being Intrinsic 
o-ood, and separate this from the good of charity, which they 
call meritorious good, and consequently not acceptable to God. 
But -when those who inhabit the eastern and southern quarters 
791 


309— 812 


THE ENGLISH. 


of the city hear such discourses, they go out of the temples, ana 
the preachers are afterwards deprived of the priestly office. 

810. I have been told several reasons why those preachers are 
deprived of the priestly office, the principal of which is, because 
they do not . frame their discourses from the Word, and thus from 
the Spirit of God, but from their own rational light, and thus 
from their own spirit. They take a text indeed, as a prelude, 
from the Word ; but this they only touch with their lips, and 
then leave as a thing without flavor ; then they choose some more 
savory subject from their own intelligence, which they masticate 
and turn over their tongues as. a rich dainty, and in this manner 
give instruction. I have been informed further, that in conse- 
quence of this practice, their discourses are as void of spirituality 
as the songs of nightingales ; and that their metaphorical orna- 
ments are like false hair neatly curled and powdered, on a bald 
head ; and that the mystic contents of their discourses upon 
justification by faith alone may be compared with the quails 
brought up from the sea to the camp of the children of Israel, 
which proved fatal to many thousands of the people (Numb, xi.), 
but that the theological doctrine of charity and faith together 
may be compared with the manna from heaven. I once heard 
some of these clergy conversing together about faith alone, and 
saw a kind of image formed by them, which represented their 
solitary faith. It appeared in the light (lumen) of their eyes, 
which originated in phantasy, like a great giant ; but when light. 
(lux) from heaven was let in upon it, it then appeared, as to its 
upper parts, like a monster, and as to its lower parts like a ser- 
pent ; at the sight of which they drew back, and the bystanders 
cast it into a lake. 

811. The other great city, also called London, is not in the 
middle part of the Christian region, but separated from it towards 
the north ; it is the receptacle after death of those who are in- 
wardly wicked. In the middle of it there is an open communi- 
cation with hell, into which the inhabitants sink down, and in 
their turns are swallowed up. 

812. It is very perceivable from observations made on the 
English in the spiritual world, that there is a twofold theology 
L aught among them ; one grounded in their doctrine of faith, and 
the other in the doctrine of charity ; the former is received by 
those who are initiated into the sacerdotal office, and the latter 
by many of the laity, particularly by the inhabitants of Scot- 
land and its borders ; with these the Solifidians are afraid to en- 
gage in dispute, because they combat with them both from the 
Word and from reason. This doctrine of charity is plainly in- 
sisted on in the exhortation read in church on the Sabbath* day 
previous to every administration of the Lord’s supper, in which 
it is- openly .declared that if men are not in charity towards each 
other, and do not shun evils as sins, they cast themselves intu 

792 


THE GERMANS. 


812—814 


eternal damnation, and in this case if they should come to the 
holy communion, the devil would enter into them as he did into 
Judas. 


Of the Germans in the spiritual world. 

813. It is well known that the inhabitants of every kingdom 
which is divided into several provinces, are not of a similar genius, 
but there is a particular difference between them answering 
to the general difference which distinguishes the inhabitants of 
the several climates of the globe ; still, however, it is observable 
that there is a common genius among those who are the subjects 
of one king, and governed by one code of laws. With regard 
to Germany, it is divided into a greater numbei of governments 
than any of the neighboring kingdoms. These governments 
are all subject to the general authority of the imperial court,* 
but still each prince enjoys despotic power in his particular do- 
minions ; for the empire is divided into greater and lesser duke- 
doms, and each duke is like an absolute monarch in his own 
territories ; and the religion of Germany is also divided, some 
dukedoms professing the doctrines of the Evangelical Protestants, 
so called [or Lutherans], some the doctrines of the Reformed 
[or Calvinists], and some the doctrines of the Romish Church. 
Such being the diversity of their government and religion, it is 
more difficult to describe the Germans as to their minds (< animi ), 
inclinations, and lives, from their appearance in the spiritual 
world, than any other nation or people ; and yet, as all people 
of the same language have a common genius, this may, by a col- 
lation of ideas, in some degree be discovered and described. 

814. As the Germans in each particular dukedom live undei 
a despotic government, they do not enjoy the liberty of speaking 
and writing like the Dutch and English ; and where the liberty 
of speaking- and writing is restrained, the liberty of thinking, 
that is, of taking an enlarged view of things, is under restraint 
at the same time ; for this case is like that of the basin of a 
fountain, whose sides are so high, that the water within is ele- 
vated even to the summit of the salient stream, so that it no 
longer forms a jet : according to this comparison, thought is like 
the salient stream, and speech proceeding thence is like the basin : 
in a word, influx always adapts itself to efflux, and so does the 
understanding, from the superior region of the mind, adapt itself 
to the measure of liberty allowed for uttering and giving vent to 

* It is to be remembered that this was written prior to the dissolution of the 
Germanic body, and the relinquishment of the title of emperor of Germany by the 
head of the house of Austria. In the form of their government too, many favorable 
changes, which have their origin in the descent of the divine light, have recently 
been made, so as to render several of the above observations applicable rather to 
what the Germans were, than to what they are or may be. 

793 


THE GERMANS. 


814 , 815 

the thoughts. Hence it is that this noble nation pays bi.t little 
attention to matters of judgment, but much to studies that 
only exercise the memory ; therefore they particularly cultivate 
literary history, and in their writings rest much on the send 
ments of learned and eminent men of their own nation, whose 
decisions they quote in abundance, and adopt such as they pre- 
fer for their own. This their state is represented in the spiritual 
world by a person carrying books under his arms, who, in case 
his sentiments on any subject are opposed, says that he will give 
an answer immediately, and then opens one of his books, and 
begins to read. 

815. In consequence of this their state, they keep the spir- 
itual subjects of the church inscribed on their memories, and 
seldom elevate them into the superior region of the understand- 
ing, but only admit them into the inferior region, and thence 
reason upon them, in which practice they differ entirely from 
free nations ; for these, in regard to the spiritual subjects of the 
church, which are comprehended under the name of theology, 
are like eagles which raise themselves to any height in the at- 
mosphere, whereas, nations that are not free are like swans in a 
river. Free nations also are like the larger kind of stags, with 
high branching horns, that range with full license through the 
plains, the groves, and the forests ; whereas nations that are not 
free are like deer inclosed in parks, which are kept for the prince’s 
use. Again, free people are like flying horses, by the ancients 
called Pegasi, which fly not only over seas, but over Parnassian 
hills, and the seats of the muses beneath; whereas people that 
are not free are like high-bred horses, adorned with costly trap 
pings in kings’ stables. Such too are the differences of judg- 
ment in the mystic points of theology between a free people and 
those who are not free. The German clergy, in the course of 
their education, write down the prescripts delivered by their 
public masters in their universities, and these they keep as tokens 
of their erudition, and when they enter on the priestly office, or 
are appointed lecturers in the public schools, they generally make 
the above-mentioned prescripts the ground of all their discourses, 
whether delivered from the chair or the pulpit. Such of their 
priests as do not teach the orthodox doctrines, usually preach 
about the Holy Ghost, and his wonderful operations and holy 
excitements on the heart : those who ground their doctrines in 
the modern orthodoxy of faith, appear to the angels as if they 
wore a wreath of beech leaves about their temples ; but those 
who preach from the Word the doctrine of charity and good 
works, appear to the angels as if adorned with wreaths formed 
of the odoriferous leaves of the laurel. The Evangelical Protest- 
ants [or Lutherans], in their disputes with the Reformed [or 
Calvinists] about truths, appear as if they tore their clothes; 
because clothes signify truths. 

794 


THE PAPISTS. 


816—810 


816. I have inquired in what part of the spiritual world the 
people of Hamburg are to be found, and have been informed that 
they appear nowhere collected into one society, and still less into 
any particular state, but are dispersed and intermixed with the 
Germans in various quarters ; and on examining into the reason 
of this circumstance, it was found to arise from the state of their 
minds, which are continually looking abroad, and as it were trav- 
elling out of their own city, and very little within it ; for accord- 
ing to the state of a man’s mind in the natural world, such also 
is its state in the spiritual world ; for a man’s mind is his spirit, 
or the posthumous man that lives after his departure out of the 
material body. 


Of the Papists in the spiritual world . 

/ 

817. The Papists in the spiritual world appear round about 
and beneath the Protestants, and are divided from them by 
intervals of ground which they are forbidden to pass ; and yet 
the monks by clandestine arts obtain for themselves a communi- 
cation, and also depute emissaries through paths known only to 
themselves, for the purpose of making converts ; but they are 
discovered, and after being punished, are either sent back to 
their own people or are cast down. 

818. Since the last judgment, which took place in the spir- 
itual world in the year 1757, the state of all the inhabitants, > 
and consequently of the Papists, is so changed, that they are no 
longer permitted to collect into companies as before, but ways or 
paths are appointed for every kind of love, whether good or evil, 
which all immediately enter on their leaving the natural world, 
and so depart \o the societies corresponding tp their loves. Thus 
the wicked are conveyed to societies in hell, and the good to 
societies in heaven : by this means it is provided that none can 
form artificial heavens for themselves as was done before. Such 
societies in the world of spirits, which is in the midst between 
heaven and hell, are as numerous as the different genera and 
species of the affections of the lovev of good and evil ; and in the 
mean time, before they are either elevated into heaven or cast 
down into hell, they are in spiritual conjunction with men in the 
natural world, because men also in the natural world are in the 
midst between heaven and hell. 

819. The Papists have a kind of council-chamber in the 
southern quarter towards the east, in which their prelates assem- 
ble, and consult on various matters relating to their religion, 
particularly how the vulgar may be kept in blind obedience, and 
how their own dominion may be extended. Ho one however is 
admitted nto this council-house, who during his life on earth 

795 


THE PAPISTS. 


519, 820 

had enjoyed the papacy, because somewhat like divine authority 
rests in their minds, in consequence of having arrogated to 
themselves the Lord’s power in the world ; neither is any car- 
dinal permitted to enter it, on account of the pre-eminence 
which he had formerly enjoyed. The cardinals, however, assem- 
ble together in a large conclave under the council-house, and 
after continuing there some days they are removed ; but I was 
not permitted to know whither. There is also another assembly 
in the southern quarter towards the west, and there their em- 
ployment is to introduce the credulous vulgar into heaven. They 
form an arrangement around themselves of divers societies, which 
live in the enjoyment of various external delights ; in some there 
are dances, in some concerts of music, in some processions, in 
some theatres and scenic exhibitions ; in some there are spirits, 
who by phantasies have the art of inducing various forms of 
magnificence ; in some they do nothing but jest and play the 
buffoon ; in some they converse with each other in a friendly 
way, in one place on religious subjects, in another on political, 
and in a third wantonly and indecently. Into some one of these 
societies they introduce the credulous, according to the favorite 
pleasures of each, and call it heaven ; but after continuing there 
one or two days, they all become tired of their delights, and 
depart, because such delights are not internal, but Only external ; 
thus many are led to reject the frivolous notions they had before 
entertained of the power of introduction into heaven. As to the 
particulars of their worship, it is nearly similar to what they 
practised in the natural world, consisting in masses, not said in 
the common language of spirits, but composed of high-sounding 
words, which inspire external sanctity and awe, of which they 
understand nothing. 

820. All who come from the earth into the spiritual world, 
are at first kept for some time in the confession of faith and the 
religion of their country. This too is the case with the Papists ; 
hence they have always a certain representative Pope set over 
them, whom they adore with similar Ceremony to that observed 
on earth. It rarely happens that any one is set over them who 
had enjoyed the Papacy in the natural world ; and yet he that 
sat in the papal chair about thirty or forty years ago, was 
appointed to this office, because he had cherished in his heart 
the belief, that the Word was more holy than is generally ima- 
gined, and that the Lord ought to be worshipped. I was per- 
mitted to converse with him, and he informed me that he 
worships the Lord alone, as being God himself, who has all 
power in heaven and earth, according to his own words (Matt, 
xxviii. 18) ; and that invocations of saints are vain and ridiculous ; 
and further, that when he was on earth, he had a design to 
reinstate the church in its pristine purity, but that for several 
reasons, which he mentioned, it was not in his power. At the 
796 


THE PAPISTS. 


820, 821 

time of the last judgment, when the great northern city was 
destroyed, which contained Papists and Reformed together, I 
saw this Pope carried forth in a chair, and conveyed to a place 
of safety. On the borders of the great society where he acts in 
character of Pope, there are gymnasia, which are resorted to by 
those who have doubts and scruples about religion. In these 
gymnasia there are converted monks, who instruct them con- 
cerning Christ the Saviour God, and also concerning the holiness 
of the Word, leaving it to their own free choice to turn their 
minds from the sanctimonious ceremonies introduced into the 
Romish Church. Those who receive the instruction of the monks 
are introduced into a large society, consisting of such as have 
receded from the worship of the Pope and the saints ; and when 
they enter that society, they are like people raised from sleep, 
and becoming broad awake ; or like persons passing from the 
dreariness of winter into the pleasantness of spring ; or like 
sailors who after a tedious voyage come to the desired haven : 
and then they are invited by the members of the society to feasts, 
and delicious wine is given them to drink out of crystalline cups. 
I have been informed, that the angels on such occasions let down 
to the guest out of heaven a paten, or plate, on which is placed 
manna, in the same form, and of the same taste, as that sent 
down. upon the camp of the children Of Israel in the wilderness ; 
which paten is carried round to the company, and every one is 
at liberty to taste of its contents. 

821. All those of the Catholic Religion, who when alive in the 
natural world had thought more about God than about the Pope, 
and had done works of charity in simplicity of heart, when they 
find themselves alive after death, and are instructed that the 
Lord himself, the Saviour of the world, holds the government 
there, are easily led to renounce the superstitious doctrines of 
that religion. The transition from Popery to Christianity is as 
easy for such persons, as it is to enter into a temple when the 
doors are thrown open ; or into a palace, by passing through the 
sentinels who keep guard in the outer courts, when the king 
enjoins admission ; or as it is to lift up the countenance and look 
towards heaven when angelic voices are heard therein ; but, on 
the other hand, where the members of the Romish Church, dur- 
ing their term of life on earth, have seldom if ever thought about 
God, and have delighted in their worship only on account of its 
festivities, in such case it is as difficult to turn them from their 
religious superstitions, as to enter into a temple when the doors 
are shut; or to force a way through the sentinels who keep 
guard in the outer courts of a palace, and to enter when the 
king forbids admission ; or as it is for a snake in the grass to lift 
up its eyes towards heaven. It is a wonderful circumstance, 
that none of the Roman Catholics, on their first entrance into 
the spiritual world, see heaven there, or the angelic abodes, their 
797 


821 — 824 


THE ROMISH SAINTS. 


vision being terminated by a kind of dark cloud hanging over 
their heads ; but no sooner is any one in a state of conversion, 
and admitted among the converted, than his view of heaven is 
opened, and sometimes he beholds angels there in white gar- 
ments ; into whose company also he is elevated, after, having 
completed his period of preparation. 


Of the Romish Saints in the spiritual world. 

822. It is well known that every man has inherent or heredi- 
tary evil from his parents ; but it is known only to few in what this 
evil dwells in its fulness. It dwells in the love of possessing the 

E rty of all other persons, and in the love of rule ; for this 
love is of such a nature, that in proportion as the reins are 
given to it, it becomes so enormous, as to burn with the lust of 
domineering over all, and at length to desire to be invoked and 
worshipped as a god. This love is the serpent which deceived 
Eve and Adam ; for he said to the woman, u God doth know that 
in the day ye eat of the fruit of that tree, your eyes shall be 
opened, and ye shall he as gods ” (Gen. iii. 4, 5). In proportion 
therefore as a man rushes into that love with loosened reins, he 
averts himself from God, and turns towards himself, and so be- 
comes a worshipper of self; and in this case, it is possible he 
may invoke God with warm lips when influenced by the love of 
self, but with a cold heart by reason of his contempt of God. 
In this case too he may use the divine things of the church as 
subservient means to promote his end ; but as this end is domin- 
ion, the means are no otherwise fixed in his heart than as they 
tend to promote it. If such a person be exalted to high honors, 
he is, in his own imagination, like an Atlas, bearing the terra- 
queous globe on his shoulders; or like Phoebus, carrying the 
sun with his chariot and horses round the world. 

822. Since man, in consequence of hereditary evil, is of such 
a nature, therefore all who have been canonized as saints by 
papal bulls, are removed in the spiritual world from the sight of 
others, are kept in secret places, and deprived of all intercourse 
with their worshippers, to prevent that most pernicious root of 
evil from being excited in them, and plunging them into the 
delirious phantasies by which demons are possessed. Those who, 
during their life on earth, affect the character of saints, with a 
view to be invoked as saints after death, become a prey to such 
delirium. 

824. Many of the Romish persuasion, especially the monks, 
when they come into the spiritual world, inquire for the saints, 
and above all for the saint of their own order, and are much 
surprised at not being able to find them; but they are after 
798 


THE ROMISH SAINTS. 


824 — 826* 


wards instructed, that they are associated together either with 
those that are in heaven, or with those that are in the earth or 
region below, and that in what place soever they dwell, they 
know nothing of the worship and invocation directed to them, 
but that such as do know it, and wish to be invoked, fall into 
delirious phantasies, and talk like idiots. The worship of saints 
is such an abomination in heaven, that the bare mention of it 
excites horror, since in proportion, as worship is paid to any man, 
it is derogated from the Lord, for thus he alone is not worshipped ; 
and where the Lord is not worshipped alone, there is a separation, 
which destroys communion, and the happiness of life which 
flows from it. That I might know, for the sake of informing 
others, the true nature and character of the Romish saints, 
about a hundred of them were brought up from the earth or 
region below, who were acquainted with their canonization. 
They ascended from behind, and only a few in front, and I con- 
versed with one of them, who they said was Xavier. During 
our conversation he was like an idiot, yet he was able to relate 
that in the place where he is kept shut up with others he is not 
an idiot, but that he becomes so whenever he thinks that he is 
a saint, and wishes to be invoked. I heard a muttering to the 
same purpose from those who were behind. The case is other- 
wise with the saints, so called, who are in heaven : they know 
nothing at all of what is doing on earth, and they are not al- 
lowed to speak with any spirits of the Romish persuasion who 
are in that superstition, lest any idea on the subject should gain 
admission into their minds. 

825. It must be obvious to every one from this state of the 
Romish saints, that their invocation is a mere mockery ; and 
I can assert further, that they no more hear such invocations 
from their votaries on earth, than do their images in the streets, 
or the walls of their church, or the birds that build in its steeple. 
Their votaries in the world say that the saints reign in heaven 
together with the Lord Jesus Christ ; but this is a mere forgery 
and fiction ; for they no more reign with the Lord than the 
keeper of a stable does with his king, or a porter with his lord, 
or a running-footman with a primate; for, in relation to the 
Lord, John the Baptist said of himself, that he was not worthy 
to unloose the latchet of his shoe (Mark i. 7 ; J ohn i. 27) ; how 
ittle worthy then must such saints be ! 

826. There sometimes appears in a middle altitude to the 
people of Paris, who are in a society in the spiritual world, a 
certain woman, who declares that she is Genevieve. She is 
clad in shining raiment, and of a countenance which appears 
holy ; but when some of them begin to worship her, her counte- 
nance immediately changes, and also her raiment, and she be- 
comes like an ordinary woman, and chides them for desiring to 
adore a person who is held in no greater estimation among her 

799 


826—830 


THE MAHOMEDANS. 


associates than as a servant-maid, wondering how men in the 
world can be misled by such foolish fancies. 

827. To the above relation I shall annex a circumstance most 
deserving of attention. Mary, the mother of the Lord, on 
a time passed by, and appeared over head in white raiment : 
there she stopped a while, and said, that she had been the 
mother of the Lord, and that he was indeed born of her, but 
that being made God, he put off all the humanity which he had 
from her ; so that now she worships him as her God, and is un- 
willing that any should acknowledge him as her son, since all 
in him is divine. 


Of the Mahomedans in the spiritual world. 

828. The Mahomedans in the spiritual world appear behind 
the Roman Catholics in the west, and form a kind of circle 
around them. The reason of their appearing next behind the 
Christians is, because they acknowledge our Lord as the greatest 
prophet, the wisest of men, who was sent into the world to in- 
struct mankind, and also confess that he is the Son of God. 
Every one in that world dwells at a distance from the centre, 
where the Christians inhabit, according to his confession of the 
Lord and of one God ; for that confession conjoins minds with 
heaven, and determines their distance from the east, over which 
point the Lord is. 

829. Since religion has its abode with man in the highest 
regions of his mind, and the lower derive life and light from the 
highest, and since the idea of Mahomed is always connected with 
religion in the minds of Mahomedans, therefore some Mahomed 
or other is always placed in their view : and that they may turn 
their faces towards the east, over which point the Lord is, he is 
placed beneath the central point which the Christians inhabit. 
It is not Mahomed himself, who wrote the Koran, but some other 
who fills his place ; nor is it always the same person, but he is 
changed according to circumstances. A native of Saxony, who 
was taken prisoner by the Algerines, and turned Mahomedan, 
once acted in this character. He having been a Christian, was 
led to speak with them of the Lord, affirming that he was not 
the son of Joseph, but the Son of God himself. This Mahomed 
was afterwards replaced by others. In the place where that rep- 
resentative Mahomed has his station, a fire, like a small torch, 
appears, in order that he may be distinguished ; but it is visible 
only to Mahomedans. 

830. The real Mahomed, who wrote the Koran, is not a* 
this day to be seen among them. I have been informed that at 
first he was appointed to preside over them ; but being desirous 
to rule over all the concerns of their religion as a god, he was 

800 


THE MAHOMEDANS. 


830—833 


remover] from his station, which was beneath the Roman Catho 
lies, and was sent down to one on the right side near the south. 
A certain society of Mahomedans was once instigated by some 
evil spirits to acknowledge Mahomed as a god, and in order to 
appease the sedition Mahomed was raised up from the earth or 
region beneath, and produced to their view ; and on this occa- 
sion I also saw him. He appeared like corporeal spirits, who 
have no interior perception. His face was of a hue approaching 
to black ; and I heard him utter these words, u I am your Ma- 
homed and present^ he seemed to sink down again. 

831. The hostility of the Mahomedans against the Christians 
has arisen chiefly in consequence of their belief in three divine 
persons, and their consequent worship of three gods as so many 
creators ; and additionally against the Roman Catholics, in con- 
sequence of their bending the knee to images. Hence they call 
the latter idolaters, and the former fanatics, saying, that they 
make a three-headed god, and that though they talk of one, they 
mutter three, and so divide Omnipotence, and make three out 
of one : thus that they are like young stags with three horns, 
one for each god, and at the same time three for one god, and 
that their prayers, their psalmody, and their preaching, are all 
filled with these mistaken ideas. 

832. The Mahomedans, like all other gentiles who acknowl- 
edge one God, and love righteousness, and do good from a 
principle of religion, have their own heaven, but beyond the 
limits of the Christian heaven ; yet the Mahomedan heaven is 
divided into two. The inhabitants of the inferior heaven live 
virtuously with several wives ; none however are elevated from 
this into the superior heaven but such as renounce concubinage, 
and acknowledge the Lord our Saviour, and at the same time his 
dominion over heaven and hell. I have been informed that it is 
impossible for them'to conceive God the Father and our Lord to 
be one ; but that it is possible for them to believe that the Lord 
has dominion over the heavens and the hells, because he is the 
Son of God the Father. It is this faith which prevails among 
them, and by means of which the Lord effects their ascent into 
the superior heaven. 

833. It may be a matter of stumbling and offence to those 
who meditate about the Divine Providence, and at the same time 
believe that none can be saved but those who are bom Christians, 
that the Mahomedan religion is more extensively received 
throughout the world than the Christian ; whereas this is no 
matter of offence to those who believe that all things are under 
the regulation of Divine Providence ; for on this occasion too 
they trace the footsteps of that Providence, and find the reason 
for it in this, that the Mahomedan religion acknowledges the 
Lord to be the greatest prophet, the wisest of men, and also the 
Son. of God ; but having made the Koran the only rule and 

801 v v e 


S33 


THE MAHOMED ANS. 


standard of their religion they think much about Mahomed who 
wrote it, and pay him a kind of worship, and therefore think 
little about our Lord. In order to show more plainly and fully 
that the Mabomedan religion was raised up under the auspices 
of the Lord’s Divine Providence to destroy idolatry in many 
nations, I will enter into a more particular consideration of the 
subject, adverting first to the origin of idolatries. Before the 
rise of this religion, idolatrous worship was spread through a 
great many countries of the globe ; the cause of which was that 
the churches extant before the Lord’s coming were all represen- 
tative ; such also was the Israelitish church, where the tabernacle, 
the garments of Aaron, the sacrifices, every thing belonging to 
the temple at Jerusalem, and even their statutes were represen- 
tative. The science of correspondences, which is likewise the 
science of representatives, was accounted by the ancients the 
chief of sciences, and was particularly cultivated by the Egyp- 
tians, being the origin of their hieroglyphics. It was this science 
which enabled them to know the signification of animals and 
trees of every kind, as well as mountains, hills, rivers, and foun- 
tains ; also of the sun, the moon, and the stars. By the same 
science they also attained to the knowledge of spiritual subjects ; 
for the things represented being such as belong to spiritual wis- 
dom among the angels in heaven, were themselves the origins of 
the representatives. Now as all their worship was representative, 
consisting of mere correspondences, they therefore performed it 
on mountains and hills, and also in groves and gardens ; for this 
reason too they consecrated fountains, and made graven images 
of horses, oxen, calves, lambs, and even of birds, fish, and 
serpents, which they placed in the vicinity and at the entrance 
of their temples, and also in their houses, arranged in order ac- 
cording to the spiritual principles of the church to which they 
corresponded, or which they represented, arid thence signified. 
In process of time, when the science of correspondences became 
obliterated, posterity began to worship the mere graven images 
as if they had been holy in themselves ; not aware that their 
forefathers saw nothing holy in them, but regarded them merely 
as the representatives of holy things according to their corre- 
spondences. Hence originated all the idolatries which have 
prevailed throughout so many kingdoms of the earth. For the 
extirpation of these idolatries, it was brought to pass by the Lord’s 
Divine Providence, that a new religion, accommodated to the 
genius and temper of the eastern nations, should be taught and 
propagated, which should contain something from the Word of 
both the Old and New Testaments, and teach that the Lord 
came into the world, and was the greatest prophet and wdsest of 
mankind, and the Son of God. The instrument for effecting 
this was Mahomed, from wdiom that religion took its name. 
Thus it appears this religion owed its rise to the Lord’s Divine 
802 


THE AFRICANS. 


833—535 


Providence, and was accommodated, as was said, to the genius 
and temper of the eastern nations, for the purpose of destroying 
the idolatries that so generally prevailed, and communicating 
to its votaries some knowledge of the Lord, before they came 
afcer death into the spiritual world. This religion would not 
have been received by so many kingdoms, and their idolatries 
could not have been extirpated, unless it had been made suitable 
to the ideas of the people, but especially unless polygamy had 
been allowed ; for the Orientals, without such allowance, would 
have burned with adulterous lust more than the Europeans, and 
so would have destroyed themselves eternally. 

834. I was once permitted to perceive what was the nature 
and quality of the heat of their poly gam ical love. I was con- 
versing with a certain person who acted in the office and charac- 
ter of Mahomed, and after some conversation with him at a dis- 
tance, he transmitted to me an ebony spoon and other things, 
which were tokens that they came from him; and at the same 
instant a communication was opened from various places for the 
heat of their polygamical love, which from some felt like the 
heat in baths after bathing ; from some like the heat in kitchens 
where flesh is boiling ; from some like the heat in cooks’ shops 
where stinking meat is exposed to sale ; from some like what is 
perceived in an apothecary’s shop, where emulsions and such 
preparations are made up ; from some like the heat in stews and 
bagnios ; and from some like the smell in shops where skins, 
leather, and shoes are exposed to sale : there was also in that heat 
something of a rancid, rough, and burning quality, arising from' 
jealousy. But the heat in the Christian heavens, when the de- 
light of their love is perceived as an odor, is like the fragrance 
of gardens, vineyards, and shrubberies ; and in some places it is 
like the odor in shops where spices are exposed to sale ; and in 
other places like the scent arising from wine-presses and wine- 
cellars. The delights of love are frequently perceived in the 
spiritual world as odors, as has been shown throughout in the 
Memorable Relations annexed to the separate chapters of this 
work. 


Of the Africans in the spiritual world, with some obser- 
vations RESPECTING THE GENTILES. 

835. The Gentiles, who have not known any thing concerning 
the Lord, appear in the spiritual world in a circumference beyond 
those who have ; and according to this law, the last or outermost 
circumferences consist entirely of those who had been mere idol- 
aters, and in the former world had worshipped the sun and moon 
But those who acknowledge one God, and practise the com 
803 


835—837 


THE AFRICANS. 


mand.ments.of religion, such as those delivered in the decalogue, 
and thence inscribe them on their lives, have more immediate 
communication with the Christians in the middle point of the 
spiritual world, the communication not being intercepted by the 
Mahometans and Roman Catholics. The Gentiles are also dis- 
tinguished according to their genius, and their different capaci- 
ties of receiving light through the heavens from the Lord ; for 
there are among them both interior and exterior men, which 
arises partly from climate, partly from parentage, partly from 
education, and partly from religion. The Africans are a more 
interior people than any other of the Gentiles. 

836. All among them who acknowledge and worship one God, 
the Creator of the Universe, cherish the idea of God as of a 
Man, insisting that it is impossible for any one to form any other 
idea of God. When they are informed that several entertain an 
idea of God as of ether, or a cloud, they inquire where such are 
to be found, and when they are told they are among Christians, 
they deny it to be possible; but in reply to this they are in- 
structed, that they derive the idea from the circumstance, that 
God is called in the Word a ‘Spirit, and they can form no con- 
ception of spirit but as of the substance of ether, or as the form 
of a cloud, not knowing that every spirit and every angel is a 
man ; and yet when it has been examined whether their spiritual 
idea was similar to their natural idea, it has been discovered that 
it was not similar with those who interiorly acknowledge the 
Lord the Saviour as the God of heaven and earth. I once heard 
a certain clergyman assert that no one can have an idea of a 
Divine Humanity ; and I saw him translated to various Gentiles, 
of a nature and genius more and more interior, and likewise to 
their heavens, and at last to the Christian heaven, and in every 
place he received a communication of their interior perception 
concerning God, and observed that they had no other idea of 
God than that of a Divine Man, and that none other could have 
created man who is his image and likeness. 

837. As the Africans excel all other Gentiles in clearness of 
interior judgment, I have held conversation with them upon 
subjects of profound inquiry, and lately concerning God, con- 
cerning the Lord the Redeemer, and concerning the interior and 
exterior man ; and as they were delighted with such discourse, 
I will here briefly describe what their perceptions were from their 
interior sight on these three subjects. Concerning God they 
said, that he surely did come down and present himself before 
the sight of men, because he is their Creator, Protector, and 
Leader, and the human race is his. They said too that he sees, 
considers, and extends his provident care over all and every 
thing in the heavens and the earth, and regards their good as in 
himself, and himself in their good ; for he is the Sun of the 
angelic heaven, which appears of the same altitude above the 

80 4 : 


THE AFRICANS. 


837, 838 


spiritual world, as the sun of the earth above the natural world, 
and he who is the Sun sees, considers, and provides for all and 
every thing beneath; and as it is his divine love which appears 
as a sun, it follows that he provides for whatever relates to their 
life, in the greatest and in the least of his creatures, and for man- 
kind whatever relates to love and wisdom, the principles of love 
by its heat, and the principles of wisdom by its light. If there- 
fore you form to yourselves an idea of God as being the Sun of 
the universe, it will assuredly enable you to see and acknowledge 
his omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. 

838. We had further conversation respecting the Lord the 
Saviour, the substance of which was, that God in his essence 
is divine love, and divine love is as it were most pure fire ; and 
as love considered in itself cannot but intend to become one with 
another whom it loves, so the divine love can intend nothing but 
to unite itself with man, and man with itself so that it may be 
in him, and he in it ; and as the divine love is as it were most 
pure fire, it is evident that God being such, could not possibly 
be in man, and cause man to be in him, for thus he would reduce 
the whole man to the thinnest vapor ; and yet as God from his 
essence, burnt with the love of uniting himself with man, it was 
necessary that he should veil himself around with a body accom- 
modated to reception and conjunction ; therefore he came down 
and assumed humanity according to the order established by 
himself from the creation of the world, which was that he should 
be conceived by virtue or power propagated from himself, be car- 
ried in the womb, be born, and afterwards grow in wisdom and 
love, and thus approach to union with his divine origin, and that 
thus God was made Man, and Man God. That the tact is so, is 
plainly taught and testified in that Scripture concerning him 
which is in the possession of Christians, and is called the Word; 
tor there God himself, who in his Humanity is called Jesus 
Christ, says that the Father is in him, and he in the Father ; and 
that he that seeth him seeth the Father; with much more to the 
same purpose. Reason too may discern that God, whose love is 
as it were most pure fire, could no otherwise unite himself with 
man, and man with himself. For can the solar fire, such as it is 
in itself, come in contact with a man, far less enter into him, 
unless its rays be veiled with atmospheres, and so be presented 
in an accommodated state by a tempered heat ? Can the pure 
ether encompass a man, far less flow into the bronchia of his 
lungs, unless it be accompanied with air, and so adapt itself ? 
A fish cannot live in the air, but in an element suited to its life. 
A king too cannot in his own person, or immediately, extend his 
administration to all and every part of his kingdom, but must 
appoint superior and inferior governors, who together constitute 
the body of his royalty. A man’s soul likewise cannot make 
itself visible to another, have any intercourse with him, and give 
805 


838—840 


THE AFRICANS. 


him proofs of its love, except by means of the body : how then 
can God do this, but by the Humanity, which is his body ? The 
Africans being possessed of interior rationality above other Gen- 
tiles perceived the truth of these observations, and each favored 
them according to his perception. 

839. We conversed lastly about the Interior and Exterior 
Man, and this was the substance of our conversation : That men 
who perceive things interiorly are in the light of truth, which is 
the light of heaven ; and men who perceive things exteriorly, are 
in no light of truth, because they are only in the light of the 
world ; so that interior men are in intelligence and wisdom, but 
exterior men in insanity and preposterous vision : that interior 
men are spiritual, because they think from the spirit elevated 
above the body, and thence they see truths in the light ; but 
exterior men are sensual-natural, because they, think from the 
fallacies of the bodily senses, and thence see truths as in a mist, 
and when they meditate on them they see falses as truths : that 
internal men are like those who stand on a mountain in a plain, 
or on a tower in a city, or on a beacon at sea; but external men 
are like those who stand in a valley at the foot of a mountain, or 
in a vault under a tower, or, in a boat under a beacon, who see 
nothing but what is close to them. Again : that internal men 
are like those who inhabit the second or third story of a house 
or palace, the walls of wdiich are continued windows of crystal 
glass, who have a view of the city all around to a great extent, 
and know every house in it ; whereas external men are like those 
who dwell in the lowest story, the windows of which are made 
of paper pasted together, so that they cannot see any one street 
out of the house, but only the objects contained within it, and 
not even those without the light of a candle or a fire : that in- 
ternal men are like eagles soaring in the air, which see far and 
wide whatever is beneath them ; while on the other hand, ex- 
ternal men are like cocks, which stand on a post and crow aloud 
in the presence of their hens that are walking on the ground : 
lastly, that internal men perceive that what they know, compared 
with what they do not know, is only as water in a glass compared 
with the waters of a lake ; but that external men fancy they 
know all things. The Africans took great delight in this conver- 
sation, because from their interior sight, which is singularly 
clear and strong, they acknowledged it to be true. 

840. In consequence of the Africans having such a percep- 
tion, they have at this day a revelation, which is communicated 
from the place of its commencement round about, but doefc not 
extend to the countries bordering on the sea. The Africans 
reject with contempt those strangers from Europe who believe 
that a man is saved by faith alone, and thus by mere thought 
and speech independently of will and action. They insist that 
there can be no true worship of God, unless a man live according 

’806 


THE JEWS. 


840 — 842 


to his religion ; and if not, that he cannot but be both stupid 
and wicked, because he then receives nothing from heaven. They 
likewise give to ingenious wickedness the name of stupidity, be- 
cause there is not life but death in it. I have conversed at times 
with Augustine, who in the third century was. bishop of Hippo, 
in Africa. He told me that he is there at the present time, and 
inspires them with the worship of the Lord, and that there is a 
hope of this new gospel being propagated into the neighboring 
regions. I have heard the angels rejoice at this revelation, 
because it serves to open a communication with the rational 
principle in man, which has been heretofore closed up with the 
universally-received dogma, that the understanding should be 
kept in obedience to ecclesiastical faith. 


Of the Jews in the spiritual world. 

841. Before the last judgment, which took place in the year 
1757, the Jews appeared in a valley on the left side of the cen 
tral part in the spiritual world inhabited by Christians ; after 
that they were translated towards the north, and were forbidden 
all intercourse with the Christians, except with vagabonds, who 
leave their own cities. There are in that quarter two large 
cities into which the Jews are translated after death. Both of 
these, before the last judgment, they called Jerusalem, but 
after that by another name ; for since the judgment, Jerusalem 
signifies the church in which the Lord alone is worshipped with 
respect to its doctrine. In their cities converted Jews are set 
over them, who admonish them not to speak disrespectfully of 
Christ, and punish those who disregard the admonition. The 
streets of their cities are full of dirt up to the ankles, and the 
stench of their houses is so offensive, in consequence of their 
filthiness, that none but themselves can bear to enter them. I 
have observed also, since the last judgment, that several of that 
nation have gained habitations in the southern quarter ; and on 
inquiring who they were, I was informed they were such as had 
made small account of the wmrship to which the rest were 
attached, and had doubts in their minds about the Messiah, 
whether he would ever come, and had also thought while in the 
world on various subjects in accordance with reason, and had 
suffered their lives to be determined by it. These consist chiefly 
of Portuguese Jews. 

842. There sometimes appears to the Jews an angel in a 
middle altitude above them, with a rod in his hand, who causes 
them to believe that he is Moses, and admonishes them to desist 
from the folly of expecting the Messiah as if he were still to come 
among them ; representing to them that Christ, who governs 

807 


842—845 


THE JEWS. 


them and all other creatures, is the Messiah ; that he, Moses, 
knows this to be true, and that while in the world lie had know- 
ledge of him. On receiving this information they retire, the 
greater part forgetting what they had heard, and but few retain- 
ing it. Those who do retain it are sent into the synagogues 
which consist of converted Jews, and are instructed ; after which, 
instead of their old tattered garments, they receive new, and are 
presented with a copy of the Word neatly written, and have an 
abode allotted them in a city not unhandsome. But those who 
do not receive the above admonition, are cast down, and many 
of them are banished into forests and deserts, where they carry 
on all kinds of theft and robbery one among another. 

843. The Jews trade in the spiritual woild, as in the natural, 
with various commodities, especially with precious stones, which 
by unknown ways they procure for themselves from heaven, 
where there are precious stones in great abundance. The cause 
of their trading in precious stones is, because they read the 
Word in its original tongue, and esteem the sense of the letter 
to be holy, and precious stones correspond to the sense of the 
letter. That such stones derive their spiritual origin from the 
literal sense of the Word, and that this is the ground of their 
correspondence, has been shown in the chapter on the Holy 
Scripture, n. 217, 218. They can also make artificial precious 
stones, and by phantasy induce a belief that they are real ; but 
for this they are severely fined by their governors. 

844. The Jews are less aware than any other people of their 
being in the spiritual world, believing themselves to be still liv- 
ing in the natural world ; and that because they are altogether 
external men, and do not at all think of religion from an interior 
principle. Hence they talk about the Messiah just as they did 
before, some insisting that he will come with David, and will 
go before them, shining with diadems, and introduce them into 
the land of Canaan, and in their way thither will dry up the 
rivers which they are to pass over by the raising of his rod : that 
the Christians, whom also among themselves they call gentiles, 
will then lay hold on the skirts of their garments, humbly pray- 
ing to be permitted to accompany them ; that they will receive 
the rich according to their wealth, and be served by them. They 
confirm themselves in these notions by what is written in Zech- 
ariah viii. 23; and in Isaiah lxvi. 20; and by what is written 
of David, that he is to come and be their king and shepherd ; in 
Jeremiah xxx. 9 ; and in Ezekiel xxxiv. 23 — 25; xxxvii. 23 — 26 ; 
being altogether averse from hearing that our Lord Jesus Christ 
is meant by Davi5 in those passages, and that the future mem- 
bers of his church there are meant by Jews. 

845. When they are asked whether they firmly believe that 
they shall all go to the land of Canaan, they answer in the 
affirmative, and insist that at the same time the deceased Jews 

808 


CONCLUDING RELATION. 


345, 846 

will rise again, and leave their sepulchres to enter that land. If 
it he objected that they themselves will not be able to go forth 
from their sepulchres, being now living after death, they reply, 
that they shall then descend, and re-enter their bodies, and so 
will live. When they are told that the land of Canaan is not 
large enough to contain them all, they answer, that then it will 
be enlarged. When it is urged that the kingdom of the Messiah, 
since he is the Son of God, will not be upon earth, but in 
heaven, they reply, that the land of Canaan will then be heaven. 
When it is said that they know not the situation of Bethlehem 
Ephrata, the birth-place of the Messiah, according to the pro- 
phecy in Micah (v. 2), and in David (Psalm cxxxii. 6), they re- 
turn for answer that the mother of the Messiah will nevertheless 
bring forth in that place : and some of them insist, that wherever 
she is delivered, there is Bethlehem. When it is objected, how 
can the Messiah dwell with such a wicked people ? and in proof 
of their singular wickedness several passages are quoted from 
Jeremiah, and particularly from the song of Moses (Deut. xxxii.), 
they reply, that there are among the Jews both good and bad, 
and that the bad are meant in those passages. When it is urged, 
that they derive their lineage from a Canaanitess, and from the 
whoredom of Judah with his daughter-in-law (Gen. xxxviii.), 
they contend that it was no whoredom ; but when it is retorted 
upon them that Judah commanded her to be brought forth and 
burnt for her whoredom, they go away to deliberate about the 
matter, and after consulting together, they say that Judah only 
did the office of her husband’s brother, which was not done 
either by his son Onan, or by his third son Selah ; and they add 
further, that a great many of them are of the tribe of Levi, who 
held the priesthood, and that they are all descended out of the 
loins of Abraham. When they are told that there is within the 
Word a spiritual sense, which treats much of Christ or the Mes- 
siah, they reply, that it is not so; but some of them say, that 
within the Word, or in its depths, there is nothing but gold: 
not to mention other similar extravagances. 


846. “I was once raised up as to my spirit into the angelic 
heaven, and there introduced to a certain society ; and immedi- 
ately some of the wise of the society came to me and said, 
‘What news from the earth?’ ‘This is new,’ I replied, 
‘ that the Lord has revealed such arcana as in point of excel 
lence surpass all the arcana revealed from the beginning of the 
church down to this time.’ ‘ What arcana ?’ they asked. I an- 
swered, ‘The following: — 1. In all and every part of the Word 
there is a spiritual sense corresponding to the natural sense, 
and the Word by that sense is a medium of conjunction between 
809 


846 


CONCLUDING RELATION. 


mankind and the Lord, and also of consociation with angels, 
and the holiness of the Word resides in that sense. 2. The cor- 
respondences, of which the spiritual sense of the Word consists, 
are discovered.’ 4 But,’ the angels asked, 4 did the inhabitants 
of the earth, before this, know nothing of correspondences?’ 
4 Nothing,’ I replied ; 4 for the doctrine of correspondences has 
been hidden now for some thousands of years, even from the 
time of Job. In those days, and in the ages before it, the 
science of correspondences, from which they drew their- wisdom, 
was esteemed the chief of sciences, because their knowledge 
of spiritual subjects, such as relate to heaven and the church, 
was obtained from it. But this science, in consequence of its 
being perverted to idolatrous purposes, was, by the Divine Prov- 
idence of the Lord, so obliterated and destroyed, that no one 
saw a trace of it remaining : yet at this time it is again discovered 
by the Lord, in order to effect a conjunction of the members of 
the church with him, and their consociation with angels. These 
purposes are effected by the Word, which consists entirely of 
correspondences.’ The angels were greatly rejoiced to hear that 
it had pleased the Lord to reveal this great arcanum, which had 
lain so deeply hidden for thousands of years. It was done, they 
said, with this view, that the Christian Church, which is founded 
on the Word, and is now at its end, may again revive, and de- 
rive its spirit through heaven from the Lord. They inquired, 
whether it was discovered at this day by that science what is sig- 
nified by Baptism, and what by the Holy Supper, on the true 
meaning of which such a variety of conjectures had been formed ; 
and I replied that it was. 3. I further said, that a revelation 
has been made by the Lord at this day concerning the life of 
men after death. 4 How ! concerning life after death,’ the 
angels replied, 4 who does not know that men live after death ?’ 
4 They know it,’ said I, 4 and they do not know it : they say that 
it is not the man who then lives, but his soul, and that this lives 
as a spirit ; and the idea they cherish of spirit is as of wind, or 
ether ; thus they insist that the man does not live till the day of 
the last judgment, and that then the corporeal parts, which 
had been left behind in the world, though they may have been 
eaten up by worms, mice, and fish, will be again collected to- 
gether, and again fitted and formed into a body, and thus they 
will rise again as men.’ 4 What is this !’ the angels said, 4 who 
does not know that a man lives as a man after death, with this 
difference alone, that he then lives a substantial man, and not a 
material man as before ; and that the substantial man is visible 
to the substantial, just as the material man is to the material; 
and they know no one point of difference but in the greater per- 
fection of their state?’ 4. Then the angels asked, 4 What do 
they know on earth respecting our world, and heaven and 
hell?’ ‘Nothing at all,’ I answered; 4 but it has pleased the 
810 


CONCLUDING RELATION. 


846, 847 

Lord at this day to discover the nature and quality of the world 
in which angels and spirits live, thus the nature and quality both 
of heaven and hell ; and also that angels and spirits are in con- 
junction with men, with many other wonderful circumstances 
concerning them. The angels rejoiced to hear that the Lord had 
been pleased to reveal such things to mankind, that so they 
might no longer through ignorance live in doubt of their own 
immortality. 5. I further added, 4 The Lord has been pleased 
at this day to reveal, that there is, besides the sun in our world, 
a sun in yours also, and that this sun is pure love, but the sun 
in our world is pure fire ; hence that whatever proceeds from 
your sun, because it is pure love, has somewhat of life in it, but 
that whatever proceeds from our sun, because it is pure fire, 
has nothing of life in it ; and that in this consists the distinction 
between spiritual and natural, a distinction hitherto unknown, 
but now revealed. Thus also a discovery is made of the source 
of that light' which enlightens the human understanding with 
wisdom, and the source of that heat which kindles the human 
•will with love. 6. It is further revealed, that there are three 
degrees of life, and consequently three heavens, and that the 
mind of man is distinguished into the same degrees, and so man 
corresponds to the three heavens.’ 4 But did they not know this 
before V the angels asked. 4 They knew of a distinction of de- 
grees,’ I replied, 4 in relation to more and less, but nothing of 
their distinction in relation to prior and posterior.’ 7. The an- 
gels then inquired whether any thing else had been revealed. 
4 Much more,’ I answered ; 4 as, concerning the last judgment ; 
concerning the Lord, that he is the God of heaven and earth ; 
that God is one both in person and essence, in whom there is a 
divine trinity, and that the Lord is that God ; also concerning 
the New Church that is to be established by him, and concern- 
ing the doctrine of that church ; concerning the holiness of 
the Sacred Scriptures ; that the Apocalypse also is revealed : 
and moreover, concerning the Inhabitants of the Planets, and 
the Barths in the universe ; besides many memorable relations 
and wonderful discoveries from the spiritual world, by which 
many particulars, teeming with wisdom, have been revealed 
from heaven.’ 

847. 44 Continuing the conversation, I afterwards acquainted 
the angels, that the Lord had been pleased to make a revelation 
to the world on another subject : they inquired, 4 On what?’ 1 
said, 4 On true conjugial love, and its spiritual delights.’ 
4 Who does not know,’ the angels said, 4 that the delights of 
conjugial love exceed those of all other loves ? and who cannot 
conceive that there must be some particular love into which all 
the blessings, satisfactions, and delights, which it is in the power 
of the Lord to bestow are collated, and that the receptacle of 
these is true conjugial love, since it corresponds to the love of 
811 


847 — 849 


CONCLUDING RELATION. 


the Lord and the church, and is capable of receiving and per- 
ceiving such blessings, satisfactions, and delights, in a full and 
sensible manner V I replied, ‘Mankind on earth know nothing 
of all this, because they have not approached the Lord, and 
therefore have not shunned the lusts of the flesh, and so could 
not be regenerated ; for true conjugial love is from the Lord 
alone, and is given to those who are regenerated by him ; and 
these also are received into the Lord’s New Church, which is 
meant in the Revelation by the New Jerusalem.’ To this I 
added, that I had a doubt whether men on earth at this day were 
disposed to believe that conjugial love in itself is spiritual, thus 
grounded in religion, since they cherish only corporeal ideas 
about it ; and of course will hardly be persuaded to believe*that it 
is such as the religion is, spiritual with such as are spiritual, nat- 
ural with such as are natural, and merely carnal wflth adulterers. 

848. “ The angels, on hearing the account of all these dis- 
coveries made to mankind, were much rejoiced ; but when they 
saw that I was sorrowful, they asked me the cause of my sorrow.^ 
I replied, 4 Because these arcana, at this day revealed by the 
Lord, are reputed on earth as things of no value, notwithstand- 
ing their superiority in excellence and dignity above all the knowl- 
edges that have hitherto been published to the world.’ The 
angels wondered at this, and requested the Lord’s permission to 
look down into the world : they did so, and lo ! mere darkness 
was therein. They were then told to write those arcana on a 
paper, and let the paper down to earth, and they would see a 
prodigy : on their doing so, behold ! the paper on which the 
arcana were written, was let down from heaven, and in its pro- 
gress, while it was yet in the spiritual world, it shone bright 
like a star, but in its passage into the natural world the light 
disappeared, and as it fell it was entirely darkened. On being 
let down by the angels into the midst of an assembly consisting 
of learned clergy and laity, many of them were heard to mutter 
words to this effect : 4 What have we got here ? Is it any thing 
or nothing ? What matters it whether we know these things or 
do not know them ? Are they not mere embryos of the brain V 
And it appeared as if some took the paper and folded it, twisting 
and untwisting it with their fingers ; and also as if some tore it 
in pieces, and were desirous to tread it under foot; but they 
were prevented by the Lord from proceeding to such an enor- 
mity, and the angels were charged to take the paper back again 
and secure it ; because these circumstances affected the angels 
with sorrow, and they began to think with themselves how long 
this would continue, it w T as told them, 4 For a time and times , 
and half a time ’ (Rev. xii. 14). 

849. 44 After this I heard a hostile murmur from below, and 
at the same time these words, 4 Do miracles, and we will 
believe:’ I replied. 4 Are not the arcana which I have already 

* 812 


CONCLUDING RELATION. 


849—851 


mentioned miracles V but they answered 4 They are not.’ I then 
asked, 4 What miracles do you require?’ ‘Discover and reveal 
future events,’ they said, 4 and we will believe.’ But I replied, 

4 The Lord does not allow such discovery and revelation ; since 
in proportion as a man is acquainted with future events, his rea- 
son and understanding, with his prudence and wisdom, sink into 
indolence, become torpid, and are almost destroyed.’ I again 
asked, 4 What other miracles shall I do ?’ 4 Do such as Moses 

did in Egypt,’ they cried out. 4 Possibly,’ I replied, ‘you may 
harden your hearts against them as Pharaoh and the Egyptians 
did;’ and they answered, 4 We will not.’ 4 But,’ said I again, 
4 assure me of a certainty that you will not dance around a gold - 
en calf, and worship it, as the posterity of Jacob did within 
about a month after they had seen all mount Sinai on fire, and 
had heard Jehovah himself speaking out of the fire, thus after 
witnessing the greatest of all miracles :’ {a golden calf in the 
spiritual sense signifies carnal pleasured) To this it was replied 
from below, 4 We will not be like the posterity of Jacob.’ But 
at that moment I heard a voice from heaven saying to them, 4 It 
ye believe not Moses and the Prophets, that is, the Word of 
the Lord, neither will ye be convinced by miracles, any more 
than the posterity of Jacob in the wilderness, or when they saw 
with their eyes the miracles which the Lord did during his abode 
on earth.’ 

850. 44 After this I saw some spirits ascending from below, 
whence the voices proceeded, who, addressing me in a deep tone 
of voice, said, 4 Why did the Lord reveal the long list of arcana 
which thou hast just now enumerated, to thee who art a layman, 
and not to some one of the clergy?’ To which I replied, ‘This 
was according to the Lord’s good pleasure, who prepared me for 
this office from my earliest years : but let me in turn ask you a 
question : Why did the Lord when he was on earth choose 
fishermen for -his disciples, and not some of the lawyers, scribes, 
priests, or rabbis ? Ponder well this circumstance in your minds, 
and if you form a right judgment upon it you will discover the 
reason.’ Hereupon a murmur arose, and afterwards they were 
silent. 

851. 44 1 foresee that many who read the Memorable Delations 
annexed to each chapter of this work, will believe them to be 
the fictions of imagination ; but I protest in truth they are not 
fictions, but were really seen and heard ; not seen and heard in 
any state of the mind in sleep, but in a state of complete wake- 
fulness ; for it has pleased the Lord to manifest himself to me, 
and to send me to teach those things which will belong .to his 
Hew Church, which is meant by the Hew Jerusalem in the 
Revelation. For this purpose he has opened the interiors of my 
mind or spirit, by which privilege it has been permitted .me to 
be with angels in the spiritual world, and with men in the 

813 


S51 


CONCLUDING RELATION. 


natural world at the same time, and that now for twenty-seven 
years. Who in the Christian world would have known any thing 
of heaven and hell, unless it had pleased the Lord to open 
the spiritual sight of some person or other, and to show and teach 
him? That such things as are described in the above Memorable 
Relations do actually appear in the heavens, is clearly proved 
from similar objects being seen and described by John in the 
Apocalypse, and also by the Prophets in the Word of the Old 
Testament. In the Apocalypse we read that John saw the Son 
of man in the midst of seven candlesticks ; that he saw T a 
tabernacle, a temple, an ark, and an altar in heaven ; a book 
sealed with seven seals ; the book opened, and in consequence 
thereof horses going forth ; four animals around the throne ; 
twelve thousand chosen out of each tribe ; locusts ascending from 
the bottomless pit; a woman bringing forth a man-child, and 
flying into a wilderness on account of the dragon ; two beasts, 
one ascending out of the sea, the other from the earth ; an 
angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gos- 
pel ; a sea of glass mixed with fire ; seven angels having the 
seven last plagues ; vials poured out by them on the earth, on 
the sea, on the rivers, on the sun, on the throne of the beast, 
on Euphrates, and on the air; a woman sitting on a scarlet 
beast ; the dragon cast out into a lake of fire and brimstone ; a 
white horse ; a great supper ; a new heaven and a new earth ; 
the Holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven, described as to 
its gates, its wall, and its foundations ; also a river of the water oi 
life, and trees of life bearing fruit every month ; with many other 
things, which were all seen by John, w T hile as to his spirit he 
was in the spiritual w r orld and in heaven ; not to mention the 
things seen by the apostles after the Lord’s resurrection, and 
those seen afterwards by Peter (Acts xi.), and by Paul, and 
also by the prophets in the Old Testament, as by Ezekiel, who 
saw four animals which were cherubs (i. and x.), and a new tem- 
ple, and a new earth, and an angel measuring them (xl. — xlviii.). 
He was also carried to Jerusalem, and saw there abominations, 
and also to Chaldea (viii. xi.). The case was the same with 
Zechariah, who saw a man riding among myrtle-trees (i. 8) ; 
four horns, and afterwards a man with a measuring-line in his 
hand (iii.) ; a flying roll and an ephah (v. 1, 6) ; also four chariots 
and horses between two mountains (vi. 1, &c.). So again with 
Daniel, who saw four beasts ascending out of the sea (vii. 1, 
Ac.); the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, whose 
dominion shall not pass away, and whose kingdom shall not be 
destroyed (vii. 13, 14) ; the combat of the ram and the he-goat 
(viii. 1, &c.) ; the angel Gabriel, and conversed with him (ix.). 
So also the young man of Elisha saw chariots and horses of fire 
about Elisha, which he saw when his eyes were opened (2 King 9 
vi. 17). From these, and several other instances in the AYurd 
814 


CONCLUDING RELATION. 


851 


it is evident that the objects which exist in the spiritual world 
have appeared to many, both before and since the coming of the 
Lord ; what wonder then is it that the same circumstance should 
now occur at the commencement of a church, or when the New 
Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven?” 

A THEOREM PROPOUNDED BY A CERTAIN ELECTORAL DUKE OP 

Germany, who also filled a station of the highest 

' RANK IN THE CHURCH. 

I once saw in the spiritual world a certain electoral duke of 
Germany, who also filled a station of the highest rank in the 
church. There were standing near him two bishops and two 
ministers. I was at some distance, but sufficiently near to hear 
their conversation. The elector asked the four bystanders 
whether they knew what constituted the chief point of religion 
in Christendom ? The bishops answered, 44 The chief point of re- 
ligion in Christendom is faith alone productive of justifi- 
cation and salvation.” He inquired again, u Do you know 
what is inwardly latent in that faith ? Open it, look into it, and 
tell me.” They replied, 44 There is nothing inwardly latent in it 
but the merit and righteousness of the Lord the Saviour.” 
To this the elector rejoined, 44 Does it not then involve the Lord 
and Saviour in his Humanity, in which he is called Jesus Christ, 
since he alone in his Humanity was righteousness ?” They said, 
“This follows as a necessary and inseparable conclusion.” The 
elector following up the subject, added, 44 Open that faith, and 
look further into it, and examine whether it contains any thing 
else.” The ministers observed, 44 It implies also the grace of 
God the Father.” To this the elector said, 44 Take the pains 
both to conceive and perceive the matter rightly, and you will 
see that it is the grace of the Son with the Father ; for 
it is the Son who entreats and intercedes. Depend upon it, then, 
since you confess, reverence, and embrace that faith alone of 
yours, that you must necessarily confess, reverence, and embrace 
the Lord the Saviour alone in his Humanity ; for, as was said 
before, he in his Humanity was and is righteousness. He in 
his Humanity is also Jehovah and God, as I have discovered in 
the Holy Writings from these passages : 4 Behold, the days come 
that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, who shall 
reign as a king, and shall prosper ; and this is his name whereby 
he shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness* (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6). In 
Paul : 4 In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily’ (Col. ii. 9). And in John : 4 Jesus Christ is the true 
God , and eternal life’ (1 Ep. v. 20, 21); therefore he is also 
called 4 The God of faith) ’’(Phil. iii. 9). 

815 












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Ml 


THE CORONIS. OR APPENDIX, 

TO TUE 

TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION: 

TREATING OF THE FOUR CHURCHES ON THIS EARTH SINCE THE CREATION 
OF THE WORLD, AND OF THEIR PERIODS AND CONSUMMATION; OF THE 
NEW CHURCH ABOUT TO SUCCEED THEM, WHICH WILL BE TRULY CHRIS- 
TIAN, AND THE CROWN OF THE PRECEDING CHURCHES ; OF THE ADVENT 
OF THE LORD TO THAT CHURCH, AND OF HIS DIVINE AUSPICES THEREIN 
TO ETERNITY, AND OF THE MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION ; WITH A BRIEF 
CONTINUATION, ETC. 


Translated from a posthumous Latin MS. of 

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. 


1. In the last chapter of the work, entitled True Christian 
Religion, the Consummation of the Age, the Coming of 
the Lord, and a New Church, were treated of. A continu- 
ation of those subjects is now given, because no one has 
hitherto known the meaning of the consummation of the age, 
or w T hy the second advent of the Lord should take place, or 
that a New Church must be raised up ; and yet these three 
subjects are treated of in both the prophetic and the apostolic 
Word, and fully in the Apocalypse. That those three subjects 
are treated of in the prophetic Word of the Old Testament, 
was evident to me, whilst it was given me to unfold it by the 
spiritual sense ; that they are in like manner pointed at in the 
prophetic part of the New Testament, called the Apocalypse, 
and also in the evangelic and apostolic Word, will plainly 
appear from the following pages. Hence it follows, that with- 
out knowledge obtained concerning the consummation of the 
age, the second advent of the Lord, and the New Church, the 
Word is as it were closed ; nor can any thing but knowledges 
open it, for these are like keys which open the gate and intro- 
duce. When this is effected with the Word, then the treasures, 
which lay concealed therein as in the bottom of the sea, will 
be presented to view ; for the Word interiorly contains nothing 
but treasures. In this Appendix or Continuation I shall pro- 
ceed in the same way as in the work itself, by premising sum- 
maries [to the various subjects], and confirming them from 
Scripture, and illustrating them by reason. 

817 


G G G 


2 


CORONIS. 


LEMMA THE FIEST. 

I. 

That there have been four churches on this earth since the day of 
its creation ; the first of which may be called the Adamic / 
the second , Noahtic ; the third , the Israelitish ; and the 
fourth , Christian. 

2. That four churches have existed on this earth since the 
creation of the world, manifestly appears in Daniel, first from 
the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, and afterwards 
from the four beasts rising up out of the sea. On the subject 
of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue we read as follows : Daniel said , 
Thou, 0 king , didst see , and behold a great statue , and the form 
thereof was excellent , standing before thee , and the aspect thereof 
was formidable : the head of this statue was of pure gold ; its 
breast and arms of silver / its belly and its thighs of brass : its 
legs of iron , its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Thou 
didst see while a stone was cut out , not by hands , and smote the 
statue upon its feet, which were iron and clay, and brake them to 
pieces : then the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, 
were broken to pieces together, and they became like chaff from 
the summer threshing-floors • so that the wind carried them away, 
and no place was found for them : but the stone which smote the 
statue became a great rock, and filled the whole earth. In these 
days the God of the heavens shall cause to rise up a kingdom, 
which shall not be destroyed for ages y and his kingdom shall not 
be intrusted to other people / it shall break in pieces and consume 
all those kingdoms, but it shall stand for ages, chap. ii. 31 to 35, 
44. That this dream did not signify four political kingdoms on 
this earth, but four churches, which should succeed each other, 
is plain from the following considerations : I. That such 
kingdoms, one after another, have not existed on this earth. 
II. That the Divine Word, in its interior recesses, does not 
treat of the kingdoms of the world, but of churches, which 
constitute God’s kingdom on the earth. III. Because it is also 
said, that the God of the heavens shall cause to rise up a king- 
dom, which shall not be destroyed for ages, and that a stone 
not cut out by hands became a great rock, which filled the 
whole earth. IY. And since the Lord our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
in the Wo*rd of both Testaments, is called a Stone and a Rock, 
it is evident that His kingdom is there meant by the latter part 
of the description. Y. Moreover the state of the church, in 
innumerable passages of the Word, is described by gold, silver, 
brass, and iron ; its spiritual state as to the good of love, by 
gold, its spiritual state as to the truth of wisdom, by silver, 
818 


CORONIS. 


2 


its natural state as to the good of charity, by brass, and its 
natural state as to the truth of faith, by iron ; as may be seen 
proved from the Word in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 913, 
and elsewhere. For this reason the wise men in the first ages, 
who knew the signification of metals, compared the ages, which 
were ro succeed from the first to the last, to those four metals, 
and called the first the golden age, the, second the silver age, 
the third the copper age, and the fourth the iron age ; and thus 
they described them according to goods and truths ; and as 
genuine goods and truths are from no other origin than from 
the God of heaven, they described them according to states of 
the church with men ; for all the civil states of kingdoms in 
respect to justice and judgment have their existence, their 
vigor, and their life, from and according to states of the church. 
That the Lord the Saviour Jesus Christ is called, in the Word 
of both Testaments, a Stone and a Rock, is plain from the fol- 
lowing passages. That He is called a Stone : Thus said Adona% 
Jehovih , Behold I will lay in Zion a Stone of probation, a vrer 
cious corner-stone of a well-established foundation; he who hath 
believed will not make haste : then will I set judgment for a rule , 
aiid justice for a plumb-line,' Isa. xxviii. 16, 17. Jehovah will 
visit his flock, out of him will come the corner-stone, Zech. x. 
3, 4. The Stone, which the builders have rejected, is become 
the head of the corner, Psalm cxviii. 22. Have ye not read in 
the Scripture, that the Stone, which the builders have rejected, 
is become the head of the corner f Matt. xxi. 42 ; Mark xii. 10, 
11 ; Luke xx. 17, 18; Isa. viii. 13, 14, 15. Ye have come to 
the Lord the living Stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen 
by God / ye yourselves also as living stones are built up into a 
spiritual house ; therefore it is said in the Scripture , I lay in 
Zion a corner-stone, elect, precious, and he who believeth on him 
shall not be ashamed, 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5, 6. Ye are built upon the 
foundation of the apostles and prophets, the corner-stone of 
which is Jesus Christ, by whom the whole building well cemented 
together grows into a holy temple in the Lord ; by. whom ye are 
built together into a habitation of God in the spirit, Eph. ii. 20, 
21, 22. Jesus Christ is the Stone rejected by the builders, 
which is become the head of the corner, and there is no salvation 
in any other, Acts iv. 11, 12. That the Lord is called a Rock, 
appears from the following passages in the Word : Jeshurun is 
become fat and easy, he hath kicked with the heel, and deserted 
the God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock . of his 
salvation, Deut. xxxii. 15, 18, 30. The God of Lsrael said , The 
Rock of Lsrael spake to me, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. Let the words of 
my mouth be wellpleasing, and Jehovah be my Rock and my 
Redeemer, Psalm xix. 15. They remembered not that God was 
my Rock and my Redeemer, Psalm lxxviii. 10, 11, 22, 32, 35, 
42, &c. They all drank spiritual drink, for they drank of the 
819 


CORONIS. 


9 3 

4 O 

spiritual Rock ; the Rock was Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4 ; Exod 
xvii. 6. From these passages it is evident, that the Stone which 
smote the statue, and became a great rock, and filled the whole 
earth, and whose kingdom shall stand for ages of ages, means 
our Lord Jesus Christ. . . ^ 

• 3. The same four churches on this earth, are described, by 

four beasts rising up out of the sea, in Daniel ; of which it is 
written as follows : The first appeared like a lion , but it had the 
wings of an eagle : I saw, until its wings were plucked out / and 
it was lifted up from the earth , and it stood upon feet, erect as a 
man , and the heart of a man was given unto it. Then behold 
another beast , a second, like unto a bear , and it raised itself up 
on one side : there were three ribs in its mouth between the teeth : 
moreover , they said thus unto it, Arise, eat much flesh. After 
these thmgs I saw, and behold another, like a leopard, which 
had four wings, like unto birds ’ wings, upon its back / and the 
beast had four heads : and dominion was given unto it. After 
this I saw in the visions of the night, and behold a fourth beast 
terrible and formidable, and exceedingly strong, which had great 
iron teeth : it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the 
residue with its feet ; but it was diverse from all the beasts which 
were before it, and it had ten horns. I saw even until the thrones 
were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit / and the judg- 
ment was set, and the books were opened : and behold, with the 
clouds of heaven, one like the Son of man came : and to him was 
given dominion , and glory , and a kingdom, that all peoples, na- 
tions, and tongues should worship him : his dominion is the do- 
minion of an age, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom 
that which shall not perish, chap. vii. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, &c. 
That these beasts in like manner signify and describe those four 
churches, is evident from each particular of the description 
(which shall be unfolded in its order in the following pages) ; 
more especially, from the last verses, where it is said, that 
after those four beasts, the Son of man will come, to whom 
shall be given dominion, and a kingdom which shall not pass 
away or perish ; which Son of man is also meant by the Stone 
made into a great Rock, which filled the whole earth, as may 
be seen above, n. 2, at the end. That the states of the church 
are described by beasts, as well as by metals, in the Word, ap- 
pears from innumerable passages, of which I will here adduce 
only a few, which are as follows : I will cause the rain of be- 
nevolence to drop • thou wilt confirm thy laboring inheritance ; 
the beast THY assembly shall dw ell therein, Psalm lxviii. 10, 11. 
Every wild beast of the wood is mine, the beast in the 
mountains of thousands / I know every bird of the mountains, 
the beasts of my fields are with me, Psalm 1. 10, 11. Ashur 
is a cedar in IAbanus, his height was exalted / in his branches 
all the birds of the heavens made their nests and under his 
820 


CORONIS. 


3 


branches all the beasts of the field brought forth, and in his 
shade dwelt all great nations , Ezek. xxxi. 2 to 6, 13 ; Dan. iv. 7 to 
13. I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beast 
of the field, and with the bird of the heavens, and I will* 
betroth myself to thee for ever , IIos. ii. 18, 19. Rejoice and be 
glad , be not afraid , ye beasts of my fields, for the habitations 
of the desert are become full of herbage, Joel ii. 21, 22, 23. 
Thou son of man, say to every bird of wing, and to every beast 
of the field, gather yourselves together to my sacrifice upon the 
mountains of Israel : thus I will give my glory among the nations, 
Ezek. xxxix. 17 to 21 . The enemy hath reproached Jehovah / give 
not to the beast the soul of the turtle-dove, Psalm lx*xiv. 18, 
19. Jehovah gather eth together the outcasts of Israel : every 
beast of my fields, come ye, Isa. lvi. 8, 9. The spirit driving 
Jesus caused him to go forth into the desert, and he was with 
beasts, and angels ministered unto him, Mark i. 12, 13. He 
was not with beasts, but with devils, with whom he fought, and 
whom he subdued : not to mention a thousand other passages, 
which are in part quoted in the Apocalypse Revealed, ii. 567. 
Moreover, it is well known that the Lord Himself in the Word 
is called a Lamb and a Lion ; likewise that the Holy Spirit was 
represented as a Dove : that the cherubs, which signify the 
Word in the literal sense, appeared like four beasts, in Ezekiel 
and in the Apocalypse.; and that the man of the church, who 
acknowledges the Lord as his God and Shepherd, is called a 
sheep, and, on the contrary, that he who does not acknowledge 
Him, is called a he-goat and a dragon ; and that an assembly 
of the latter kind, as in Daniel, is described by the beast out of 
the sea like a leopard, whose feet were as the feet of a bear, and 
his mouth as the mouth of a lion, Apoc. xiii. 1, 2. These com- 
parisons originate from the spiritual world, where all the affec- 
tions and consequent thoughts of angels and spirits are presented 
at a distance from them as beasts, apparently of a similar form 
in all respects to those in the natural world ; the affections of 
the love of good as gentle beasts and good uses, but the affec 
tions of the love of evil as savage beasts and evil uses. Hence 
it is, that beasts are so often named in the Word ; and in the 
spiritual sense they signify affections, inclinations, perceptions, 
and thoughts. From these considerations it is evident what is 
meant by creatures in the following passages : Jesus com- 
manded his disciples to go into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature, Mark xvi. 15. if any one be in 
Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away, and 
all things are become new, 2 Cor. v. 17. These things said the 
Amen , the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the e rea 
ture of God, Apoc. iii. 14. Creatures here mean those' who 
are capable of being created anew, or regenerated, and thereby 
of becoming members of the Lord’s church. 

821 


1,5 


C0R0NIS. 


4. That four churches have existed on this earth, one before 
the flood, which may be called the Adamic ; another after the 
flood, which may be called the Noahtic ; and a third after this, 
which was the Israelitisii ; also a fourth, which exists at this 
day, and is called the Christian church, will be demonstrated in 
the following pages, when we come to give a particular exposi- 
tion of each 


n. 

That each church has had four successive states or periods, which 
in the Word are understood by morning , day , evening , and 
night. 

5. That there have been four successive states or periods of 
every one of the above-named churches, will be illustrated in 
the following pages, wherein we shall treat of each in its order. 
They are described by those vicissitudes of time, because every 
man who is born in the church, or in whom the church has 
commenced, first comes into its light, such as it is in the d'awm 
and morning ; afterwards he advances to its day, and he w r ho 
loves its truths, to its mid-day ; if he then stops in the w^ay, 
and does not advance into the heat of spring and summer, his 
day declines towards evening, till at length, like the light dis- 
appearing in the time of night, it grows dark ; and then his 
intelligence in the spiritual things of the church becomes a cold 
light, like the light of the days in winter, when indeed he sees 
trees standing near his house, or in his gardens, but stript of 
leaves and despoiled of fruits, and reduced to mere stocks. The 
man of the church advances from morning to day, to the end 
that he may be reformed and regenerated by the light of reason, 
which is only effected by a life conformable to the precepts of 
the Lord in the Word. If this do not take place, his light 
becomes darkness, and the darkness, thick darkness ; that is, 
the truths of light with him are turned into falses, and the 
falses into invisible evils. Not so with him who suffers himself 
to be regenerated : he is not overtaken by night, for he walks 
in God, and hence he is continually in the day, into which he 
fully enters after death, when he is associated with angels in 
heaven. This is understood by the following words in the 
Apocalypse, concerning the New Jerusalem, w r hich is the New 
Church, truly Christian : That city shall have no need of the sun 
and moon to shine in it; for the glory of God shall enlighten it , 
and the Lamb shall be the light thereof; and the nations , which 
a, re saved , shall walk in the light of it, and there shall be no 
night there, chap. xxi. 23, 24, 25; Ezek. v. 25; Amos vii. 

822 


CORONIS. 


► 

0 

9 ; chap. viii. 9. That the successive states of the 'church are 
understood by morning, day, evening, and night, in the "Word, 
appears from the following passages therein : Watch ; for ye 
know not when the Lord of the house will come , in the even- 
ing, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning, 
Mark xiii. 35 ; Matt. xxv. 13. The subject here treated of is 
the consummation of the age, and the coming of the Lord. 
The God of Israel said , the flock of Israel spake to me ; He is as 
the light of the morning, a morning without clouds , 2 Sam. 
xxiii. 3, 4. I am the root and the offspring of David , the bright - 
and morning star , Apoc. xxii. 16. God shall help him , when 
he shall have respect to the morning, Psalm xlvi. 6. lie calleth 
to me out of Seir , Watchman, what concerning the nigiit ? watch- 
man , what concerning the night ? The watchman said , The 
morning cometh , and also the night, Isa. xxi. 11, 12. The end 
is come upon thee , O inhabitant of the earth ; the time is come , 
the day is near , behold the day, behold it is come , the morning 
hath gone forth , Ezek. vii. 5, 6, 7, 10. There shall be a day, 
which shall be known to Jehovah , not day nor night \ for about 
the time of evening there shall be light, Zech. xiv. 7. About 
the time of evening behold terror ; before the morning, it is not , 
Isa. xvii. 14. In the evening weeping will tarry all night, but 
in the morning will be singing , Psalm xxx. 6. Even to the 
evening and the morning two thousand three hundred , then the 
holy thing shall be justified : the vision of the evening and 
morning is truth , Dan. viii. 14, 26. Jehovah in the morning 
will bring His judgment to the light; He will not fail, Zeph. iii. 5. 
Thus said Jehovah , If ye shall make void my covenant of the day 
and my covenant of the night, so that there be not day and 
night in their season , my covenant also shall be made void with 
David my servant , Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21, 25. Jesus said , 1 must 
work the works of God while it is day ; the night will come , * 
when no one can work , John ix. 4. In this night there shall be 
two upon one bed ; one shall be taken , but the other shall be left , 
Luke xvii. 34. The preceding passages treat of the consum- 
mation of the age, and of the coming of the Lord. Hence it 
may appear what is understood by there being time no longer, 
Apoc. x. 6, namely, that there would be neither morning, day, 
nor evening, but night in the church ; likewise what is meant 
by time, times, and half a time, Apoc. xii. 14 ; Dan. xii. 9 ; 
and what is meant by the fulness of time, Eph. i. 10, 11, 13 ; 
Gal. iv. 4. 


823 


6,7 


CORONIS. 


III. 

That in each church there have been four successive changes of 
state : first, the appearance of the Lord Jehovili and redem/p- 
tion , and the morning or rise of the church : second , its 
instruction , and its day or progression: third , its declension , 
and its evening or vastation : fourth, its end, and its night or 
consummation. 

6. That there have been four successive states of each 
church, which in the Word are understood by morning, day, 
evening, and night, was shown in the preceding article. That 
each of the four churches above mentioned has undergone those 
states, will be fully shown in the following pages, when we 
come to treat of them one by one ; also, that the appearing ot 
the Lord Jehovih and redemption was their morning, that in- 
struction was their day or progression into light, that its de- 
clension was their evening or vastation, and its end their night 
or consummation. The Word, throughout both the historical 
and the prophetic parts, treats of those four changes of state. 

7. The order, into which every man was created by God is, 
that after infancy he may become a man. When he is born, 
he is only an external image or form of a man, and less a man, 
than a newly born beast is a beast : but in proportion as he is 
interiorly perfected in this form in wisdom and love, with respect 
to his mind or spirit, in the same proportion he becomes a 
man. A man is like a tree, which first grows from a seed into 
a shoot, and when it increases in height puts forth branches 
and boughs, and clothes itself continually with leaves, and 
when it comes to maturity, which takes place in its middle 
age, puts forth blossoms and produces fruits, in every one of 
which it stores up seeds ; which being cast into the earth as 
into a womb grow up into similar trees, and thus into a garden ; 
and if you are willing to believe it, that same garden after 
death abides with the man, he dwells in it, and is every day de- 
lighted with its appearance and with the use of its fruits. Such 
a man is described in David by these words, He shall be like a 
tree planted near rivers of waters, which shall yield its fruit in 
its season, and its leaf shall not fall, Psalm i. 3 ; and likewise in 
Apoc. xxii. 1, 2. But the case is different with the man born 
in the church, who, after having passed through his morning, 
and advanced into the first light of day, whereby he became 
rational, then stands still, and brings forth no fruit; such a 
one is or may be like a tree bearing leaves in abundance, but 
no fruits, which is rooted up out of the garden, its branches 
cut off, and the trunk cleft ir! pieces with an axe or a saw, and 
the whole then cast piecemeal into the fire. The light of such 
a rational man becomes like the light of days in winter, when 

824 


CORONIS. 


7—9 


the leaves of the trees first grow yellow, then drop off, and 
lastly rot. His rational principle may further he compared 
with a tree, whose leaves in the beginning of spring are con- 
sumed by worms ; likewise with growing, corn, that is choked 
by thorns ; . and also with herbs that are destroyed by locusts ; 
for his rational principle is merely natural, deriving its ideas 
solely from the world by the senses, and not through the affec- 
tions and perceptions from heaven. And since on this account 
there is nothing spiritual in his rational principle, if he then 
converses on any of the spiritual things of the church, his voice 
is heard by the angels as like the voice of a parrot or a goose, 
being merely animal because it is merely natural, and having 
nothing human because it has nothing spiritual ; thus flowing 
from the respiration of the body only, and not from the respira- 
tion of the spirit. Such is the character of a man who from 
natural does not become spiritual, and no one becomes spiritual, 
unless after being made rational he bring forth fruits, that is, 
unless he imbue charity by life. 

8. Four changes of state, morning, day, evening, and night, 
are predicated of the church in the Word, because the church 
consists of men, and a man is a church in particular, and an 
assembly of such men is what is called the church. In this 
assembly or church, those who live according to the order de- 
scribed above, n. 7, are trees of life, and are trees of good use ; 
but those who do not live according to that order, are trees of 
the knowledge of good and evil, and are trees of evil use. These 
latter are the persons, of whom evening and night, or what 
amounts to the same, vastation and consummation are predi- 
cated ; but not the former. These subjects, however, will be 
presented to the understanding in a clearer point of view, in 
the following pages : but it is proper that at the beginning of 
this volume some preliminary observations should be made,. be- 
cause knowledge is necessary before any one can know that. 
morning signifies the rise of the church, and that this is pre- 
ceded by redemption ; that day means the progression of the 
new church into light, and its intelligence ; that evening means 
the declension of that church from good and truth, which is 
called vastation ; and that night means its end and destruction, 
which is called consummation ; and so on. 

9. The end of the church, or the consummation of the age, 
takes place, when no genuine truth, and hence no genuine good, 
or when no good, and hence no truth remain ; but when in their 
place the false and the evil thence derived, or the evil and the 
false thence derived, are predominant ; and then there is fulness 
in the church, whose members are like persons walking in the 
night, and who, not seeing any thing that appears in the light 
of the sun, dispute about every thing relating to the church, 
and in general about God, about heaven and hell, and about a 

825 


9 — 11 


CORONIS. 


life after death ; and those who confirm themselves in the denial 
of such things, as well as those who hang in a state of doubt, 
at length shun the light, and if they be priests, they procure 
to themselves a false light on those subjects, similar to that by 
which owls, cats, and mice see in the dark : this light is excited 
in them, as in these wild beasts, by the activities of their con- 
cupiscences. 


I Y. 

That after the consummation or end of this church , the Lord 
Jehovih appears, and executes judgment on the men of the 
former church , and separates the good from the evil, and 
raises the good to himself into heaven, and removes the evil 
from himself into hell. 

10. That , about the end of every church the Lord Jehovih 
appears, to execute judgment on those who have lived from its 
first establishment to its consummation, shall be shown in the 
following pages, wherein a distinct account will be given of 
each chutch. Every man indeed is judged after death ; but at 
the end of a church all are collected together, and a general 
judgment is executed on them ; and this to the intent that they 
may be conjoined into heavenly order, which is effected by the 
orderly arrangement of the faithful into a new heaven, and of the 
unfaithful into a new hell under it ; respecting which arrange- 
ment we shall speak more at large in the following article. 

11. The judgment, which is the last of every church, does 
not take place in the natural world, but in the spiritual world, 
where all men are collected after death ; and they are collected 
into heavens distinctly according to their religion, thus accord- 
ing to faith and love. The judgment takes place in the spiritual 
world, because every man after death is a man, not a material 
man, as before, but a substantial man. The mind or spirit ot 
every man is such a man ; the body, which he carried about in 
the world, is only a covering, and like cast-off* clothes, which 
he has laid aside, and from which his spirit has disengaged 
itself. Now since the mind or spirit of a man thought in the 
material body, and did so either from religion or from non- 
religion, either for God or against God, either from the truths 
of faith or from the falses of faith, either loved his neighbor or 
hated him ; and since the material body was only obedience, it 
follows, that the mind, which is the substantial man, and is 
called the spirit, undergoes judgment, and is rewarded or pun- 
ished according to the intentions and acts of his life. Hence 
it may be clearlv and plainly seen, that the judgment, which is 

H2b 


CORONXS. 


11—13 


the last of every church, takes place in the spiritual world, and 
not in the natural world. 

12. The judgment, which takes place on all the members of 
the past church, is effected, to the end that the good may be 
separated from the evil, both generally and particularly, and 
that the good may be raised into heaven, and the evil cast down 
into hell. Were this not done when the church is consummated, 
that is, when it is no longer in truths and goods, not a single 
person therein could be saved ; because not a single person 
could be regenerated, and every one is regenerated by the truths 
of faith and the goods of love. To the above reason may bt 
added the following, that from the vastation of the church till 
its consummation, hell increases from below to such a degree, 
as to veil and obscure the whole angelic heaven, through which 
regenerating truths and goods descend from the Lord to men 
on earth ; and when the angelic heaven is thus veiled and 
obscured, no truth of thought from faith, and no good of will 
from charity, can penetrate, unless it be through chinks ; yea, 
what does penetrate is perverted either in the way before it 
reaches men, or else by men themselves, when they are in it ; 
that is, the truth is either rejected or falsified, and the good is 
either checked or adulterated. In a word, the church at its 
end is as it were obsessed by satans : those are called satans, 
who take pleasure in falses, and are delighted with evils. In 
order therefore to remove the total damnation, which hangs 
over the head of every one, and threatens to fall upon him, it 
is necessary that hell, which has raised itself on high, and, as 
we said, grown up from below even to heaven, be removed. — 
not only depressed, but also dispersed and subjugated, and 
that the good be then separated from the evil, that is, the living 
from the dead. This separation, and at the same time the 
raising of the good into heaven or into the earth of the living, 
and the casting down of the evil into hell or into the earth of 
the dead, is judgment. That such a judgment was executed in 
the year 1757 on the men of the present Christian church, was 
described in a small treatise on the subject, published at Lon- 
don in the year 1758. 

13. Who does not see the necessity there is, that the evil 
should be separated from the good, lest the latter be infected 
with the deadly contagion of evil, and perish ? for evil, being 
implanted by birth in human nature, and more and more en- 
gendered in children from their parents, as the church advances 
towards consummation, is like the pernicious disease called 
cancer, which spreads around, and gradually destroys the sound 
and living parts. What husbandman or gardener, that sees an 
increase of briars, nettles, thorns, and thistles, does not root 
them out, before he sows and dresses his land for the production 
of corn and esculent plants ? What planter, that sees the 

827 


13, 14 


CORONIS. 


herbs and grass consumed by worms or locusts, does not dig a 
ditch, and separate the field that is flourishing from that which 
is waste, and thus take measures for the preservation of his 
standing corn and green fields ? What shepherd, that observes 
the wild beasts multiplying about the pastures of his sheep, 
does not call together the neighboring shepherds and servants, 
for the purpose of killing or driving away those wild beasts with 
darts or other weapons ? What king, that sees the cities of his 
kingdom round about his metropolis taken by enemies, and the 
property of his subjects in their possession, does not collect 
troops, and drive the enemies out, and restore the property to 
the rightful owners, and in addition thereto present them with 
the valuable spoils of the enemy, and thereby console them ? 


Y. 

That after these things the Lord Jehovih founds a new heaven of 
the good who are raised to Himself \ and a new hell of the 
evil who are removed from Himself / and that He induces 
order over each , that they may stand’ under His auspices , and 
under obedience to Him , to eternity . 

14. We read in Isaiah, Jehovah said , Behold I create new 
heavens and a new earth, chap. lxv. 17 : and again in the 
same prophet, As the new heavens and the new earth, which 
I will make , shall stand before me , chap. lxvi. 22. In the Apoc- 
alypse, I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; the former 
heaven and the former earth passed away , chap. xxi. 1 . And in 
Peter, We expect , according to promise , new heavens and a 
new earth, in which justice shall dwell , Epist. 2. chap. iii. 13. 
It has never yet entered into the mind of any one to suppose 
otherwise, than that heaven in the above passages means the 
visible heaven, that is, the whole firmament with the sun, moon, 
and stars ; and that earth means the habitable earth or globe, 
and that these will perish at the day of judgment. The truth 
however is, that heaven there means the angelic heaven, and 
earth the church. That the earth in the Prophetic Word 
throughout means the church, was fully shown in the Apoca- 
lypse Revealed, n. 285. By new heavens and a new earth, 
men have hitherto understood the visible heaven and the habita- 
ble earth, because they knew nothing of the spiritual world, 
consequently nothing of the angelic heaven, and nothing of the 
prophetic sense, which contains treasured up in its bosom none 
but spiritual things ; and the spiritual thing signified by earth 
is the church. When the angels, who are spiritual, look down 
828 


14 — 17 


00R0NIS. 


towards the earth, they see nothing at all of it, hut only the 
church in men. 

15. The Lord Jehovih, when He founds a Hew Heaven and 
a Hew Church, introduces order that they may stand under His 
auspices, and under obedience to Him to eternity, because the 
angelic heaven and the church on earth constitute together one 
body, whose soul and life is the Lord Jehovih, who is our Lord 
the Saviour. The universal angelic heaven, together with the 
church, appears also before the Lord as one man ; and man 
stands under the auspices of, and under obedience to, his own 
soul ; thus the whole heayen with the church stands under the 
auspices of the Lord, and under obedience to Him ; for the 
Lord is in them, and they are in the Lord, John xiv. 20 ; chap, 
xv. 4 ; chap. xvii. 23, 26 ; consequently all are in all therein. 
But the order wdiich the Lord induces on all in hell, is, that all 
who are there may be diametrically opposite to all who are in 
heaven : whence it is evident, that, as the Lord governs heaven, 
He also governs hell, and the latter by the former. 

16. Moreover there is the most perfect arrangement of all 
in the heavens, and of all in the hells. Every heaven, that is 
founded by the Lord after the consummation of a church, is 
arranged in threefold order, and consists of a supreme, a mid- 
dle, and a lowest. Into the supreme are elevated those who 
are in love to the Lord, and in wisdom thence derived ; into 
the middle, those w T ho are in spiritual love towards the neighbor, 
and in intelligence thence derived; into the lowest, those who 
are in spiritual-natural love towards the neighbor, or charity, 
and thence in faith as to truths concerning God, and in a life 
according to the precepts of the Decalogue. These three heav- 
ens constitute three expanses, one above another, and com- 
municate with each other by divine influx from the Lord out of 
the sun of the spiritual world. At a depth below those heavens 
there are also three expanses, into which the hells are distin- 
guished, and which in like manner communicate with each 
other by influx through the heavens from the Lord. By means 
of these communications there is a close and indissoluble con- 
junction of all in the heavens, and of all in the hells; but in 
the latter it is a conjunction of all the lusts of the love of evil, 
while in the heavens it is a conjunction of all the affections of 
the love of good. By virtue of that conjunction, heaven is like 
one Lord sitting upon a throne girt about with wreaths formed 
of precious stones of every kind ; but hell is like one devil sit- 
ting upon a seat intwined with vipers, fiery serpents, and 
poisonous worms. From this orderly arrangement, introduced 
both into heaven and hell, it follows, that each stands under 
the auspices of the Lord, and under obedience to Him, to 
eternity. . 

17. It is a well-known truth, that, in order to give perfec- 

829 


C0R0NIS. 


17, 18 


tion to any thing, there must be a Trine in just order, one 
under another, and that there must be communication between 
the members of the Trine, and that such a Trine constitutes 
one thing ; not unlike a pillar, over which is the capital, under 
this the shaft, and under this again the pedestal. Such a Trine 
is man : his supreme part is the head, his middle part the body, 
and his lowest part the feet and soles of the feet. Every king- 
dom in this respect is like a man; in it there must be a king 
as the head, also magistrates and officers as the body, and yeo- 
manry with servants as the feet and soles of the feet : in like 
manner in the church, there must be a mitred prelate, parish 
priests, and curates under them. N or does the world itself 
subsist, without three things following each other in order, 
namely, morning, noon, and evening ; also every year, spring, 
summer, and autumn, the spring for sowing seeds, the summer 
for their growth, and the autumn for their bringing forth fruit ; 
but night and winter do not contribute to the stability of the 
world. Now since every perfect thing must be a Trine, in order 
to be a regularly coherent unity, therefore both the spiritual and 
the natural world consists of, and subsists from, three atmos- 
pheres or elements; the first of which proximately encompasses 
the sun, and is the Aura ; the second is under it, and is the 
Ether ; and the third is under them both, and is the Air. These 
three atmospheres in the natural world are natural, in themselves 
passive, because they proceed from a sun which is pure fire ; 
but the three atmospheres corresponding to them in the spiritual 
world are spiritual, in themselves active, because they proceed 
from a sun which is pure love. The angels of the heavens dwell 
in the regions of these three atmospheres ; the angels of the 
supreme heaven in the celestial aura, wdiich proximately encom- 
passes the sun, where the Lord is; the angels of the middle 
heaven in the spiritual ether, under them; and the angels of the 
lowest heaven in the spiritual-natural air, under them both. Thus 
all the heavens are coestablished, from the first, to this last, 
which is building by the Lord at this day. Hence it may be 
perceived, whence it is that by Three in the Word is sig- 
nified what is complete ; see the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 
505 , 875 . 


VI. 

That from this new heaven the Lord, Jehovih derives and pro- 
duces a new church on earth , which is effected by a revela- 
tion of truths from His own mouth , or from His Word, and 
by inspiration. 

18 . We read that John saw the holy city , New Jerusalem , 
830 


CORONIS. 


18, 19 

descending from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned 
for her husband , Apoc. xxi. 2. The holy city, New Jerusalem, 
means the doctrine of a New Church, consequently the church 
as to doctrine ; and Jerusalem descending from God out of the 
new heaven, means that the true doctrine of the church is de- 
rived from no other origin. The doctrine descended, because 
the church is a church from doctrine and according to it ; with 
out doctrine a church is no more a church than a man is a man 
without members, viscera, and organs, or from the mere cover 
ing of skin, which only defines his external shape or form ; noi 
any more than a house is a house without bed-chambers, parlors, 
and useful furniture, thus from the bare walls and arched roof. 
The case is similar with the church without doctrine. That 
Jerusalem signifies the church with respect to doctrine, may be 
seen proved from the Word in the True Christian Religion, 
n. 782. Hence it is manifest, that the church on earth is de- 
rived and produced through the angelic heaven from the Lord. 

19. I will relate paradoxes, which yet are not paradoxes in 
heaven ; they are as follow : I. That the natural world could 
not exist, except from the spiritual world : consequently that 
it could not subsist, since subsistence is perpetual Existence. 

II. That the church cannot exist in man, unless its internal be 
spiritual, and its external natural ; there being no such thing 
as a church purely spiritual, or as a church merely natural. 

III. Consequently that no church, and nothing belonging to a 
church, can be raised up in man, unless there be an angelic 
heaven, through which every thing spiritual is derived and 
descends from the Lord. IV. Since therefore the spiritual and 
the natural thus make one, it follows, that the one cannot exist 
and subsist without the other, the angelic heaven not without 
the church in man, nor the church in man without the angelic 
heaven; unless the spiritual flow into and terminate in the nat- 
ural, and rest therein, it is like a prior without a posterior, 
consequently like an efficient cause without an effect, and like 
an active without a passive, which would be like a bird perpet- 
ually flying in the air, without any resting place on the earth. 
It is" also like the mind of a man perpetually thinking and will- 
ing, without any organ of sense or motion in the body, to 
which it may descend, and produce the ideas of its thought, 
or bring the efforts of its will into operation. Y. These com- 
parisons are made, to the end that it may be perceived or known, 
that as the natural world cannot exist without the spiritual 
world, nor reciprocally the spiritual world without the natural 
world, so neither can there be a church on earth, unless there 
be an angelic heaven, through which it may exist and subsist, 
nor reciprocally can there be an angelic heaven, unless there be 
a church on earth. VI. The angels know this ; on which ac- 
count they bitterly lament, when the church on earth is deso 

831 


19, 20 


CORONIS. 


lated by falses, and consummated by evils ; on such occasion 
also they compare their state of life to that of sleepiness, for 
then heaven is to them like a seat withdrawn, or like a body 
deprived of its feet ; but when the church on earth is restored 
by the Lord, they compare their state of life to that of wake- 
fulness. 

20. That the Lord, through the new r heaven, derives and 
produces a new T church on earth by a revelation of truths from 
His own mouth, or from His Word, and by inspiration, will 
be shown when we come to treat of the four churches in their 
order, especially of the Israeli tish and of the present Christian 
church. It is to be observed, that, when hell has increased 
from below, and passed over the great interstice or gulf fixed 
between it and heaven (Luke xvi. 26), and has raised up its 
back to the confines of the heavens inhabited by angels, which 
came to pass during the interval of the vastation and consum- 
mation of the church, no doctrine of the church could be con- 
veyed by the Lord through heaven to men on earth ; for nian 
is then in' the midst of satans, and satans with their falses 
encompass his head as with a veil, and inspire the delights of 
evils and the pleasures of the false, whereby all light from heav- 
en is darkened, and all the desirableness and pleasantness of 
truth is intercepted. As long as this state continues, no doc- 
trine of truth and good can be infused from heaven into man, 
without being falsified ; but after this complicated veil of falses, 
or covering induced over the head by satans, has been removed 
by the Lord, which was effected by the last judgment, spoken 
of above in article IY., then man is led with a more free and 
spontaneous spirit to shake off falses, and receive truths. To 
those who prepare themselves, and suffer themselves to be led 
by the Lord, is afterwards conveyed and introduced the doc- 
trine of the new heaven, which is the doctrine of truth and 
good, falling like the morning dew from heaven on earth, which 
opens the capsules of tender herbs, and sweetens their vegetable 
juices : and it is like‘ the manna which fell in the morning, and 
was in appearance white like coriander seed, and in taste like a 
cake kneaded with honey, Exod. xvi. 31 : it is also like season- 
able rain, which refreshes the fallow lands, and causes germi- 
nation : and it is like the fragrance exhaling from fields, gardens, 
and flowery plains, which the breast attracts by a lively and 
cheerful respiration. But still the Lord compels no one, nor 
urges any against his will, as a person drives a laboring beast 
with whips ; but He draws him that is willing, and afterwards 
leads him continually, in all appearance as though the willing 
man did good and believed truth of himself, when yet it is from 
the Lord, who operates in him all the genuine good of life, and 
all the genuine truth of faith. 


832 


C0R0NIS. 


21 


VII. 

That this divine work, collectively , is Redemption, without which 

a man cannot be saved, because he cannot be regenerated. 

21. That the redemption which was accomplished by the 
Lord when he was in the world, consisted in the subjugation 
of the hells, in the orderly arrangement of the heavens, and 
thereby in the preparation for a new spiritual church, may be 
seen in the True Christian Religion, n. 115, 116, 117, and 
likewise from n. 118 to 133. But as this is a new discovery 
arid has lain hid for ages, like a ship cast away with its valuable 
wares in the bottom of the sea, and yet the doctrine of redemp- 
tion is as it were the treasury of all the spiritual riches or doc- 
trinal tenets of the Hew Church, therefore we shall treat of the 
mystery of redemption in the last Lemma of this volume, 
where the following propositions will be unfolded and explained. 
I. That liberation from enemies is what in the Word is called 
redemption. II. Consequently, that redemption is a liberation 
from evils and falses, which, being from hell, are spiritual 
enemies; for they kill souls, as natural enemies kill bodies. 

III. Hence it is evident, that the first [act] of redemption 
accomplished by the Lord was the separation of the evil from 
the good, and the elevation of the good to Himself into heav- 
en, and the removal of the evil from Himself into hell, the 
good being thus liberated from the evil : this first [act] of re- 
demption is the last judgment, treated of above, n. 10 to 13. 

IV. That the second [act] of redemption was the co-ordination 
of all in the heavens, and the subordination of all in hell, the 
good being thereby still more distinctly separated and liberated 
from the evil ; and this is the new heaven and the new hell, 
spoken of above, n. 14 to 17. V. That the third [act] of re 
demption was the revelation of truths from the new heaven, 
and thereby the raising up and establishment of a new church 
on earth, by which means the good were further separated and 
liberated from the evil, and hereafter are separated and liberated : 
this third [act] also is treated of above, n. 18 to 20. VI. That 
the final cause of redemption was the possibility of the Lord, 
by virtue of His divine omnipotence, regenerating and thereby 
saving man; for unless men be regenerated, they cannot be 
saved, John iii. 3. VII. That the regeneration of a man, being 
a separation and liberation from evils and falses, is a particular 
redemption by the Lord, existing from His general redemption. 
VIII. That in those who are regenerated, evils are first of all 
separated from goods, and this resembles a judgment; that 
afterwards goods are collected together into one, and arranged 
in a heavenly form, and this resembles a new heaven ; and that 
lastly a new church is implanted and produced thereby, the 

833 h h n 


CORONIS. 


21, 22 

internal of which church is heaven, and the external is from 
the internal, consequently the internal and external of which 
together in man, is what is called a church. IX. That all are 
redeemed, since all that reject the falses of the former church, 
and receive the truths of the new church, are capable of being 
regenerated ; but that still the. regenerate are, properly speak- 
ing, the redeemed. X. That the goal of redemption, and the 
prize of the redeemed, is spiritual peace. XI. That a redemp- 
tion has at this day also been accomplished by the Lord, because 
now is His second advent according to prediction ; in conse- 
quence of which, having been an eye-witness thereof, I am fully 
assured of the truth of the preceding arcana. But these are 
only brief heads, which will be explained in particulars, and 
submitted to view both in spiritual and natural light, at the 
end of this volume, when we come to treat of the mystery of 

REDEMPTION. 

22. Moreover it will be fully proved in the proper place in 
the following pages, that the passion of the Lord on the cross 
was not redemption, but that it was the medium of intimate 
union with the divine of the Father, from which he came forth, 
and into which He returned. In the True Christian Reli- 
gion, n. 132, 133, to which this volume is an Appendix, I 
undertook to demonstrate, that the belief of the passion of the 
cross having constituted real redemption, is a fundamental error 
of the present Christian church ; and that that error, together 
with the error concerning three divine persons from eternity, 
has perverted the whole church to such a degree, that there is 
nothing spiritual left in it. This will also be further shown in 
the following pages ; and that those two falsities and impostures 
were, comparatively speaking, like paired butterflies, flying about 
in a garden, and laying eggs full of worms, which, on being 
hatched, entirely consume the leaves of all its trees : and fur- 
ther, that they were like the quails from the sea which fell on 
the camp of the Israelites, and which, while they were eating, 
occasioned a great plague among the people ; and this because 
they loathed and despised the manna from heaven, which in the 
supreme sense signifies the Lord, Numb. xi. 5, 6, 32 to 35 ; and 
John vi. 31, 32, 49, 50, 51, 58. Moreover those two errors 
were like two drops of ink or shoemaker’s blacking put into 
generous wine, and shaken about in a glass, in consequence of 
which the brightness, grateful odor, and fine flavor of the wine, 
are entirely changed into a black appearance, a disagreeable 
smell, and a nauseous taste. 


834 


CORONIS. 


23 


LEMMA THE SECOND. 

Of the Adamic or most ancient church on this ea/rth. 

23. The world has hitherto believed that the creation of 
heaven and earth, in the first chapter of Genesis, means lite- 
rally the creation of the universe, and that Adam means the 
first man of this earth ; nor could the world believe otherwise, 
seeing that the spiritual and internal sense of the Word has 
not been hitherto discovered ; consequently men could not be- 
lieve, that to create heaven and earth means to collect together 
from among those who had died in the world, and to found an 
angelic heaven, and by this to derive and produce a church on 
earth, as above, n. 18 to 20 ; and that the names of persons, 
nations, countries, and cities, mean such things as relate to 
heaven, and at the same time to the church ; and that Adam 
has a similar meaning. That by Adam, and all things predi- 
cated of him and his posterity in the first chapters of Genesis, 
are described the successive states of the most ancient church, 
namely, its rise or morning, its progression into light or day, 
its declension or evening, its end or night, and after this 
the last judgment upon it, and lastly a new angelic heaven 
formed of the faithful, and a new hell of the unfaithful, ac- 
cording to the series of progressions laid down in the preceding 
Lemma, has been minutely explained, unfolded, and demon- 
strated in the Arcana C(elestia, a work of eight years’ labor 
on Genesis and Exodus, published at London; which work 
being already in the world, nothing further is necessary, but 
to recapitulate therefrom some universals concerning this most 
ancient church, which shall be inserted in the present volume. 
But preliminary thereto, some passages shall be adduced from 
the Word, to prove in a satisfactory manner, that creating 
there signifies to produce anew, to form, and properly to regen- 
erate ; on which account it is, that regeneration is a new crea- 
tion, by which the universal heaven formed of angels, and the 
universal church formed of men, exists, consists, and subsists. 
That creating has that signification, evidently appears from the 
following passages in the Word : Create a clean heart in me , O 
God , and renew ajvrm spirit in the midst of me , Psalm li. 12. 
Thou openest the hand, they are filled with good ; thou sendest 
forth the spirit, they are created, Psalm civ. 28, 30. The peo- 
ple that shall be created shall praise Jah, Psalm cii. 19. Thus 
sand Jehovah , thy creator, 0 Jacob, thy former, 0 Israel, 
Every one that is called by my name, for my glory I have created 
him, Isa. xliii. 1, 7. That they may see, know, consider, and 
understand, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the 
Holy One of Israel hath created this, Isa. xli. 19, 20 In the 
day wherein thou wast created, they were prepared / thou wast 
835 


23—25 


CORONIS. 


‘perfect in thy ways in the day wherein thou wast created, until 
perversity was found in thee , Ezek. xxviii. 13, 15 : these things 
were spoken of the king of Tyre. Jehovah that createth the 
heavens , that stretcheth out the earth , that giveth a soul to the 
people upon it, Isa. xlii. 5 ; chap. xlv. 12, 18. Behold I create 
a new heaven and a new earth ; be ye glad to eternity at the 
things which I create : behold I am about to create Jerusalem 
an exultation , Isa. lxv. 17, 18. As the new heavens and the 
new earth, which I am about to make, shall stand before 
me, Isa. lxvi. 22. I saw a new heaven and a new earth; 
the former heaven and the former earth passed away, Apoc. xxi. 1 . 
We expect new heavens and a new earth according to promise, 
wherein justice shall dwell, 2 Pet. iii. 13. The above-cited pas- 
sages show evidently what is spiritually understood by these 
words in the first verse of Genesis, In the beginning God 
created the heaven and the earth : and the earth was waste 
and void. The earth’s being said to be waste and void, signifies 
that there was no longer any 'good of life or truth of doctrine 
among its inhabitants ; that the being waste and void signifies 
the privation of those two essentials of the church, will be 

E roved by a thousand passages from the Word in the Fourth 
emma of this volume, treating of the Israelitish church : at 
present let the following in Jeremiah serve for some degree of 
illustration : I saw the earth, when behold it was empty and 
void ; and [I looked ] towards the heavens, when they had no 
light. Thus said Jehovah, The whole, earth shall be waste ; 
for this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above shall be 
made black , chap. iv. 23, 27, 28. 

24. We shall treat of this church, as of the rest, in the fol- 
lowing order. I. Of its rise or morning, which is its first 
state. II. Of its progression into light, or its day, which is 
its second state. III. Of its declension or evening, which is 
its third state, and is called vastation. IY. Of its end or night, 
which is its fourth state, and is called consummation. Y. Of 
the separation of the evil from the good, which is the last 
judgment upon all who were of that church. YI. Of the ele- 
vation to God of the good, of whom is formed a new heaven ; 
and of the removal from God of the evil, of whom is formed a 
new hell. That the four churches of this earth, spoken ot 
above, have undergone these changes of state, will be shown 
in the following pages ; and lastly, that the truly Christian 
church, which at this day succeeds those four, will not undergo 
consummation. 

****** 

25. I. The first state of this most ancient church, 
pR its rise and morning, is described in the first chapter of 
Genesis by these words, God said, Let us make man in our 
836 


C0R0NIS. 


25, 26 

image, according to our likeness : and God created man in his 
own image ; in the image of God created he him ; male and female 
created he them , ver. 26, 27. Likewise by these words in the 
second chapter , Jehovah God formed man dust of the earth , and 
breathed into his nostrils the soul of lives; and man became a liv- 
ing soid , ver. 7. Its rise or morning is described by his being made 
or created in the image of God, because every man, when first 
born, and while an infant, is interiorly an image of God, for 
the facility of receiving and of applying to himself those things 
which proceed from God is implanted in him ; and since exte- 
riorly he is also formed dust from the earth, and hence there is 
in him an inclination to lick that dust, as a serpent, Gen. iii. 
14 ; therefore, if he remains an external or natural man, and 
does not become at the same time an internal or spiritual man, 
he destroys the image of God, and puts on the image of the 
serpent which seduced Adam. But on the other hand, the man 
who endeavors and labors earnestly to become an image of God, 
subdues the external man in himself, and becomes spiritual in- 
teriorly in the natural, thus a spiritual-natural man ; and this 
is effected by a new creation, that is, regeneration by the Lord. 
Such a man is an image of God, because he wills and believes 
that he lives from God, and not from himself : on the contrary, 
a man is an image of the serpent, while he wills and believes 
that he lives from himself, and not from God. What is a man 
but an image of God, when he wills and believes that he is in 
the Lord, and the Lord in him ? John vi. 56 ; chap. xiv. 20 ; 
chap. xv. 4, 5, .7 ; chap. xvii. 26 ; and that he can do nothing 
of himself? John iii. 27 ; chap. xv. 5. What is a mjm but an 
image of God, when he becomes a Son of God by regenera- 
tion ? John i. 12, 13: who does not know, that the image of 
a father is in the son ? The rise or morning of this church 
is described by Jehovah God’s breathing into man’s nostrils 
the soul of lives, and by his thus becoming a living soul, be- 
cause lives in the plural means love and wisdom, which two 
are essentially God ; for in proportion as a man receives and 
applies to himself those two essentials of life, which continually 
proceed from God, and continually flow into the souls of men, 
in the same proportion he becomes a living soul ; life being 
identical with love and wisdom. Hence it is evident, that the 
rise and morning of the life of the men of the most ancient 
church, who collectively taken are represented by Adam, is 
described by those two oracles of life. 

26. The likeness of God, in which man was made, consists 
in his being able to live, that is, to will, love, and intend, as 
also to think, reflect, and choose, in all appearance as from 
himself; consequently in being able to receive the things that 
appertain to love and wisdom proceeding from God, and to re- 
produce them in likeness as God from himself, for God says t 
837 


CORONIS. 


26, 27 

Behold the man was as one of us , in knowing, good and evil , Gen, 
iii. 22. A man, without the faculty of receiving and reproducing 
those tilings which proceed into him from God, would be no 
more a living soul, than an oyster in a shell at the bottom of a 
river, which'has not the least power of moving out of its place : 
nor would he be any more an image of God, than a graven 
image of a man made with joints, movable by means of a 
handle, and capable of uttering sounds by being blown into : 
nay the very mind of man, which is identical with his spirit, 
would actually be wind, air, or ether, according to the idea of 
the present church concerning a spirit ; for without the faculty 
of receiving and reproducing the things flowing-in from God, 
altogether as from himself, he would have nothing about him 
his own, or proper tu himself, except what is imperceptible, 
which resembles the propriuin of an inanimate graven image. 
But more may be seen, concerning the image and likeness of 
God in man, in a memorable relation in the work to which this 
is the Appendix, n. 48. 

***** 

27. II. The second state of this most ancient church, or its 
progression into light, and its day, is described in the second 
chapter of Genesis, by these words, God planted a garden in Eden 
on the east , and jplaced there the man whom He had formed, 
to till and keep it. And Jehovah caused to branch out every 
tree desirable to behold , and good for food ; and the tree of life 
in the midst of the garden , and the tree of the knowledge of good 
o f nd evil. And a river went forth out of Eden to water the gar- 
den, which became into four heads, in the first of which was gold 
and the onyx stone. And Jehovah God commanded man, by say- 
ing, Of every tree of the garden eat ; but of the tree of the knowl- 
edge of good and evil eat not, verses 8 to 17. The progression 
of this church into light or day is described by Adam’s being 
placed in the garden of Eden, because a garden signifies the 
church as to its truths and goods. The river’s going forth out of 
Eden, and becoming into tour heads, in the first of which was 
gold and the onyx stone, signifies that in that church there 
would be the doctrine of good and truth ; for a river signifies 
doctrine, gold its good, and onyx stone its truth. Two trees 
were placed in that garden, one the tree of life, and the other 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because the tree 
of life signifies the Lord, in whom and from whom is the life of 
celestial Tove and wisdom, which in itself is eternal life ; and the 
tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies man, in whom 
is the life of infernal love and insanity thence derived in things 
appertaining to the church, which life considered in itself is 
eternal death. His being permitted to eat of everv tree of the 
838 


CORONIS. 


27 


garden, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 
signifies free-will in spiritual things ; fur all things :n the garden 
signified spiritual things, and without free-will in such things, 
a man can in no wise advance into light, that is, into the truths 
and goods of the church, and procure to himself life : if he 
does not make thig his aim and earnest pursuit, he procures to 
himself death. That a garden signifies the church in respect 
to its truths and goods, results from the correspondence of a 
tree with a man ; for a tree, in like manner as a man, is conceived 
from seed ; in like manner it is born from the womb of the 
earth, as a man from the womb of his mother ; in like manner 
it grows in height, and spreads into branches as into members ; 
in like manner it clothes itself with leaves, and adorns itself 
with blossoms, as a man does with natural and spiritual truths ; 
and in like manner also it produces fruits, as a man does the 
goods of use. Hence a man in the Word is so often compared to 
a tree, and the church to a garden, as in the following passages : 
Jehovah will set her desert like Eden, and her solitude like the 
garden of Jehovah, Isa. li. 3 ; speaking of Zion, which sig- 
nifies the church wherein God is worshipped according to the 
Word. Thou shall be like a watered garden, and like the 
going forth of waters, whose waters shall not deceive , Isa. 
Iviii. 11 ; Jer. xxxi. 12 ; this passage also treats of the church. 
Thou art full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty ; thou hast been 
in Eden the garden, of God ; emery precious stone was thy 
covering , Ezek. xxviii. 12, 13; speaking of Tyre, which signi- 
fies the church as to the knowledges of truth and good. How 
good are thy habitations , 0 Israel ! as valleys they are planted , 
and as gardens near the river, Hum. xxiv. 5, 6 ; Israel 
signifies the spiritual church, but Jacob the natural church in 
which is the spiritual. Hot any tree in the garden of God was 
equal to it in beauty , and all the trees of Eden in the garden 
of God envied it, Ezek. xxxi. 8 ; speaking of Egypt and Ashur, 
which signify the church as to knowledges and perceptions, 
where they are mentioned in a good sense. To him who shall 
overcome, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the 
midst of the paradise of God, Apoc. ii. 7. Because of the 
correspondence of a garden with the church, therefore in the 
heavens there are everywhere gardens, producing leaves, flowers, 
and fruits, according to the states of the church among the 
angels ; and I have been informed, that in some of those gar- 
dens, trees of life are seen in the middle parts, and trees of 
the knowledge of good and evil in the extremities, as a sign that 
the angels are in free-will in spiritual things. The church is 
very frequently described in the Word by a garden, a field, and 
a sheepfold ; by a garden from the trees, as above-mentioned 
by a field from its produce, wherewith man is nourished ; by 
839 


28, 29 


CORONIS. 


a sheepfold from sheep, by which are understood the faithful 
and useful. 

28. In the True Christian Religion it was shown, that 
the two trees placed in the garden of Eden, the one of life, and 
the other of the knowledge of good and evil, signify that man 
was gifted with free-will in spiritual things, n. 466 to 469 ; to 
which shall be added the following observations. Without such 
free-will a man would not be a man, but only a type and image; 
his thought' would be without reflection, consequently without 
judgment, and thus in things divine, which relate to the church, 
he would no more have the power of turning himself, than a 
gate has without a hinge, or than a gate with a hinge, that is 
yet blocked up with an iron bar ; and his will would be without 
determination, consequently no more active with respect to 
what is just or unjust, than a stone on a tomb, under which 
lies a dead body. That the life of a man after death, together 
with the immortality of his soul, is from the gift of that free- 
will, and that the likeness of God consists therein, was proved 
in the work itself, and also above. Yea, a man, that is, his mind, 
without free-will would be like a sponge, which imbibes water 
in great abundance, but cannot discharge it, in consequence of 
which both would become useless ; the water would stink, and 
the sponge rot : wherefore the church in such a person would 
be no church, and consequently the temple, wherein the wor- 
ship of God is performed, would be like the den of some wild 
beast under the root of a lofty tree vibrating over its head, ex- 
cept only that it might be able to take something therefrom, 
and apply it to some other use of its own, than to lie in tran- 
quillity under it. Moreover a man, without free-will in spiritual 
things, would be more blind in all and singular things of the 
church, than a bird of night in the light of day, but more quick- 
sighted than such a bird in the darkness of night ; for he would 
close his eyes, and contract their sight against the truths of faith, 
but he would raise his eyelids, open his eyes, and extend their 
sight like an eagle to the falses of faith. Free-will in spiritual 
things is derived from the circumstance of a man’s walking and 
living in the midst between heaven and hell, and of heaven’s 
operating on him from above, while hell operates from beneath, 
and from the option which is given to a man of turning himself 
either to things above or to things below, either to the Lord or 
to the devil. 


***** 

29. III. The third state of this church, which is rrs 

DECLENSION AND EVENING, AND IS CALLED YASTATION, is de- 
scribed in the third chapter of Genesis, by these words : The 
840 


C0R0NIS. 


29 


serpent ivas made crafty above every wild beast of the field , which 
Jehovah God had made : he said to the woman , Yea , for what 
hath God said , not eat of every tree of the garden f 

And ivhen the woman said to the serpent , Of the fruit of the tree 
we may eat ; only of the fruit of the tree , which is in the midst , 
God hath said , Y e shall not eat of it , neither shall ye touch it, 
lest ye die : the serpent said, Ye shall not die ; for God knows, 
that in the day wherein ye shall eat thereof \ your eyes shall be 
opened , and ye shall be as God , knowing good and evil. The woman 
therefore saw that the tree was good for food , and that it was 
pleasant to the eyes , and desirable to give understanding • there- 
fore she took of the fruit thereof \ and did eat / and she gave to her 
man with her , who also did eat , ver. 1 to 6. The declension 
from light to the shade of evening, that is, the falling atoay 
from wisdom and integrity, consequently the state of vastation 
of this church, is described by the particulars above related, 
because, from the circumstance of man’s being made a likeness 
of God (wl ’ Jl full and perfect appearance, that 



he thinks 


appertain to wisdom, and wills 


those that appertain to love of himself, as God, see above, n. 
26), he believed the serpent, that if he should eat of that tree, 
he would become as God, and thus be a God, in knowing good 
and evil. This tree signifies the natural man separate from the 
spiritual, who, when left to himself, believes no otherwise. Every 
man has a natural mind and a spiritual mind, which are distinct 
from each other, like two apartments in a house joined to- 
gether by stairs ; in the upper apartment dwell the master and 
mistress with their children, but in the lower the men-servants 
and maid-servants, with others of an inferior description. The 
spiritual mind in man is closed from birth to early childhood, 
but after that age is gradually opened ; for every man by birth 
has the faculty, and afterwards the power, of procuring steps 
by which to ascend and converse with the master and mistress, 
and then to descend and execute their commands : this power is 
given him as a privilege of free-will in spiritual things. Never- 
theless no one can ascend to the upper apartment, by which 
we mean the spiritual mind, unless he eat of the trees of life 
in the garden of God ; for by eating of these a man is enlight- 
ened and renewed, and conceives faith ; and when nourished by 
the fruits of those trees, he acquires confidence that all good is 
from the Lord, who is the tree of life, and not the smallest 
portion thereof from man, and yet that by abiding together 
and co-operating, and hence by the Lord’6 being in him, and he 
in the Lord, he must do good of himself, nevertheless in the 
faith and confidence that it is not from himself, but from the 
Lord. If a man believes otherwise, he does apparent good, in 
which inwardly is evil, because there is merit, and this is to eat 
of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil, among which 


841 


COEONIS. 


29, 30 

the serpent dwells in the direful persuasion that he is as God, 
or that there is no God, but that nature is what is called God, 
and that he is composed of the elements thereof. Moreover, 
those who love themselves and the world above all things, eat of 
the trees of the knowledge of good and evil; but those who 
love God above all things, and the neighbor as themselves, eat 
of the trees of life. Those also who frame canons for the 
church from Self-intelligence, and afterwards confirm them by 
the Word, eat of the trees of knowledge of good and evil ; but 
on the contrary, those who procure to themselves canons for 
the church by means of the Word, and afterwards confirm 
them by intelligence, eat of the trees of life. Again, those 
who teach truths from the Word, and live wickedly, eat of the 
trees of knowledge of good and evil ; but those who live well, 
and teach from the Word, eat of the trees of life. In a 
universal sense, all who deny the divinity of the Lord, and the 
sanctity of the Word, eat of the trees of the knowledge of 
good and evil; for the Lord is the tree of life and the Word, 
by virtue of which the church is a garden in Eden eastward. 

30. The spiritual man is an erect man, who regards the 
heaven above him and about him with his head, and treads on 
the earth with the soles of his feet : but the natural man sepa- 
rate from the spiritual is either like a man bent downward, who 
nods with his head, and continually looks at the earth, and at 
his own footsteps ; or, he is like an inverted man, who walks 
on the palms of his hands, and with his feet raised up towards 
heaven, performs a worship by shaking and clapping them to- 
gether. The spiritual man is like a rich man, who has a palace, 
with parlors, bed-chambers and dining-rooms, the walls of 
which are continued windows of crystal glass, through which 
gardens, fields, flocks, and herds are visible, which also are 
in his possession, and with the appearance and use of which he 
is daily delighted. But the natural man separate from the spir- 
itual is also like a rich man, who has a palace, containing cham- 
bers, the walls of which are continued planks of rotten wood, 
which throws a false light around, wherein images of pride, 
originating in the love of self and of the world, appear like 
molten images of gold in the middle, and of silver at the sides, 
before which he bends the knee, like an idolater. Again, the 
spiritual man, considered in himself, is actually like a dove 
with respect to gentleness, like an eagle with respect to mental 
vision, like a bird of paradise flying with respect to progression 
in spiritual things, and like a peacock with respect to spiritual 
decoration ; but on the contrary, the natural man separate from 
the spiritual is like a hawk pursuing a dove, like a dragon 
devouring the eyes of an eagle, like a fiery flying serpent at the 
side of a bird of paradise, and like an owl close to a peacock. 
These comparisons are made, to serve as mirrors whereby the 
842 


C0R0NIB. 


30—32 


reader may more distinctly contemplate the quality of the spir- 
itual man in himself, and the quality of the natural man in 
himself. But the case is altogether different, when the spiritual 
man by his spiritual light and spiritual heat is inwardly in the 
natural man ; then both constitute one, as effort in motion, and 
will, which is living effort, in action, and as appetite in taste, 
and as the sight of the mind in the sight of the eye, and more 
evidently still, as the perception of a thing in knowledge, and 
the thought thereof in speech. 

****** 

31. IY. The fourth state of this church, which was 

ITS END OR NIGHT, AND IS CALLED CONSUMMATION, is described 

by these words in the third chapter of Genesis : Jehovah God 
cried to the ima/n , and said to him , Where art thou ? who said , 1 
heard thy voice in the garden , therefore I was afraid. Then Je- 
hovah said , Hast thou eaten of the tree , whereof 1 commanded 
thee , that thou shouldst not eat of it f And the man said , The 
woman whom thou hast given with me , she gave me of the tree , 
and I have eaten. And Jehovah God said to the woman , Where- 
fore hast thou done this f And the woman said , The serpent 
deceived m e, and I did eat. Then Jehovah God cursed' the serpent , 
and afterwards the woman , and after her the m,an. Whereupon 
Jehovah God sent forth the man out of the garden of Eden to till 
the earth from which he was taken , verses 9 to 23. The literal 
or historical sense of the description of Adam’s life, shows 
that he was cursed, because he believed the serpent, that he 
should be as God ; and he who believes this, at length acknow- 
ledges no God ; and as the natural man separate from the spir- 
itual is under the influence of such faith in his heart, however 
he may vainly profess the contrary with his mouth, therefore 
after having become from a spiritual man a natural man, this 
latter was cursed, and he was cursed as to his sensual, his 
voluntary, and his intellectual parts ; his sensual is signified by 
the serpent, his voluntary by the woman, and his intellectua. 
by the man : these three were cursed, because the one follows 
the other. In the Arcana Ccelestia, each expression, and 
the various signification of each, are fully explained by the 
spiritual sense, which has been revealed to me by the Lord ; 
which work, being published, may be consulted. 

32. After this curse, the fourth state of this church, which 
was its state of night in spiritual things, and is called consum- 
mation, is described by the expulsion of the man out of the 
garden to till the earth from which he was taken ; which means 
that he was deprived of innocence, integrity, and wisdom, in 
which he was while spiritual, consequently that he was cast out 
of heaven, that is, dissociated from angels, in like manner as 

843 


C0R0NIS. 


32, 33 

it is written of the dragon, The great dragon was cast out : the 
ancient serpent, which is called the devil and Satan , was cast out of 
heaven, where he fought with Michael and his angels , into the 
earth , and his angels were cast out with him , Apoc. xii. 9. 

33. What person is there possessed of a sound mind who 
cannot see that by what is related of Adam is not understood 
any states of the first-formed man, but states of the church? 
as that God placed two trees in the middle of the garden, by 
eating of one of which man should have eternal life, and by the 
other of which he should have eternal death ; and that He made 
the latter good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to 
give understanding, chap, iii, 6, thus as if it were to fascinate 
their souls ; also that He admitted the serpent, and allowed it 
to speak deceitful words to the woman in the presence of her 
husband, who was the image and likeness of God, and suffered 
them to be ensnared by its flattering and subtle discourse ; and 
moreover, that He made no provision, notwithstanding His fore- 
sight, to prevent them and the whole human race, their de 
scendants, from falling into the damnation of His curse; for 
we read in the orthodox books of Christians, that in consequence 
of this original sin , in the place of the image which was lost , 
there is in man a most inward , most wicked , most prof ound, in- 
scrutable, ineffable corruption of his whole nature, and of all his 
powers • and that it is the root of all actual evils. Form. Con- 
cord., p. 640 ; and that God the Father averted that universal 
damnation from His face, and sent His Son into the world, 
who might take it on Himself, and thereby make atonement ; 
not to mention several other things, which in the judgment ot 
every person must appear inconsistent with God. Who, from 
the particulars above-mentioned, understood in the historical 
sense, would not with reason conclude, to use comparisons, that 
it would be like a person who gives his dependant a most flour- 
ishing field, and digs a well therein, overlaying it with boards, 
contrived in such a manner as to fall inwards immediately on 
being touched with either the hand or foot ; and in the midst 
thereof places upon a stand a harlot clothed in purple and 
scarlet, having in her hand a golden cup, like that mentioned 
in the Apocalypse, chap. xvii. 4, who with flattering speeches 
entices the man to her, and thereby causes him to fall into the 
well and be drowned ? Moreover it would be like a person who 
gives his friend a field with an abundant crop of corn, and in 
the midst thereof lays snares, and sends out a siren to allure 
him by the sweetness of her singing and melodious voice to the 
place where they are laid, and to cause him to be entangled in 
the snare, from which he is unable to disengage his foot. Or, 
to use a further comparison, it would be like a person who 
should introduce a noble guest into a house with two parlors, 
and in each of them tables, at one of which are seated angels 
844 


C0R0NIS. 


33, 34 


and at the other evil spirits, on which latter table are cups of 
sweet but poisoned w r ine, and dishes of deadly meats, and who 
should permit the evil spirits there to represent the revels of 
Bacchus, and the tricks of jugglers, to induce the guests to 
partake of the fatal banquet. But, my friend, the things which 
are related of Adam, of the garden of God, and of the two 
trees therein, appear under quite a different face, when they 
are spiritually comprehended, that is, when they are unfolded 
by the spiritual sense ; then it is clearly seen, that Adam, as a 
type, means the most ancient church, and that the changes of 
his life describe the successive states of that church. A church 
in the beginning is like a man created anew, having a natural 
and spiritual mind, but who in his progress from being spiritual 
becomes natural, and at length sensual, believing nothing but 
what the bodily senses dictate ; and such a man appears in hea- 
ven like a person sitting on a beast, which turns its head back, 
and with its teeth bites, tears, and mangles its rider : while the 
truly spiritual man appears also in heaven like a person sitting 
on a beast, but on a gentle one, which he governs with ease 
and at pleasure. 


* ***** 

34. Y. The fifth state of this church was the 

SEPARATION OF THE GOOD FROM THE EVIL, WHICH WAS THE 
LAST JUDGMENT ON ALL WHO WERE OF THAT CHURCH. This 

state is described by the flood, in which all the wicked who 
remained perished ; and by Noah and his sons, who denote all 
the good that were saved. The end of the most ancient church 
represented by Adam, is described in the sixth chapter of Gen- 
esis by these words : When Jehovah saw that the wickedness of 
man was multiplied in the world , and moreover that every device 
of his heart was only evil every day , it repented Jehovah that he 
had made man in the earth : therefore Jehovah said , I will destroy 
man whom I have created from upon the faces of the earth: only 
Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah , verses 5 to 8. But 
the last judgment on them is described by the flood ; for waters 
in the Word signify truths, and in an opposite sense falses. 
Truths are signified by the waters of a fountain, the waters of a 
river, the waters of rain, and by the waters formerly used in 
washing, and by the waters of baptism at this day : such corre- 
spondence arises from the circumstance of truths purifying the 
soul of man from uncleanness, as waters cleanse his body ; 
hence they are called living waters. But in an opposite sense 
waters signify falses, that is to say, impure waters, such as the 
waters of marshes, stinking cisterns, urine, and refuse waters, 
in general all hurtful and pestilential waters ; so also the waters 
by whose inundation man dies, consequently the Noahtic flood 
845 


34 


C0R0NIS. 


That falses in great abundance are described by inundations, 
may appear from the following passages : Jehovah will cause to 
come up upon them, the waters of the river (Euphrates), strong 
and many j it shall go through Judah , it shall inundate, it shall 
pass over , it shall reach even to the neck , Isa. viii. 7, 8. The 
waters of the river Euphrates signify reasonings from falses, 
because Assyria, whose river it was, signifies reasoning. The 
spirit of Jehovah , like an inundating river, shall divide in two 
even to the neck , to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity , Isa. 
xxx. 28 ; an inundating river here in like manner signifies rea- 
soning from falses. Behold the waters coming up from the north , 
which are like an inundating river, and. it shall inundate the 
earth and its fulness, Jer. xlvii. 2. This is spoken of the Philis- 
thines, who denote those who are not in charity, and hence not 
in truths ; their falses are signified by the waters coming up 
from the north, and the devastation of the church in conse- 
quence thereof, by an inundating river that shall inundate the 
earth and its fulness ; earth denotes the church, and fulness 
denotes all’ things appertaining thereto. Say unto those who 
daub what is unfit. There shall he an inundating rain, in which 
hailstones shall fall upon you, Ezek. xiii. 11, 13 ; the daubing 
of what is unfit is the confirmation of the false, and hailstones 
are falses. In an over-running inundation he shall make a con- 
summation of the place thereof, and thick darkness shall pursue 
the enemies, Hah. i. 8 ; the inundation which shall consummate 
signifies the falsification of truth, and thick darkness, truths 
themselves in the night. Thou hast said, We have cut out a 
covenant with death, and with hell we have made a vision • when 
the scourge of inundation shall pass through, it shall not come 
to 'us ; we have made a lie our confidence, and in falsity we 
will hide ourselves, Isa. xxviii. 15 ; here inundation manifestly 
signifies destruction by falses, for it is said that they placed con- 
fidence in a lie, and that they would hide themselves in falsity. 
After sixty -two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Him- 
self; then the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the 
city and the sanctuary, so that the end thereof shall be with an 
inundation even to desolations, Dan. ix. 26; speaking of the 
Christian church that was to come, in which the worship of the 
Lord would perish ; this is understood by Messiah’s being cut 
off, but not for Himself; that it would perish by falsifications, 
is understood by the end thereof being with an inundation even 
to desolations ; desolation is that falsification : hence it is, that 
after the Lord had spoken of the abomination of desolation 
foretold by the prophet Daniel, and of the consummation of the 
age thereby, He said, that His coming would be as in the days 
when the flood came, and took them all away, Matt. xxiv. 15, 
39. That the drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the 
sea Suph (Exod. xiv.), denotes in the spiritual sense destruction 
846 


CORONIS. 


34, 35 


by falses, has been demonstrated in the Arcana Ccelestia, in 
the explication of that chapter. 

35. Since the churches in the Christian world, both the 
Roman Catholic Church, and the various Protestant Churches, 
that are named after their leaders, Luther, Melancthon, and 
Calvin, derive all sin from Adam and his transgression, I am 
at liberty here to subjoin some observations on the heredi- 
tary origins of sins, which origins are as many as there 
are fathers and mothers in the world. That the inclination, 
aptitude, and propensity to various evils, are derived from 
parents, is evident from the testimony of experience, as well 
as from the assent of reason. Who does not know, by the 
united suffrages of experience, that there is a common likeness 
of minds, and hence of manners and faces, derived from parents, 
in their children and children’s children, even to a certain pos- 
terity ? Who cannot thence infer, that original sins are derived 
from them? The notion adopted by every one, while he ob- 
serves the faces and manners of brothers and near relations in 
families, causes him to know and acknowledge this. What 
reason then is there for deducing the origin of all evils from 
Adam and his seed ? Is there not equal reason to derive it 
from parents ? Does not their seed propagate itself? To deduce 
from the seed of Adam alone the allurements, by and according 
to which the spiritual forms of the minds of all men in the 
universe are determined, would be like deriving birds of every 
wing from one egg, beasts of every nature from one seed, and 
trees of every kind of fruit from one root. Is there not infinite 
variety in men ? one like a sheep, and another like a wolf? one 
like a kid, another like a panther ? one like a tractable horse 
before a chariot, another like a fierce wild ass before it ? one 
like a sportive calf, another like a devouring tiger? and so on. 
Whence does each derive his peculiar disposition, but from his 
own father and mother ? Why then is it to be traced to Adam 
who in a representative type describes the first church on this 
earth, as we have already shown? Would not this be like 
raisiug from one stock deep in the earth a grove of trees of 
every appearance and use, and from one herb plants of every 
description and value? Would it not -also be like extracting 
light from the dark ages and obscure histories, and like unfold- 
ing an inexplicable riddle ? Why not rather [derive the dis- 
positions of men] from Noah, who walked with God , Gen. vi. 9, 
and whom God blessed, chap. ix. 1, -and from whom alone, sur- 
viving with his three sons, the whole earth was overspread t 
chap. ix. 19 ; in this case would not the hereditary principles of 
the generations descended from Adam be extirpated, as if carried 
away by a flood ? But, my friend, I will disclose the true source 
of sins. Every evil is conceived of the devil as a father, and is 
born of an atheistical faith as a mother; and on the other hand, 
847 


35—37 


C0R0NIS. 


every good is conceived of the Lord as a father, and is born of 
a saving faith in hirn as of a mother. The generations of all 
goods in their infinite varieties among men are from no other 
origin than from the marriage [conjugium] of the Lord and the 
church ; and on the contrary, the generations of all evils in 
their varieties among men, are from no other origin than from 
the union [connubium] of the devil and a profane congregation. 
Who does not know, or may not know, that a man must be re- 
generated by the Lord, that is, created anew, and that so far as 
this is effected, so far he is in goods ? Hence it follows, that in 
so far as a man is unwilling to be begotten anew or created anew, 
in so far he derives and retains the evils implanted in him from 
his parents. This is interiorly contained in the first precept oi 
the Decalogue : I am a jealous God , visiting the iniquity of the 
fathers upon the sons , upon the third and fourth generation of 
them that hate me , and showing mercy to thousands who love me 
and keep my commandments , Exod. xx. 5, 6 ; Deut. v. 9, 10 

***** 

36. VI. The sixth state of the men of this church, which 

TOOK -PLACE AFTER THE LAST JUDGMENT, WAS THE ELEVATION TO 

God of the faithful, of whom a new heaven was formed, 

AND THE REMOVAL FROM God OF THE UNFAITHFUL, OF WHOM A 

new hell was formed. In the preceding pages (n. 10 to 13, 
and n. 14 to 17), it was shown, that after consummation a 
last judgment was executed on all the members of the four 
churches above named, and after this a new heaven and a new 
hell were formed of them, and consequently that four judg- 
ments have taken place, and four heavens and hells have 
been formed of them ; and it has been given me to know, that 
both those heavens and those hells are so entirely distinct from 
each other, that no individual can by any means pass out of his 
own into that of another. All these heavens have been described 
in the work on Conjugial Love; and as the spiritual origin 
of truly conjugial love is solely derived from the marriage 
of the Lord and the church, thus from the love of the Lord 
towards the church and of the church to the Lord, and as the 
most ancient people were in both these loves, so long as they 
retained the image of God in themselves, therefore I may be 
allowed to transcribe from that treatise the following partic- 
ulars respecting that heaven, to which access was then granted 
me. 

37. “ On a time, when I was meditating on conjugial love, 
my mind was seized with a desire of knowing what had been 
the nature of that love among those who lived in the golden 
age, and what had been its nature afterwards in the following 
ages, which are named from silver, copper, and iron ; and 

848 


C0R0NI8. 


37 

as I knew that all that led good lives in those ages are in the 
heavens, I prayed to the Lord that I might be permitted to 
converse with them, and be instructed. And lo ! an angel 
presented himself to me, and said, I am sent by the Lord to be 
thy guide and companion ; and first I will lead and accompany 
thee to those who lived in the first age or period, which is 
called golden : (the golden age is the same as the age of the 
most ancient church, which is understood by the head of 
dure gold on the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, 
Dan. ii. 32, of which we have spoken before.) The angel said, 
The way to them is arduous ; it lies through a very thick wood, 
which no one can pass, unless a guide be given him by the 
Lord. I was in the spirit, and prepared myself for the journey, 
and we turned our faces to the east ; and as we advanced I saw 
a mountain, whose summit towered above the region of the 
clouds. We passed through a great desert, and reached a wood 
filled with various kinds of trees, and dark by reason of their 
dense growth, of which the angel had previously informed me ; 
but the wood was intersected with several narrow paths, which 
the angel said were so many windings of error, and that unless 
the eyes be opened by the Lord to see olive-trees girt about 
with vine tendrils, and the steps be directed from one olive-tree 
to another, the traveller would stray to Tartarus.. This wood is 
of such a nature, to the end that the passage may be guarded ; 
for none but a primeval nation dwells on that mountain. After 
we had entered the wood, our eyes were opened, and we saw 
here and there olive-trees intwined with vines, from which hung 
bunches of grapes of an azure color, and the olive-trees were 
arranged in perpetual circles ; wherefore we made various cir- 
cuits as they presented themselves to our view ; and at length we 
saw a grove of lofty cedars, and some eagles on their branches ; 
whereupon the angel said, Now we are on the mountain not far 
from its summit. So we went on, and lo ! behind the grove 
was a circular plain, where were feeding male and female lambs, 
which were representative forms of the state of innocence and 
peace of the inhabitants of the mountain. We passed through 
this grove, and lo ! there were thousands and thousands of taber- 
nacles in front and on each side, in every direction as far as the 
eye could reach. And the angel said, Now we are in the 
camp, where dwell the armies of the Lord Jehovih, for so 
they call themselves and their habitations. These most ancient 
people, while they were in the world, dwelt in tabernacles ; 
wherefore now also they dwell in the same. But I said, Let us 
bend our way to the south, where the wiser of them dwell, that 
we may meet some one, with whom we may enter into conver- 
sation. In going along, I saw at a distance three boys and 
three girls sitting at the door of their tabernacle ; but as we 
approached, the boys and girls appeared like men and women oi 
849 m 


37 


CORONIS. 


a middle stature. And the angel said, All the inhabitants of 
this mountain appear at a distance like infants, because they^ 
are in a state of innocence, and infancy is the appearance . ot 
innocence. These men on seeing us ran towards us, and said, 
Whence are ye, and how came ye hither? your faces are not ot 
the faces of this mountain. But the angel in reply told them, 
that by permission we had had access through the wood, and 
explained the reason of our coming : on hearing which, one of 
the three men invited and introduced us into his tabernacle. 
The man was clad in a coat of a blue color, and a waistcoat of 
white wool ; and his wife had on a purple gown, with a stom- 
acher under it of tine linen wrought with needle-work. And 
as my thought was influenced by the desire of understanding 
the marriages of the most ancient people, I looked by turns on 
the husband and the wife, and observed as it were a unity ot 
their souls in their faces ; and I said, Ye two are one : and the 
man answered, We are one ; her life is in me, and mine in her ; 
we are two bodies, but one soul. The union between us is like 
that of the two tents in the breast, which are called the heart 
and the lungs ; she is the substance [parenchyma^ of my heart, 
and I am her lungs ; but as by heart we here mean love, and 
by lungs wdsdom, we understand the latter by the former on 
account of their correspondence ; she is the love of my wisdom, 
and I am the wisdom of her love ; hence, as thou saidst, there 
is an appearance of the unity of souls in our faces ; and hence 
it is as impossible for any one of us here to look at the wife of 
a companion with a lustful eye, as it is to behold the light of 
our heaven from the shades of Tartarus. Hereupon the angel 
said to me, Thou hearest now the speech of these angels, that 
it is the speech of wisdom, because they speak from causes. 
After this, I saw a great light on the hill in the midst among 
the tabernacles; and I asked, Whence is that light? and he 
said, It is from the sanctuary of the tabernacle of our worship : 
and I asked whether it was allowed to approach it ; and he said 
that it was allowed. Then I approached, and saw the taber- 
nacle without and within, answering exactly to the description 
of the tabernacle which was built for the sons of Israel in the 
desert, the form whereof was shown to Moses on Mount Sinai, 
Exod. xxv. 40 ; chap. xxvi. 30. I asked further, what there was 
within the sanctuary, whence so great a light proceeded ; and 
he answered, There is a tablet with this inscription, The cove- 
nant BETWEEN THE LORD JeHOVIH AND HEAVEN I lie Said no 
more. Then I questioned them concerning the Lord Jehovih, 
whom they worship ; and I said, Is He not God the Father, the 
Creator of the universe? and they replied, He is; but by the 
Lord Jehovih we understand Jehovah in his humanity, for wo 
cannot look at Jehovah in His inmost divinity, but only through 
His humanity: and then they explained what they formerh 
850 


CORONIS. 


37, 38 

understood, and also what they now understand, by the seed 

OF THE WOMAN WHICH SHOULD TREAD UNDER FOOT THE HEAD 

of the serpent, Gen. iii. 15, namely, that the Lord Jehovih 
was to come into the world, to redeem and save all who did 
believe, and who should hereafter believe on Him. When we 
had ended our discourse, a man ran to his tabernacle, and 
returned with a pomegranate, that contained an abundance of 
seeds of gold ; this he presented to me, and I brought it away ; 
which was a sign to me, that we had been with those who lived 
in the golden age.” — For an account of the heavens of the other 
churches, which succeeded the most ancient, see the work on 
Conjugial Love, from n. 76 to 82. 

38. The hell of those, who were of the most ancient church, 
is the most atrocious of all the hells, consisting of such as in 
the world believed themselves to be as God, according to the 
deceitful declaration of the serpent, Gen. iii. 5 ; and deeper in 
that hell are those who persuaded themselves that they were 
really gods, from the phantasy that God had transfused His 
divinity into men, and so that there was no longer a God in the 
universe. In consequence of that direful persuasion, a deadly 
stench exhales out of that hell, and infects the adjacent places 
with so baleful a contagion, that when any one approaches, he 
is at first seized with delirious madness, and presently, after some 
convulsive motions, he seems to himself to be in the agonies of 
death. I saw a certain spirit near that place lying down as it 
he was dead, but on being removed thence he recovered. That 
hell lies in the middle of the southern quarter, surrounded with 
ramparts, on which stand spirits, who with the voice of a Sten- 
torian trumpet call out, Approach no nearer. I have heard 
from the angels who are in the heaven above that hell, that 
the evil spirits there appear like serpents twisted into inex- 
tricable folds, as an effect of their vain devices and incantations, 
by which they allured the simple to assent to their being gods, 
and to believe that there is no God but they. The ancients, 
who couched every thing under fables, denoted such persons by 
the giants, who assaulted the camp of the gods, and were cast- 
down by the thunderbolts of Jupiter, and thrust under the 
burning mountain Etna, and called Cyclops : they also gave to 
their hells the names of Tartarus, and the pools of Acheron ; 
and the deep gulfs there they called Styx, and those who 
dwelt there, Lernean Hydrse, and so forth. 


$51 


39, 40 


CORONIS. 


LEMMA THE THIRD. 

Of the Noahtic Church , or of the Ancient Church of this earth 

39. Since every church is threefold, inmost or celestial, 
middle or spiritual, and external or natural, therefore Hoah had 
three sons ; and Shem signified the inmost or celestial church, 
Japhet the middle or spiritual church, and Ham the external or 
natural church. But we have not leisure here to describe the 
persons in whom the one church is, and in whom the second 
and third ai;e, nor their quality in themselves, or in relation 
to each other : for there are three heavens, the supreme, the 
middle, and the lowest, to which those three degrees of the 
church correspond. Moreover this Hoahtic or ancient church 
was diffused throughout Asia, especially into Syria, Mesopo- 
tamia, Assyria, Chaldea, the land of Canaan and the parts 
adjacent, Philisthia, Egypt, Tyre, Sidon, and Hineveh, and 
also into Arabia and Ethiopia, and in course of time into 
Great Tartary, and thence as far as the Euxine, and thence 
again into all the countries of Africa. That'the nations in every 
part of the earth have been in habits of worship derived from 
some kind of religion, is a well-known fact ; and religion can- 
not exist but by some revelation, and the propagation thereof 
from nation to nation ; see the True Christian Religion, 
n. 273 to 276 ; where it was shown, that prior to the Israelitish 
Word there was a Word, which in time was lost, but by the 
divine providence of the Lord is still preserved in Great Tartary, 
and that their divine worship remains to the present day ; on 
which subject see also n. 264, 265, 266, and n. 279, of the 
said work. 

40. Who can deny that the universe was created for the 
sake of the human race, that out of it might be formed an 
angelic heaven, wherein God might dwell in the dominion of 
His glory ? To promote and accomplish this end, what mediate 
cause ' can there be but religion ? and what else is religion but 
walking with God? Moreover religion is like seed, producing 
just and true desires, and hence just and true judgment and 
conduct in spiritual things, and by these in moral things, and 
by the latter and the former, in civil things. In order therefore 
to show the nature of the man that has religion, and of him 
that has none, it shall be explained. He that has religion, is 
in spiritual things like a phoenix, which nourishes its young 
with its own blood ; but he that has -no religion, is in such things 
like a vulture, which for want of food devours its own offspring. 
He that has religion, is in moral things like a turtle-dove in 
a nest with its mate, sitting on its eggs or its young ; but he 
that has no religion, is in such things like a rapacious hawk in 

852 


COR0NIS. 


40, 41 

a coop before a dove-cote. He that has religion, is in political 
things like a swan flying with a bunch of grapes in its mouth ; 
but he that has none, is in such things like a basilisk with a 
poisonous herb in its mouth. He that has religion, is in ju- 
diciary matters like a tribune on a generous horse; but he 
that has none, is in such things like a serpent in the desert of 
Arabia biting its own tail, and in that folded state throwing 
itself on a horse with an intent to wind itself about the rider. 
He that has religion, is in other matters of a civil nature 
like a prince the son of a king, who exhibits notable marks of 
charity, and utters the elegances of truth ; but he that has 
none, is like the three-headed dog Cerberus at the entrance of 
the court of Pluto, casting forth poisonous foam out. of his tri- 
ple mouth. 

41. It is not possible to give a description of the successive 
states of this church, namely, its rise or morning, its progres- 
sion into light or day, its vastation or evening, and its consum- 
mation or night, in the same manner as we before described the 
states of the most ancient church, because the states of the 
Noahtic or ancient church cannot be so collected from our 
Word; for it gives only a brief account of the descendants of 
Noah and his three sons, in one or two pages; and moreover 
that church spread through several kingdoms, and in each king- 
dom was diversified, and hence underwent and passed through 
the said states in a different manner. That the first and 
second states thereof in the regions round about Jordan and 
towards Egypt were like the garden of Jehovah, appears from 
the following passage : The plain of Jordan was like the garden 
of Jehovah , like the earth cf Egypt , as they come to Zoar , Gen. 
xiii. 10. And that the case was the same with Tyrus, appears 
from the following : Thou prince of Tyrus, full of wisdom, and 
perfect in beauty, thou hast been in the garden of God j every 
precious stone was thy covering / thou wast perfect in thy ways , 
from the day in which thou wast created until perversity was 
found in thee, Ezek. xxviii. 12 to 15. That Ashur was like a 
cedar in Libanus, appears from the following: Behold, Ashur is 
a cedar in Libanus, beautif ul in branches, excelling in height / in 
his branches all the birds of the heavens built their nests, and under 
his branches every beast of the field brought forth its young, and 
in his shadow dwelt all great nations : no tree in the garden of 
God was equal to him in beauty, and all the trees of Eden, which 
were in the garden of God, envied him, Ezek. xxxi. 3 to 9. That 
wisdom flourished in Arabia, appears from the queen of Sheba’s 
going to Solomon, 1 Kings x. 1 to 14 ; and afterwards from the 
three wise men, who came to Jesus when just born, under the 
direction of a star, Matt. ii. 1 to 12. The third and . fourth 
states of that church, which were its states of vastation and 
consummation, are described in the Word throughout, both in 
853 


41 — 43 


OOKONIS. 


the historical and in the prophetic parts ; the consummation of 
the nations round about Jordan, or the land of Canaan, is 
described by the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, 
and Seboim, Gen. xix. ; the consummation ot the church of the 
nations within Jordan, or in the land of Canaan, is described by 
the expulsion of some and the universal slaughter of others, in 
Joshua, and in the book of Judges ; the consummation of that 
church in Egypt is described by the drowning of Pharaoh and 
the Egyptians in the sea Suph, Exod. xiv. &c. &c. 

42. Certain it is, that this ancient church was a repre- 
sentative church, which by types and visible and natural signs 
figured forth the invisible and spiritual things of the church 
which was at length to come, when Jehovah Himself should 
manifest Himself in a natural human form, and by means 
thereof should procure to Himself an entrance to men, and to 
men access to Himself, and thus should divest Himself of types, 
and found a church with precepts, which should lead all that 
believe on Him as a Man, and keep His commandments, by a 
ready way, to heaven, the habitation of His divinity. But as 
this ancient church, typical of that which was to come, con- 
verted the representative correspondences into magical and idol- 
atrous, and thus into infernal things, Jehovah raised up the 
Israelitish church, wherein He might restore the primitive types, 
which were heavenly ; such types were all the tabernacles, feasts, 
sacrifices, priesthoods, the garments of Aaron and his sons, 
unctions, and statutes, which were given out in a long series by 
Moses. 

43. I will now briefly allude to the manner in which the 
representative church with them was turned into an idolatrous 
church. All the spiritual things relating to heaven and the 
church were presented before them in visible and tangible forms, 
as was mentioned above; those forms were taken from the sub- 
jects of nature’s three kingdoms, animal, vegetable, and mineral, 
which represented such things as appertain to the heavenly 
kingdom ; these forms they placed in their sanctuaries, in the 
interior recesses of their houses, and in the public places and 
streets, arranging them by their significations. But the suc- 
ceeding age, after the science of correspondences was obliterated, 
and when consequently the knowledge of their signification was 
lost, began to regard and consider those objects as divine and 
holy ; and then to some they bowed the knee, some they kissed, 
aud some they ornamented and decorated with wreaths, flowers, 
and bandages, as babies do their dolls, and as papists do their 
images ; yea, of some they made household gods, of some tutelar 
demigods, and of some Pythons [or familiar spirits] ; some agai.o 
of small size they carried in their hands, some they hugged in 
their bosoms, caressed them, and whispered petitions to them, 
and so on; thus they converted heavenly types into infernal 

854 


CORONIS. 


43, 44 


ones, and the divine things of heaven and tne church into idols. 
On account of this transfiguration and disfiguration of heavenly 
things, a new representative church was raised up among the 
sons of Israel, in which real representations, as was said above, 
were instituted, and which was prohibited from celebrating 
divine worship by any others, as is evident from these words in 
the first precept of the Decalogue, Thou shalt not make to thy - 
self a graven image , nor any likeness of any thing , which is in 
the heavens above , or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in 
the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to 
them, nor worship them, Exod. xx. 4, 5 ; Deut. v. 8, 9. 

44. It was observed, that of the people of every church at 
its end, a new heaven and a new hell was formed, and since I 
have given, in the preceding Lemma, an account of the heaven 
and hell of those who were of the most ancient church, I shall 
also relate some particulars of the heaven and hell of those who 
belonged to the ancient church : for access was given me to 
them since I was permitted to travel about and survey the spir- 
itual world, to the end that the new and true Christian church 
may not be in gross darkness concerning heaven and hell, and 
concerning their lot after death, according to the actions of 
their life. The following quotation is taken from the work on 
Conjugial Love, n. 76. 

“An account of the heaven of the men of the ancient 
church. An angel came to me, and said, Art thou willing 
that I accompany thee to the people, who lived in the silver 
age or period, that we may hear from them an account of the 
manners and life of their time? and he added, that no one can 
have access to them, but by the Lord’s favor and protection. 
I was in the spirit, and accompanied my guide, and we came 
first to a hill in the confines of the south-east ; and when we 
were at its top, he showed me a great extent of country, and 
we saw at a distance an eminence like a mountain, and between 
it and the hill we stood on, a valley, and beyond the valley a 
plain, and from the plain a rising ground of easy ascent. ¥e 
descended the hill with intent to pass over the valley, and we 
saw here and there on each side blocks of wood and great stones 
carved into figures of men, and of various beasts, birds, ami 
fishes ; and I asked the angel what they meant, and whether 
they were not idols ? He answered, They are no such thing ; 
they are figures representative of various moral virtues, and 
spiritual truths. The people of that age were acquainted with 
the science of correspondences ; and as every beast, bird, and 
fish corresponds to some quality, therefore each distinct carved 
figure represents and signifies some peculiar attribute of virtue 
or truth, and several together represent virtue or truth itself in 
some common extended form : these in Egypt were called hiero- 
glyphics. We proceeded through die valley, and as we enterec 
855 


UORONIS. 


*4 

the plain, lo ! we saw horses and chariots, the horses variously 
harnessed and caparisoned, and the chariots of ^different forms, 
some carved in the shape of eagles, some like unicorns, and 
some like whales ; we also saw at the extremity [of the plain] 
some carts, and stables surrounding them on each side : but as 
we approached, both horses and chariots disappeared, and instead 
of them we saw men and women in pairs, walking, discoursing, 
and reasoning. Then the . angel said to me, The figures of 
horses, chariots, anc[ stables, which were seen at a distance, 
are appearances of the rational intelligence of the men of that 
age ; for a horse by correspondence signifies the understanding 
of truth, a chariot its doctrine, and stables places of instruction. 
You are aware that all things in this world appear according to 
correspondences. But we passed by these things, and ascended 
the hill, and at length saw a city, which we entered ; and as we 
walked through it, we took a view of the houses from the streets 
and public places. In the middle of the city were palaces of 
marble, with steps of alabaster in front, and at the sides of the 
steps pillars of jasper. We saw also temples of precious stone 
of a sapphire and azure color. And the angel said to me, 
Their houses are of stone, because stones signify natural truths, 
and precious stones spiritual truths ; and all who lived in the 
silver age, had intelligence from spiritual truths, and from nat- 
ural truths thence derived : silver also signifies the same. In 
viewing the city, we saw here and there married partners, 
both husbands and wives ; we expected an invitation from some 
of them ; and while the thought was in our mind, we were 
called back by two into their house, which we entered ; and the 
angel conversed with them for me, and explained the cause of 
out coming to this heaven, informing them that it was for the 
sake of instruction concerning the manners of the ancients, 
of whom the heaven consisted. And they replied, We were 
from the people in Asia, and the study of our age was the study 
of truths, by which we procured intelligence ; this study was 
the study of our souls and minds ; but the study of our bodily 
senses consisted in representations of truths in natural forms, 
and the science of correspondence conjoined the sensual things 
of our bodies with the perceptions of our minds, and connected 
natural and corporeal things with spiritual and celestial ones, 
and procured to us communication with the angels of heaven. 
On hearing this, the angel requested them to give some account 
of their marriages; and the husband said, There is a corre- 
spondence between spiritual marriage, which is that of good and 
truth, and natural marriage, which is that of a man with his 
wife ; and as we have studied correspondences, we Iiave seen 
that the church, with its truths and goods, can in nowise exist 
with any others than those who live in truly conjugial love ; for 
the marriage of good and truth is the church in man ; where 
856 


C0R0NIS. 


44-46 


fore all of us, who are in this heaven, say, that the husband is 
truth, and the wife the good of his truth ; and that good can- 
not love any other truth but its own, nor can truth in return 
love any other good but its own ; if any other were loved, in- 
ternal or spiritual marriage, which constitutes the church, would 
perish, and there would be only external or natural marriage, 
to which idolatry, and not the church corresponds. When he 
had ended his discourse, we were introduced into an anti- 
chamber, where were several devices on the walls, and little 
images as it were of molten silver; and I asked, What are 
those ? They said, They are pictures and forms representative 
of several qualities, attributes, and delights, of a spiritual na- 
ture ; as were also the cherubim and palm-trees on the walls of 
the temple at Jerusalem. After this, there appeared at a dis- 
tance a chariot drawn by small white horses ; on seeing which 
the angel said, That chariot is a sign for us to depart. Then, 
as we were going down the steps, our host gave us a bunch of 
white grapes adhering to the vine leaves ; and lo ! the leaves in 
our hands became silver, and we brought them away as a sign 
that we had conversed with the people of the silver age.” 

4:5. “ An account of the hell of the men of the an- 
cient church. The hells of the men of the Noahtic or ancient 
church for the most part consists of magicians, who have huts 
and places of entertainment scattered up and down in the 
desert. They wander about there with staves of various forms 
in their hands, some of which are stained with necromantic 
juices; by them, as in former times, they still exercise their 
arts, which are effected by the abuse of correspondences, by 
phantasies, by persuasive assurances, which formerly gave birth 
to a miraculous faith, and to miraculous works, and also by 
exorcism, incantation, fascination, and sorcery, and several 
other infernal contrivances, whereby they present illusory ap- 
pearances as if they were real. Their heart’s greatest delight is, 
to utter prophecies and prognostications, and to be familiar 
spirits. These chiefly have given rise to the various enthusiasms 
of the Christian world.” 


LEMMA THE FOURTH. 

Of the Israelitish and Jewish Church . 

• 46 . In order that the states of this church may be well un- 
derstood and distinctly arranged, it is necessary to consider them 
in the following order. I. That the first state of this cl urch 
was the appearance of the Lord Jehovih, and calling and con- 
857 


46-48 


CORONIS. 


federation, and its rise or morning. II. That its second state 
was instruction, and afterwards introduction into the land of 
Canaan, and its progression into light and its day. III. That 
its third state was deviation from true representative into idola 
trous worship, and itsvastation or evening. IV. That its fourth 
state was profanation of sanctities, and its consummation or night. 
V. That before this state, and after it, a promise was made of 
the coming of the Lord Jehovik into the world, and of a new 
church, wherein justice and judgment should reign. ^ VI. That 
the fifth state of this church was the separation of the good 
from the evil, and a judgment on the men of that church, which 
judgment took place in the spiritual world. VII. Some par- 
ticulars respecting, the heaven and hell of that nation. 


I. 


That the first state of this church was the appearance of the 
Lord Jehovih , and calling and confederation , and its rise 
or morning. 

47. We are taught by the Word, that the Lord Jehovih 
has appeared at the beginning of each of the four churches 
that have existed on this earth. The reason of this is, that 
God is the all in all of the church and religion, and the acknowl- 
edgment of God therein is like the soul in the body, which 
vivifies both its interiors and its exteriors; it is also like the 
prolific principle in seed, which intimately uniting with all the 
sap drawn from the earth by the root, accompanies it from the 
beginning of germination to the production of fruit, into which 
also it enters, and disposes vegetation to proceed in its order. 
Wherefore a man of the church, without the acknowledgment 
of God, is to the angels as a mere brute, like a wild beast of 
the wood, or a bird of night, or a huge sea monster ; yea, he 
is like a tree, whose branches are chopped off, and whose trunk 
is cut in pieces, and the whole piled up into a heap reserved for 
the fire ; for the Lord says, Without me ye cannot do any thing : 
if any one abide not in me , he is cast forth as a branch , and is 
withered ; and they gather him , and cast him into the fire, and he 
is burned , John xv. 5, 6. A man, without the acknowledgment 
of God, is inwardly, as to his rational faculties, like the ruinous 
heaps of a burned city ; and like food that when the nutritious 
juices are boiled out of it, is fit only for the dunghill ; not to 
mention other comparisons. 

48. But it would be impossible for men to acknowledge God 
858 


C0R0NIS. 


48, 49 

»r any divine thing, unless God had manifested Himself in a 
personal human form ; for the natural things of the world en- 
compass them about, so that they neither see, feel, nor aspire 
to any thing but what is natural, and in immediate contact 
with the organs of their bodies ; hence their minds conceive and 
acquire rational faculties that lie in the very bosom of nature, 
like embryos in the womb ; nor do they see any thing before 
they are brought forth, and receive sight. How then can a 
man in this state by any means look beyond nature, and ac- 
knowledge any thing above it, as is every thing divine, celestial, 
and spiritual, and consequently every thing relating to religion? 
These things are in themselves above natural things ; wherefore 
it is absolutely necessary for God to manifest Himself, and 
thereby to cause Himself to be acknowledged, and after acknowl- 
edgment to favor men with His divine inspiration, and by this 
received in the heart to lead them at length to Himself into 
heaven, which cannot possibly be effected, except by instruction. 
Must not an emperor or a king cause himself to be acknowl- 
edged and crowned, before he enters on his government ? And 
before his coronation, is he not provided with the insignia of 
authority, clothed and anointed ? Must he not bind the people 
to himself by stipulated covenants mutually confirmed by oath, 
whereupon the people become the king’s, and the king the 
people’s? Must not a bridegroom cause himself to be seen, 
before he makes proposals of betrothing, and afterwards of mar- 
riage ? Must not a father stand before his infant, embrace and 
kiss him, before the infant can say Abba, father ? and so in 
other cases. Still more must the Lord Jehovih, who is King of 
kings and Lord of lords, Apoc. xvii. 14 ; the Bridegroom and 
Husband of the church, Apoc. xxi. 9 ; and consequently the 
Father of all her offspring. By the Lord Jehovih we mean the 
Lord our Saviour and Redeemer, who in Daniel and the prophets 
throughout is called the Lord Jehovih. 

49. It was observed above, that the first state with the sons 
of Israel was the appearance of the Lord Jehovih, calling and 
confederation ; and we learn from the Word, that these three 
things took place first with Abram, secondly with Moses, and 
thirdly with all the people. The appearance of the Lord 
Jehovih before Abraham is thus described in Genesis, Jehovah 
appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre ; he was sitting 
at the door of his tent , and when he lifted up his eyes and saw , 
behold three men stood near him , whom as soon as he saw , he ran 
to meet them from the door of the tent , and bowed himself to the 
earth ; and he said , Adonai, if 1 have found grace in thy eyes , 
pass not away , I pray , from thy servant , chap. x'Gii. 1, 2, 3, 
Ac. It was the Lord our Saviour, who appeared in His divine 
trinity, represented by the three angels, for the Lord said 
Abraham exulted to see my day , arid he saw and rejoiced , 
859 


49— 50 


CORONIS. 


verily , verily , 7 s&y twito Before Abraham was , / J ohn 
viii. 5(3, 58. There is in the Lord a divine trinity, and the 
divine unity in the divine trinity was represented by three men, 
who were also called angels, chap, xviii. 2 ; chap. xix. 1. But 
in His divine unity He was called Adonai, chap, xviii. 3 ; chap, 
xix. 18 ; and also very frequently Jehovah, chap, xviii. 13, 14, 
IT, 19, 20, 22, 26, 33. The appearance of the Lord Jehovih 
before Moses is thus described in Exodus, The angel of Jehovah 
appeared to Moses at the mountain at IToreb , in a flam,e of fire 
out of the midst of a bush : therefore Moses said , I will go aside 
and see this great vision , why the bush is not burnt ; and Jeho- 
vah saw that he went aside , therefore God cried to him out of the 
midst of the bush , and said Moses , Moses : and moreover Moses 
said to God , What is thy name f God said , I Am who I Am ; 
thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel , I Am hath sent me to 
you , chap. iii. 2, 3, 4, &c. 14, 15, &c. The appearance of the 
Lord Jehovih before all the people is thus also described 
in Exodus, Jehovah said to Moses , Speak, unto the sons of Israel , 
that they be ready against the third day, for on the third day 
Jehovah will descend in the eyes of all the people upon Mount 
Sinai : and it came to pass on the third day , that there were 
voices , and lightnings , and thick clouds upon the mountain , and 
the voice of a trumpet exceedingly vehement , so that all the peo- 
ple who were in the camp t/rembled : Mount Sinai was altogether 
in a smoke, for He descended upon it in fire, and promulgated 
the law before the people, chap. xix. 9 to 24 ; and chap. xxiv. 9 
to 18. The Lord also appeared to Joshua as Prince of the army 
of Jehovah, before whom Joshua fell on his face to the earth, 
and called him his Adonai, chap. v. 13, 14. 

49J. The calling of the sons of Israel to the land of 
Canaan, thus to the church, was also three times made, 
once to Abram, that he should depart thither out of his native 
country with the promise that his seed should inherit that land, 
Gen. xii. 1 to T. The calling was also made through Moses, 
Exod. iii. 16, 17 ; and again through Joshua, chap. i. 3 to 11. 

50. A COVENANT WAS ALSO ENTERED INTO SEVERAL TIMES, 

first with Abram, as related in Gen xvii. 1 to 14 ; then with the 
people, Exod. xxiv. 7, 8 ; and again, Josh. xxiv. 24, 25. Hence 
then it is evident, that the first state of this church was the ap- 
pearance of the Lord Jehovih, calling and confederation, and 
rise or morning. That the Lord Jehovih in the Word through- 
out denotes Jehovah in His humanity, who is the Lord our 
Redeemer and Saviour, will be seen in the following pages 


360 


COEONIS 


51 


II. 

too yevO'nd state of the church was instruction , and after - 
wards introduction into the land of Canaan , progres- 
sion into light , ate afoy. 

51. It was shown above, that the ancient or Hoahtic church, 
as well as the Israelitish church now treated of, was with respect 
to the whole of its worship a representative church. The reason 
of this was of the divine providence, because Jehovah had not 
then assumed the natural human, which he took upon Himself 
by incarnation in the womb of Mary, thus according to the 
order established by creation ; and till this had taken place, He 
could not be conjoined to man as to the interiors of his spirit, 
nor consequently could He manifest to man’s interior perception 
his divine things, which are celestial and spiritual, and thus far 
above- the reach of the bodily senses. Indeed this was as im- 
possible as it is to cause a bird to fly in ether, or a fish to swim 
in air. Were Jehovah to enter into man in any other way than 
by His humanity, it would be like casting the branch of a tree 
into the very focus of a burning glass, or like putting quick- 
silver on a piece of wood while burning in a furnace, in which 
case they would instantly be dissipated. Jehovah in the ardor 
of His divine love is like a consuming fire, in which were He to 
enter man without His humanity, He would destroy him, as 
was just observed : wherefore He said to Moses, when he was 
desirous of seeing His glory, that no man could see Him and 
live. But the case was totally altered, after he had assumed 
the natural human, and had united it when glorified to His 
divine, and thus had conjoined in Himself the divine celestial, 
the divine spiritual, and the divine natural, into one. He could 
then by means thereof conjoin Himself to man in his natural, 
yea, in his sensual (human), and at the same time to his spirit 
or mind in his rational (human), and thus could illustrate man’s 
natural lumen with celestial light. That such conjunction was 
effected after the coming of Jehovah into the world, is evident 
from the Lord’s own words, In that day ye shall know , that 1 
am in my Father , and ye in me , and I in you , John xiv. 20. 
How before the incarnation of Jehovah, there could be no con- 
junction with Him, except by means of an angel, thus by means 
of a representative humanity ; on which account also all things 
of the church at that time were made representative, and in 
consequence thereof men worshipped Jehovah by types thaj af- 
fected the bodily senses, and at the same time corresponded to 
spiritual things. Hence the men of the ancient church, and 
still more those of the Israelitish church, were external and 
natural, nor could they become internal and spiritual, as men 
can since the coming of the Lord, nevertheless, those whc 
861 


CORONIS. 


51, 52 

acknowledged Jehovah, and with him Adonai (that is, the 
Lord who was to come, and who in the Word is called the Lord 
Jehovih, the God of Israel and His Holy One, Messiah or the 
Anointed of Jehovah, a King, a Rock, and in some places a 
Son), and who worshipped them together, received holiness in 
their spirits, and hence in the typical institutions of their reli- 
gion. The rest, however, did not receive it ; and hence their 
religion was not religion, but superstition ; and their worship 
was not representative, but idolatrous ; and although it was 
similar in the external form, yet it was dissimilar in the in- 
ternal. But in order to illustrate this subject further, it shall 
be illustrated by comparisons. Idolatrous worship is like one 
who venerates a king, prince, nobleman, or any person of high 
dignity, merely on account of the pomp of his courtiers and 
retinue, the magnificence of his chariots, his horsemen and 
footmen, and the splendor of his purple robes: but genuine 
representative worship is like one who regards a king, prince, 
nobleman, or any person of high dignity, from his religion and 
wisdom, his justice and judgment, and who regards the above- 
mentioned insignia of honor, in consideration of these virtues. 
Again, idolatrous worship is like one who regards the primate of 
a church merely on account of his turban, and its jewels, or any 
other prelate or bishop on account of his mitre or bonnet : but 
genuine representative worship is like one who regards them 
from their zealous love for the souls of the members of the 
church, and for their eternal salvation, and who in consideration 
thereof regards the honorable marks of distinction on their 
heads. Moreover idolatrous worship is like a field full of corn- 
stalks without ears, or of ears without corn, or even of corn 
without any nucleus, and so on ; but genuine representative 
worship is like a field full of ripe corn, whose grains swell in 
substance^ and afford flour and bread in abundance. Idolatrous 
worship is also like an egg, in which there is no spermatic 
humor : but genuine representative worship is like an egg, in 
which there is a prolific principle, that produces a chicken. To 
make yet another comparison between those two kinds of wor- 
ship ; idolatrous worship is like one who has lost the sense of 
smell and taste by some flux of humors, and who applies grapes 
to his nostrils, or pours wine on his tongue, without being sen- 
sible of any thing but their touch : but genuine representative 
worship is like one, who exquisitely perceives both the fragrance 
of the grape and the flavor of the wine, and thus enjoys the use 
of both with pleasure. 

52. That the second state of this church was instruction, 
follows from order ; for when any one is called to the church, 
he must be instructed in the precepts of religion, according to 
which he is to live. That this took place with the sons of Israel 
after their calling, is evident from the promulgation of the law 
862 


CORONIS. 


52, 55 

on Mount Sinai, which law contains all things of love and faith 
to God, and all things of love and fidelity towards the neighbor. 
Instruction in the generals of life and faith, was followed by a 
publication of various laws, or judgments and statutes, respect- 
ing the sanctification of the sabbath, stated feasts, sacrifices, 
the priesthood, the tabernacle, holy worship within it, and on 
the altar without it ; also respecting the eating of sanctified 
things, the ministry of Aaron and his sons, their garments and 
the consecration thereof, and the sanctification of all things 
appertaining to the tabernacle by the oil of anointing ; likewise 
respecting the order of Levites, marriage and divorce, cleansing, 
food, places of refuge, and various other things, which were all 
natural representations corresponding to spiritual things. The 
last four books of the Word written by Moses are nothing else 
than books of instruction for that church. After these instruc- 
tions the sons of Israel were introduced into the land of Canaan ; 
consequently into the church itself ; for the land of Canaan 
represented and thence signified the church. That land was 
situated in the middle of our globe ; on the front it looked 
towards Europe, on the left towards Africa, and on the back 

S art and right side towards Asia. But the precepts given by 
[oses were enriched, after they came into that land, by the pro- 
phets, then by David their king, and lastly by Solomon after the 
building of the temple, as appears from the books of Judges, 
Samuel, and Kings. This therefore was the second state of this 
church, its progression into light, or its day. 

53. The following passages in the Word may be applied to 
these two states of this church : Jehovah will vivify us after two 
days ; in the third day he will revise us up, that we may live be- 
fore Him : Jehovah, as the aurora Ills going forth is prepared ; 
and He shall come as the rain unto us, as the latter rain He shall 
water the earth, Hos. vi. 2, 3. The God of Israel said, the 
Dock of Israel spake to me ; He is as the light of the morn- 
ing, a morning without clouds, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4. And in Mo- 
ses, My doctrine shall flow down as the rain ; my words shall 
distil as the dew, as the drops upon the grass, and as the small 
drops upon the herb : I will preach the name of Jehovah ; as- 
moe ye greatness to our God: the Bock, whose work is perfect, 
all his ways are judgment, a God of faithfulness without per- 
versity, just and right is He, Dent, xxxii. 2, 3, 4. These passages 
also serve as a confirmation, that those two states of this church 
were from our Lord, who is the God ot Israel and the Bock : 
that He is the Bock, is evident from these words in Paul, They 
all drank of the spiritual Rock which accompanied them / tub 
Bock was Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4. 


863 


54 


CORONIS. 


III. 

That the third state of this church was its declension frcnn 
true representative to idolatrous worship , and its vastation 
or evening. 

54. On the difference between representative and idolatrous 
worship some observations were made above ; from which it may 
be seen, that while the types, figures, and signs, which were 
eagerly embraced by the bodily senses as objects of religion 
by the men of the Noahtic and Israel itish churches, were not 
at the same time regarded from a superior or interior idea, 
nearly approaching to a spiritual idea, worship truly representa- 
tive with them easily declined into idolatry. This was the case 
for example, if they thought of the tabernacle, and not at the 
same time of heaven and the church, and of the habitation 
of God in them ; if they thought of the bread of faces therein, 
and not at the same time of the heavenly bread that nourishes 
the soul ; if they thought of the frankincense and perfumes 
upon the golden altar therein, and not at the same time of 
worship derived from faith and charity, and that such worship 
ascends as a grateful odor to Jehovah ; if they thought of the 
lights in the lamps of the golden candlestick when lighted up, 
and not at the same time of the illumination of the under- 
standing in the objects of their religion ; and if they thought 
of the eating of things sanctified, and not at the same time 
of the appropriation of heavenly foods, and also of the holy 
refreshment of their spirits by the performance of the sacrifices : 
the case was similar with respect to the other parts of their 
worship. Hence it is evident, that if a man of the representa- 
tive church did not at the same time regard the things apper- 
taining to that worship with a rational spirit illuminated by 
heavenly light from the Lord, but merely with a rational spirit 
instructed by the natural lumen of the world from himself, he 
might easily be carried away from genuine representative into 
idolatrous worship, and so be vastated ; for vastation is nothing 
else than a deviation, declension, and falling away from repre- 
sentative worship into idolatrous worship;* which two kinds of 
worship are similar in their external appearance, but not in 
their internal appearance. On account of* this proneness to fall 
away from one worship, which in itself was heavenly, into 
another, which in itself was infernal, the interior things of the 
church and religion could not be revealed before the coming of 
the Lord, when [they were revealed] by light from him ; such 
were the interior things concerning heaven and hell, the resur- 
rection, and the life of their spirits after death, also concerning 
the immortality of their souls, regeneration, and in short the 
864 


CORONIS. 


54, 55 

interior things relative to faith and charity ; for they would 
have regarded them scarcely any otherwise than as people view 
birds over their heads, or meteors in the air. Moreover they 
would have disguised or concealed them by the mere fallacies of 
the senses, in so gross a manner, that none of the spiritual 
things revealed w T ould have remained discernible, except so 
much as might be compared to the tip of the nose in respect to 
the face, or to a finger nail in respect to the hands. They would 
also have deformed them to such a degree, that ,in the sight of 
the angels they would have appeared no otherwise than like a 
sea-monster dressed out in a cloak, with a mitre on its head, 
and with a face, after being shaved and painted, resembling 
that of an ape, on which there is no hair; or they would have 
appeared, in the sight of the angels* like a graven image, fur- 
nished with movable joints, and made hollow, so as to admit 
some priest within it, who should walk, act, and speak, and at 
length cry out to the superstitious multitude, Prostrate your- 
selves, and call upon me, for behold I am your guardian angel, 
your tutelar deity, to whom belong holiness and divine power. 
Could the ideas of their thought concerning the spiritual things 
of the church be superior to those of Nicodemus, who w$s a 
teacher, on the subject of regeneration, and who supposed that 
it consisted in the reproduction of the whole man in the womb 
of his mother ? for he said, How can a man be born anew f can 
he enter a second time into his mother's womb f To whom the 
Lord answered , Art thou a master in Israel , and hnowest not this ? 
If I have told you earthly things , and ye believe not , how will ye 
believe if I shall tell you supra-celestial things ? John iii. 3, 4, 9, 
10, 12. They would have reasoned in the same idle and extrav- 
agant manner, if interior things, which in their essence are 
spiritual, had been revealed to them, concerning faith and 
charity, also concerning a life after death, and the state of 
heaven and hell. Wherefore to open the internal sight of their 
minds or spirits in its superior region, which alone heavenly 
light illuminates, before the coming of the Lord, who came as 
light into the world, agreeably to Lus own words in John i. 1 to 
4 ; chap. viii. 12 ; chap. xii. 35, 36, 46, was as impossible as it 
is to cause a horse to fly, or to turn it into Pegasus, or a stag 
to run in the air, or a calf upon the water ; yea, it was as im- 
possible, as it would be to convert an agate into a ruby, or a 
crystal into a diamond, or to fix a vein of silver in a common 
stone, or to make a laurel-tree produce grapes, a cedar produce 
olives, or a poplar and oak produce pears and apples ; so also it 
was as impossible, as it is to infuse the intelligence of the illus- 
trious (Edipus into the listening Davus. 

55. But what vastation is, and the cause thereof with the 
people of the Iraelitish church, may be gathered from those 
passages in the prophets, where it is mentioned, which shall 
V 865 KKK 


COEONIS. 


55, 56 


therefore be adduced in abundance. “It should be previously 
observed, that in the passages immediately following, and in 
those which shall hereafter be cited from the Word, land sig- 
nifies the church, because the land of Canaan is understood, 
where the church was ; Zion signifies the church as to the Word ; 
Jeeusalem the church as to doctrine from the Word ; the cities 
in that land doctrinals ; the mountains, hills, valleys, and 
rivees, the formal things of the church ; and the teacts of 
land therein,, the general things of the church, and these ac- 
cording to the representation of the tribe by which they were 
possessed.” 

56. The passages from the prophetic Word, treating of the 
Israelitish church, of its vastation, desolation, and breaking 
up (confractione), and wherein these terms are mentioned, and 
also the term desert, are the following : O inhabitant of Jeru- 
salem , and man of Judah, what shall I do to my vineyard that 1 
have not done ? I expected that it would produce grapes , but it 
produced wild grapes / I will make it a desolation, it shall not 
be dressed , or weeded , that the brier may come up / and houses 
shall be a devastation ; for they consider not the work of Je- 
hovah, neither do they see the deed of h<is hands , Isa., v. 3 to 12. 
Many pastors hme destroyed my vineyard ; they have trodden my 
field underfoot , they have reduced the desirable field to a deseet 
of solitude; he hath made it a solitude; O desolate, deso- 
late is the whole earth , because no one putteth it upon his heart / 
the vastators came upon all the hills in the desert, they have 
sowed wheat , but they have reaped thorns , Jer. xii. 10 to 13. A 
nation hath come up upon my earth , and hath reduced my vine to 
a waste, Joel i. 6, 7. The field was devastated, the earth 
mourned because the corn was devastated, the new wine was 
dried up, the oil languished, Joel i. 10: by vineyard and field in 
these, as in other passages of the Word, is signified the church. 
In all your habitations the cities shall be devastated, and the 
high places desolated, that your altars may be devastated and 
desolated, and your idols may cease, and your images may be 
cut off, and your works may be abolished, Ezek. vi . 6. My people 
have forgotten me, they have burnt incense to vanity, that they 
might make the earth a waste, Jer. xviii. 15, 16 : the earth here 
denotes the church. The high places of Isaac shall be vast ated, 
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be desolated, Amos vii. 9. 
Go and tell this people, Hear ye in hearing, hit understand not, 
and see ye in seeing, but knoio not ; make fat the heart of this 
people, and close up their eyes: then said the prophet, Hoio long, 
0 Adonai ? who said, Until the cities are devastated, and the 
earth is reduced to a solitude ; Jehovah will multiply deserts in 
the midst of the earth, Isa. vi. 9 to 12. Behold, Jehovah maketh 
the ea/rth empty, and- maketh it void ; the earth in emptying 
shall be emptied ; and because they have transgressed the laws 
866 


CORONIS. 


i 


56 


surmounted the statue , the covenant of eternity , 

therefore in the city there shall be a waste, and the gate shall be 
battered even to devastation, Isa. xxiv. 1 to 12. The paths 
have been devastated, the wayfaring man hath ceased , he hath 
made void the covenant ‘ conceive ye chaff , bring forth stubble , 
Isa. xxxiii. 8 to 11. I havi been silent from eternity , I will des- 
olate and devour at the same time , I will vast ate the mountains 
a/ndj the hills , Isa. xlii. 14, 15. Thy destroyers and devastators 
shall go forth out of thee / for as to thy vastations and desola- 
tions, and the earth of thy devastation, the devour ers shall 
be far distant , Isa. xlix. 17, 19. Your iniquities have separated 
between you and your God , and your sins have hid his face from 
you ‘ they laid the eggs of an asp , and wove the webs of a spider / 
vastation and confraction are in their paths / we look for light , 
but behold darkness , we grope like blind men for the wall , we 
stumble in noon-day as in the twilight , Isa. lix. 2 to 10. Thy 
cities of holiness are become a desert, Zion is become a desert, 
ind Jerusalem a waste : our house of holiness is become a con- 
flagration of fire, and all our desirable things are become a waste, 
Isa. lxiv. 10, 11. The young lions roar against Israel , they reduce 
his earth to a waste, Jer. ii. 15. Woe unto us , because we, are 
devastated; wash thy heart from wickedness, 0 Jerusalem ; how 
long shall thoughts of iniquity tarry in the midst of thee? Jer. i v. 
13, 14. As a fountain causeth its waters to flow out, so Jerusalem 
causeth her wickedness to flow out / violence and vastation shall 
be heard in her : admit of chastisement, lest I reduce thee to a 
waste ; 0 daughter of my people, gird thyself ivith sackcloth, 
and roll thyself in ashes, for the v a stator shall suddenly come 
upon us, Jer. vi. 7, 8, 26. A voice of lamentation was heard in 
Zion, How are we devastated ! because I have deserted the earth, 
Jer. ix. 19 : the earth denotes the church. My tent was devas- 
tated, all its ropes were pulled asunder, for the pastors became 
foolish, and sought not Jehovah, Jer. x. 20, 21 : tent denotes 
worship. A voice gives a great noise ; behold it comes, and a 
great tumult from the earth of the north, to reduce the cities of 
Judah to a waste, a habitation of dragons, Jer. x. 22. The 
whole earth shall be a desolation, a devastation, Jer. xxv. 
11 : earth denotes the church. The voice of a cry shall come 
from Iloronaim, devastation and a great confraction ; the 
vastator shall come upon every city, Jer. xlviii. 3, 5, 8, 9, 15, 
18. These things are spoken of Moab, by whom is understood 
confidence in one’s own works and in seif-intelligence, as ap- 
pears from ver. 27 of the same chapter : That they may want 
bread and water, and a man and his brother may be desolated, 
and may pine away on account of their iniquity, Ezek. iv. 17 : 
bread and water denote good and truth. Thou shalt be filled 
with drunkenness and sadness, with the cup of devastation and 
desolation, Ezek. xxiii. 33. Woe unto them, because they have 
867 


C0K0NIS. 


56, 57 

gone astray : devastation unto them , Hosea vii. 13. The earth 
shall he a desolation because of its inhabitants , because of the 
fruit of their works , Micah vii. 13 ; besides many other pas- 
sages, as Isa. vii. 18, 19 ; chap. xvii. 4 to 6, and 9 to 14 ; chap, 
xxii. 4 to 9 ; chap. xxix. 10, 1.1, 12 ; chap. li. 29. Jer. xix. 8 ; 
chap. xxv. 9, 10, 11, 18 ; chap. xliv. 2, 6, 22. Ezek. x. 1 to 
end ; chap. xii. 19, 20 ; chap, xxxiii. 24, 28, 29. Hosea x. 14.; 
chap. xii. 12. Joel ii. 20. Amos v. 9. Micah vi. 13, 16. 
Hab. i. 3. Hag. i. 4, 9. Zech. vii. 14 ; chap. xi. 2, 3. All 
these passages show what is meant by vastation and desolation, 
and that it is not a depopulation of the earth or of cities, but 
the vastation and desolation of the goods and truths of the 
church, in consequence of which there remains nothing but 
evils and falses. 


IV. 

That the fourth state of this church was its profanation of sanc- 
tities, and its consummation or night. 

57. Vastation and consummation differ from each other, 
as the shade of evening differs from the thick darkness of night ; 
vastation being a recession from the church, and consummation 
a full separation therefrom. Vastation therefore is like the case 
of a person descending from heaven, but not yet arrived at 
hell, and who tarries in the mid-way, standing sideways between 
the two ; but consummation is like the case of the same per- 
son, who, after so standing, turns his face and breast to hell, 
and his back and the hinder part of his head to heaven, as the 
dragon and his angels did, when they were cast down out of 
heaven (see Apoc. xii.) ; while they were fighting with Michael, 
they were in the mid-way ; but when they were overcome, they 
were in hell. Vastation takes place, when a man views the 
holy things of the church from falses and falsified truths ; but 
consummation, when he lives in evils or in adulterated goods. 
But that the difference and distinction between a state of vasta- 
tion and a state of consummation may be still more clearly 
comprehended, it shall be illustrated by comparisons. A state 
of vastation may be compared with a garden or grove surround- 
ing a temple, which garden, by reason of the divine worship 
performed in the temple, is considered holy, and yet contains 
places for drinking, feasting, dancing, and the exhibition of 
plays and buffoonery, with spectators in the courts and windows 
of the temple : but a state of consummation may be compared 
to the same garden or grove, when it contains satyrs and pria- 
868 


CORONIS. 


57—59 


prises with harlots and witches, who all together enter the 
temple dancing, and there celebrate their profane sports, as the 
Pythons did in their sabbaths. A state of vastation may also 
be compared with a hostile army, when it enters the suburbs 
of a besieged city, and rules therein : but a state of consumma- 
tion may be compared with the same army, when it demolishes 
the wall, rushes into the city, and destroys the inhabitants. A 
State of vastation may further be compared with a ship upon 
quicksands or a sandy bottom, when it is violently shaken, and 
alternately raised and depressed, so that the captain, pilot, and 
sailors, utter cries of lamentation on account of their danger : 
but a state of consummation may be compared to the same ship, 
when its keel is fretted away by the gravel beneath, and the 
planks being broken and perforated the ship sinks, and the 
people on board and the cargo are lost. A state of vastation 
may be compared with every disease which invades the members, 
viscera, and organs of the body, by reason of which, the patient, 
being apprehensive of death, consults a physician, takes medi- 
cines, and all the while keeps his bed in hopes of recovery : but 
a state of consummation may be compared to the same disease, 
when it invades the breast, wherein the heart and lungs reside 
as in their tabernacle, in which case tiie disease soon puts an end 
to the life of the body. 

58. The state of the consummation of the Israelitish church 
is described in both the historical and prophetic parts of the 
Word; in the latter, by the enormities committed first by the 
kings of the Israelites, and afterwards by the kings of the Jews, 
by whom and under whom the earth is said to be profaned. 
But it is of no use to enumerate them, because they are well 
known : those passages only shall be adduced from the prophets, 
which treat of the consummation and devastation of that church ; 
in which passages by earth, Zion, Jerusalem, cities, mountains, 
hills, valleys, and rivers, the same things are signified as stated 
above, n. 55. 

59. The following are taken from the prophetic parts of the 
Word : I saw the earth , and behold it was empty and void ; and 
towards the heavens , and they had no light ; I saw , when behold 
Carmel was a desert, and all the cities were desolated before 
Jehovah ; for thus said Jehovah , The whole earth shall be a 
waste, yet will I not make a consummation ; on this account the 
earth shall mourn , and the heavens from above shall be black- 
ened ; thou therefore that art vastated, what wilt thou do f Jer. 
iv. 23 to 31 ; chap. v. 10, 18. The lion hath come up from his 
thicket of briers, and tiie destroyer of nations hath gone forth 
from his place to reduce the earth to a waste ; in that dap the 
heart of the king shall perish , and the heart of the princes ; and 
the priests shall be astonished , Jer. iv. 7, 9. In that day every 
place in which were a thousand vines , shall be a a place of 

869 


59 


CORONIS. 


thorns and briers ; because the whole earth shall be a place of 
thorns and briers , Isa. vii. 23, 24. A voice of the cry of shep 
herds and of the powerful ones of the flock, for Jehovah is vasta- 
ting his pasture / hence the sheepfolds of peace were devastated ; 
Jehovah hath deserted his tabernacle , because their earth was 
reduced to a desolation, Jer. xxv. 36, 37, 38. This house shall 
U like Shiloh , and Jerusalem shall be a devastation, Jer. xxvi. 
9 ; chap, xxvii. 17. Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah shall 
be a desolation and devastation in this day : on account of the 
wickedness of your works , your earth is become a desolation, an 
astonishment and a curse , Jer. xliv. 2, 6, 22. I will mcike the 
earth a devastation, because they have committed prevarication, 
Ezek. xv. 8. They shall be devastated in the midst of the 
devastated earths, and her cities shall be ' in the midst of the 
desolated cities j then I will give dryness to the rivers, the earth 
into the hand of the wicked, and I will vast ate the earth and the 
fulness thereof, Ezek. xxx. 7, 12. When I shall extinguish thee, 
I will cover the heavens, and will blacken the stars thereof, I will 
cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause her 
lumen to shine / and I will give darkness upon the earth, when 
I shall bring on thy confraction, Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8, 9. This 
passage is similar to what the Lord foretold concerning the con- 
summation of the present Christian church, in Matt. xxiv. 29. 
I will make Mount Seir a waste, and a devastation ; I will 
make thee the wastes of eternity, Ezek. xxxv. 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 

15. In that day they shall bring up a proverb upon you, and 
say, In vastating we are vastated, Micah ii. 4. Fear and a 
pit have come upon us, devastation and confraction, Lam. iii. 
47. The mountain of Zion is vastated, Lam. v. 18. Thy in- 
iquity is consummated, 0 daughter of Zion, Lam. iv. 22. Woe 
to the sinful nation, heavy with iniquity ; they have provoked 
the Holy One of Israel ; from the sole of the foot even to the head 
there is no integrity / your earth is a solitude ; the daughter of 
Zion is left as a tent in a vineyard, as a city besieged, Isa. i. 4 to 
9, &c. What will ye do in the day ^ visitation and devasta- 
tion ? Consummation is determined, justice is overwhelmed ; 
shall not Adonai Jehovih make a consummation and decision 
in the whole earth f Isa. x. 3, &c. 22, 23. Adonai Jehovih is 
making a consummation and decision in the whole earth, Isa. 
xxviii. 22. The prophet fell upon his faces, and said, Adonai 
Jehovih, thou art making a consummation with the remnants of 
Israel, Ezek. xi. 13. My sanctuary was profaned, and the 
earth of Israel was devastated, Ezek. xxv. 3. Were evfen 
Noah, Daniel, and Job in the midst thereof, they alone should 
be delivered, but the earth shall become a desolation, Ezek. xiv. 

16. The last of the consummation of the Israelitish and Jewish 
church was accomplished, when our Lord the Saviour, after re- 
ceiving the sponge of vinegar, cried out upon the cross, b is 

870 


CORONIS. 


59, 594 

consummated, John xix. 29, 30 ; for it is written in David, They 
gave for my food gall , and in my thirst they gave me vinegar 
to drink • let their habitation be devastated, Psalm xlix. 21, 25. 
And in another place, Without a cause they have hid for me the 
'pit with a snare , without a cause they home digged for my soul ; 
let devastation come upon him before he is aware , let him fall 
into devastation ; rescue my soul from their devastators, and 
from the lions' whelps my choice one , that is, the church, Psalm 
xxxv. 7, 8, 17. I will make Jerusalem heaps , the habitation of 
dragons ; I will reduce the cities of Judah to a waste ; behold I 
will feed them , even this people, with wormwood , and Iwill give 
them waters of gall to drink , Jer. xi. 11 to 15. Full consum- 
mation after this is described in Hosea thus, The sons of Israel 
shall sit many days , no king , no prince, no sacrifice, no image, 
no ephod, and no teraphim, chap. iii. 4 : such is their state at the 
present day. We have not time to adduce more passages, and 
shall only cite those, in which the vastation, desolation, and 
consummation of this church are still further mentioned, as 
Isa. ix. 12 to 20 ; chap. xxii. 4 to 14. Jer. vii. 31 to 34 ; chap, 
xxv. 33 ; chap, xlvii. 4. Ezek. xiii. 14, 15 ; chap. xiv. 8, 15 ; 
chap. xix. 7 ; chap. xxv. 12, 13 ; chap. xxvi. 2 ; chap. xxix. 9, 
10, 12; chap, xxxii. 12, 15. Joel i. 15 to 20; chap. ii. 3; 
chap. iv. 19. Nahum i. 8, 9. Zeph. i. 29 ; chap. ii. 9. Lam. 
i. 16. Psalm lxxiii. 17, 18, 19. Psalm Ixxiv. 3. The devas- 
tated are also called the pierced, Ezek. xi. 6, 7 ; chap. xxi. 
30, 34 ; chap. xxvi. 6 ; chap, xxviii. 8, 23 ; chap. xxxi. 17, 18 ; 
chap, xxxii. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 ; chap. xxxv. 
8. Zeph. ii. 12. Lam. iv. 9. Psalm lxix. 28 ; and in other 
places. They are said to be pierced [or thrust through], because 
a sword, by which this is done, signifies the false destroying 
truth. 


V. 

That before this state, and after it, a promise was made of the 
coming of the Lord Jehovih into the world, and of a New 
Church, wherein justice and judgment should reign. 

591. It is well known from the reading of the prophetic 
Word of the Old Testament, that in many places therein the 
coming of our Lord was foretold, and also that the Lord is 
there characterized and called by various names, such as the 
following; Jehovah Zebaoth, Jehovah our Justice, Je- 
hovah our Saviour and Redeemer, the Lord J ehovih, 
Adonai, Immanuel or God with us, the God of Israel, 
871 


CORONIS. 


59 £ 

the Holy One of Israel, the Rock of Israel, Messiah 
or the Anointed of Jehovah, King, David, the Mighty 
One of Jacob, .the Shepherd of Israel, High Priest 
a Priest after the manner of Melchizedech, the Son 
of God, the Son of Man, the Angel of JehovAh, the 
Angel of the Covenant, the Grand Prophet, Shiloh ; 
and in Isaiah, Counsellor, Prince of Peace, Father of 
Eternity ; and in the Hew Covenant, Jesus Christ, and Son 
of God. That the coming of our Lord was foretold in very 
many places in the prophets, will be seen from the predictions 
to that effect, which will be quoted in the following paragraph. 
But it may be asked, Why was the prediction concerning his 
advent so frequently made? For this there were several reasons, 
some regarding the Israelitish and Jewish people, and some re- 
garding the Christian people after them : but we will enumerate 
the reasons which chiefly regarded the Israelitish and Jewish 
people. The first was, that by the naming and remembrance 
of him they might be kept in the interior worship of Jehovah, 
seeing that without him there was no entrance for Jehovah to 
any of them, nor access for any of them to Jehovah. The case 
was the same then as it is at this day, that no one hath seen God 
the Father • the only -begotten Son , who is in the bosom of the 
Father , He hath set him forth , John i. 18 • chap. v. 37 : and 
again, No one cometh to the Father but by me ) John xiv. 6. 
The second reason regarding that people was, that the repre- 
sentative types of their church, which all had respect to our 
Lord and to the church to be established by him after his com- 
ing, might serve them as so many marks and symbols of their 
worship ; consequently that they might acknowledge him at his 
coming, and suffer themselves to be introduced into the inter- 
nals of worship directed to him, and together with the nations 
which surrounded them become Christians. The third reason 
was, that by the remembrance of his coming some notion or 
idea concerning the resurrection and eternal life might enter 
into their thoughts ; for which of them would not think within 
himself or in his heart, What have we to do with the Messiah 
after we are dead, unless we return then, see his glory, and 
reign with him? From this source was derived the religious 
persuasion prevalent among them, that at that time they were 
to rise again, each out of his grave, and to return into the land 
of Canaan. The fourth reason was, that in their state of 
vastation and oppression, when they were in temptations and 
afflictions, they might be succored and healed, as their fathers 
and brethren were in the desert, Hum. xxi. 1 to 9 ; John iii. 
14, 15 ; for without such succor and healing they would have 
uttered scandalous aspersions against Jehovah, and departed in 
crowds from the representative worship of him to idolatrous 
worship. Indeed temptations and afflictions, in a state of va* 
872 


CORONIS. 


59 * 

tation and oppression, are no other than combats of the Lord 
with the devil touching man, that is, touching his soul, which 
shall possess it ; of which state it may be said, that the God of 
Israel or the Lord the Messiah stands on one side, and Beel- 
zebub and the serpent the devil on the other, and that the 
latter casts scandalous reproaches against the Lord like a rivei 
out of his mouth, but that the Lord averts and removes them, 
and thus delivers man from spiritual captivity and slavery. This 
combat is felt in man, as if it were from himself. That tempta- 
tion is such a combat, accompanied by such a perception in 
man, and consequent co-operation, I can testify upon oath, for 
having often experienced it I know it to be so. That it is car- 
ried on out of the man, and is felt in him as from himself, and 
that man stands in the middle and co-operates, is to the end 
that a reward may be imputed to him when he conquers ; but 
only he conquers who looks to the Lord, and trusts in him 
alone for help. That every one, who calls upon the Lord in 
temptations, conquers, but that otherwise he is overcome, shall 
be illustrated by comparisons. It is like a ship driven by a 
storm near rocks, when, unless the pilot has skill to keep it 
from dashing against them, and to change its course so as to 
bring it safe into port, the ship must be lost. It is like a city 
besieged by enemies, when, if there be no wa} r to escape, or to 
procure help, the commanding officer and his troops become 
hopeless and heartless, and deliver themselves up prisoners, 
submitting their lives to the discretion of their enemy. It is 
like a person on a journey entering unawares into a cottage 
where there are robbers, and who, on being shut in, has no 
friend to come and knock at the door, or to show himself before 
the window, and thereby terrify the villains, and secure him 
from ill-treatment. It is like a person accidentally going into a 
cave w r here there is a bear with its cubs, or falling into a pit 
where there are a wolf and a leopard, and his father or brother, 
on seeing this, do not immediately let down to him a ladder or 
a rope, and extricate him from his perilous situation. It is like 
a person standing or walking in the daytime in a thick fog, 
and in consequence thereof not knowing which way to turn, 
unless he lights a candle, and thereby discovers the place where 
he stands, or the way in which he should walk. It is like being 
in the depth of winter, and in want of provisions, if not sup- 
ported by the hope of the approaching harvest on the return of 
the season. So again it is like a person wandering at midnight 
in a wood, unless he comforts himself with the hope of light, 
and in that hope goes to rest, and sleeps quietly till the morn- 
ing. It is also like a person, who, for the sake of salvation, 
is desirous of being instructed in the things appertaining to the 
Christian religion, and who meets with mitred doctors and lau- 
relled teachers, who explain them by terms borrowed from the 
873 


59J, 60 


COEONIS. 


metaphysical art, and involve them in mystery ; when yet there 
is no other person to dissect those terms, and thereby rid the 
subject of its intricacies, and from the Word, thus from the 
Lord, to place the holy things of the church in a clear point of 
view : would he not in such case be deluded by the falsities rel- 
ative to faith, and other matters of opinion, which depend on 
the established faith, just as the links of a chain hang together 
from a hook fixed in the wall ? The case would be similar in 
temptations and their attendant infestations from satans, unless 
man looked with confidence to the Lord, and with all earnest- 
ness implored help and deliverance from him alone. For these 
reasons it is, that the coming of the Lord is so frequently pre- 
dicted in the Old Prophetic Word, and for the same reasons 
also the Lord is preached in the Stew Evangelical and Apos- 
tolical Word, and his second coming foretold; on which subject 
see the following quotations. 

60. Now follow some passages concerning the coming of the 
Lord, collected from the prophecies of the Old Word; namely, 
Jehovah God said , Lo, I come ; in the volume of the book it is 
written of me, Psalm xl. 7. Jehovah God. said to the serpent, 
Be thou cursed ; I will put enmity betvieen thee and the woman, 
and between thy seed and her seed-; and this shall trample under 
foot thy head , but thou shalt injure the heel , Gen. iii. 14, 15. The 
sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between 
his feet, until Shiloh come ; to him shall the cleaving of the people 
be, Gen. xlix. 10. These words are a part of the prophetic 
declarations of Israel the father concerning his sons. A star 
shall appear out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, 
Numb. xxiv. 17. Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a pro- 
phet out of the midst of thy brethren, like m,e ; him ye shall obey ; 
and I will put my words in his mouth ; whence it shall come to 
pass, that the man who will not obey his words, I will question 
with him, Deut. x viii. 15 to 19. .Adonai himself gives you a sign, 
Behold a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and shall call 
his name God with us, Isa. vii. 14. A boy is born to us, a son is 
given to us, on whose shoulder shall be the principality , His name 
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eter- 
nity, Prince of Peace : to His multiplying the principality there 
shall be no end, Isa. ix. 6, 7. A rod shall go forth from the stem 
of Jesse, and a young brcmchfrom his root shall bear fruit ; upon 
him shall rest the spirit of wisdom and intelligence, the spirit oj 
counsel and virtue, Isa. xi. 1, 2. In that day the nations shall 
seek the root of Jesse, which stands for an ensign of the people, 
and his rest shall be gloi'y, Isa. xi. 10. Send ye the lamb of the 
ruler of the earth from the rock towards the desert ; his throne 
was established through mercy, and he shall sit upon it in truth in 
. the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, andhasten* 
ing justice, Isa. xvi. 1, 5. It shall be said in that day, Lo, this 
674 


C0R0NIS. 


60 


is our God, whom we have expected , that tie may deliver us y this 
is Jehovah, whom we have expected, we will exult and bt glad in 
his salvation, Isa. xxv. 9 ; chap. xxvi. 8, 9. The voice of one 
crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make plain 
in the solitude a path for our God y the glory of Jehovah shall be 
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, Isa. xl. 3, 5. Ascend 
upon the high mountain, 0 evangelizing Zion y lift up thy voice 
with power, 0 evangelizing Jerusalem y say to the cities of Judah, 
Behold your God, behold Adonai Jehovih, he cometh in strength , 
and his arm shall rule for him ; behold his reward is with him y 
as. a shepherd he shall feed his flock, he shall gather the lambs into 
his arm, and shall carry them in his bosom-, he shall gently lead 
the sucklings, Isa. xl. 9 to 11. My people shall know my name in 
that day, for I am he who doth speak, behold me y how delightful 
upon the mountains are the feet of him thatevangelizeth, that caus- 
eth peace to be heard, that evangelizeth good, that causeth salvation 
to be heard, that saith to Zion, Thy king reigneth : they shall lift 
up the voice and sing, when they shall see eye to eye, that Jehovah 
is returned to Zion y He hath comforted His people, He hath re- 
deemed Jerusalem y all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation 
of our God, Isa. lii. 6 to 10. Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Be- 
hold thy salvation cometh , his reward is with him, and the price 
of his work is before him, Isa. lxii. 11. Shout for joy , and be glad, 
0 daughter of Zion y behold I come, that I may dwell in the midst 
of thee ; then many nations shall cleave to Jehovah, Zech. ii. 10, 
11. Exult greatly, 0 daughter of Zion, sound the trumpet, 0 
daughter of Jerusalem y behold, thy king cometh to thee, he is 
just, Zech. ix. 9. Behold, the days shall come, when I will raise 
up to David a j ust branch, who shall reign a king and prosper, 
and He shall do judgment and justice in the earth y and this is 
His name, Jehovah our Justice, Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 ; chap, xxxiii. 15, 
16. Behold, I send my angel, who shall prepare the way before 
me y and the Lord, ivhom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his tem- 
ple, and the angel of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold he shall 
come, Mai. iii. 1. Thou Bethlehem- of Ephratah, it is little that 
thou art among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he go 
forth to me, who may be ruler in Israel, and whose going forth is 
of old, from the days of eternity y he shall stand and feed in the 
strength of Jehovah, and shall increase even to the ends of the 
earth, Micah v. 2, 4. I anoint my king upon Zion ; I will de- 
clare concerning the statute, Jehovah saith unto me. Thou art my 
Son, this day have I begotten thee y ask of me , and I will give the 
nation-s for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy pos- 
session : kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way y 
blessed are all they that trust in Him, Psalm ii. 6 to 12. Behold 
the God of my salvation y I will trust and not be afraid : cry out 
and shout for joy, 0 inhabitant of Zion, for great in the midst 
of thee is the Holy One of Israel, Isa. xii. 2 to 6. In that day a 
875 


60 


CORONIS. 


man shall have respect to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to 
the Holy One of Israel, Isa. xvii. 7. My beloved had a vineyard 
in a horn of oil, Isa. v. 1 . Jehovah Zebaoth, ye shall sanctify 
Him ; He shall be for a' sanctuary, although for a stone of stum * 
bling, and for a rock of offence, and for a snare, and for a gin to 
the inhabitant of Jerusalem, Isa. viii. 13, 14. Matt. xxi. 42 tc 
44. Luke xx. 17, 18. The people that walk in darkness shall 
see a great light / they that dwell in the earth of the shadow of 
death, light shall shine forth upon them, Isa. ix. 2. God shall 
shine forth out of Zion ; our God shall come, and shall not be 
silent, Psalm 1. 2, 3. As yet the vision is for an appointed time, 
and speaks out to the end, yet it shall not lie / if he tarry, wait 
for him, for in coming he will come, he will not be delayed, Hab. 
ii. 3. 0 Jehovah, I have heard thy fame, I revered thy work / 0 

Jehovah, in the midst of the years make it present ; God shall 
come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Par an • his 
honor covered the heavens, and the earth was filled with his 
praise / his splendor shall be as the light, he hath rays coming out 
of his hand, and there is the hiding of his strength, Hab. iii. 2, 
3, 4. Thus said Adonai Jehovih, Behold, I will lay in Zion a 
stone, a stone of probation, a precious corner of a well-established 
foundation ; then Iwillputyudgm entfor a rule, and justice for a 
plumb-line, Isa. xxviii. 16, 17. The Lord is described as to the 
Word above the expanse of cherubim, and is called Adonai Je- 
hovih, Ezek. i. 26, 27, 28; chap. ii. 4; chap. iii. 11, 27 ; chap, 
iv. 14 ; chap. v. 7, 11 ; chap. vi. 9, 11 ; chap. vii. 2, 5 ; chap, 
viii. 14. In Isaiah, chap. liii. throughout, the Lord is treated 
of, and the state of His life in the world is described thus, — 
That He had no form, or honor ; that He was despised, and not 
esteemed ; that He was pierced on account of our prevarications ; 
bruised on account of our iniquities ; that Jehovah caused to fall 
upon Him the iniquities of us all ; that as a lamb He was led 
to the sacrifice ; that He was cut off out of the earth of the 
living ; that, because He made His soul guilty, His days should 
be prolonged ; that for them He emptied His soul even to 
death ; that He was numbered with the prevaricators ; and that 
He interceded for the prevaricators, verses 1 to 12. I ha/ve 
stirred him up injustice : he shall build my city / and he shall 
dismiss my captivity, not for price, or for reward ; truly thou 
art a hidden God, 0 God of Israel the Saviour, Isa. xlv. 13, 
15. I have caused my justice to draw near, and my salvation 
shall not tarry, Isa. xlvi. 13. As to our Redeemer , Jehovah Ze- 
baoth is His name, and the Holy One of Israel, Isa. xlvii. 3. 
O Jehovah our Lord, hoio magnificent is thy name in the ivhole 
earth! to whom give honor above the heavens ; thou hast 
caused him to be in want a little more than the angels , but thou 
hast crowned him with honor and glory : thou hast made him tc 
have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all 
876 


CORONIS. 


6: 


things under his feet, Psalm viii. 2, 5, 6, 10. God shall, descend 
like rain upon the herb : and he shall hare dominion from sea 
even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth / 
before him barbarians and enemies shall bow themselves down, 
they shall lick his dust y the kings of Tarshish and of the islands 
shall present their offering / the kings of Sheba and Seba shall 
bring their gift : all kings shall bow themselves down to him, all 
nations shall serve him ’ for he will deliver the miserable, who 
hath no helper / from deceit and violence he shall redeem their 
soul, his name shall be to eternity / before the sun he shall 
ha/ve the name of a Son , and they shall be blessed in him ; 
blessed be God, the God of Israel ; blessed be the name of his 
glory / all the earth shall be filled with his glory. Amen and 
Amen, Psalm lxxii. 6 to 19. I have made a covenant with my 
elect, I will establish thy seed even to eternity, and I will build 
up thy throne to generation and generation ; and the heavens 
shall confess thy miracles Psalm lxxxix. 3, 4, 5. 

877 


A 


BRIEF CONTINUATION 

OF THE 

CORONIS. 


SUMMARY. 

I. That four churches have existed on this earth since the 
day of its creation ; a first, called the Adamic ; a second, called 
the Noahtic ; a third, called the Israelitish ; and a fourth, called 
the Christian. 

II. That each church passed through four successive states 
or periods, which are understood by morning, mid-day, evening, 
and night. 

III. That each church has undergone four successive changes 
of states ; first, — the appearing of the Lord Jehovah and re- 
demption, which was also its morning or rise ; second, — instruc- 
tion, mid-day or progression ; third, — declension, evening or 
vastation ; the fourth being its end, night or consummation. 

IY. That after its end, or consummation, the Lord Je- 
hovah appears and. executes judgment on the members of the 
former church, and separates the good from the evil, and raises 
the good to Himself into heaven, and removes the evil from 
Himself into hell. 

Y. That after this the Lord Jehovah forms a new heaven of 
the good that are raised to Him, and a new hell of the evil 
that are removed from Him ; and that He establishes order in 
respect to each, that they may remain under His auspices and 
obedience to eternity ; and that then successively through this 
new heaven He begins and establishes a new church on earth. 

YI. That this divine work, considered collectively, is called 
redemption, without which no man can be regenerated, or 
saved. 

YII. That the Lord Jehovah derives and produces a new 
church on earth from this new heaven, which thing he effects 
by revelation of truth from His own mouth, or from His Word, 
and by inspiration. 

878 


A BRIEF CONTINUATION. 


8—19 


VIII. That these periodical changes of state, which suc- 
ceeded in the first and Most Ancient or Adamic Church, are 
described by Moses in the first chapters of Genesis, but by 
celestial representatives, and by such things in the world as cor- 
respond to the spiritual things of the Lord. 

IX. That the periodical changes of state, which succeeded 
in the second and Ancient or Xoahtic Church, are also de- 
scribed in Genesis, and in many parts of the other four books 
of Moses. 

X. That the periodical changes of state, which succeeded 
in the third, or Israelitish Church, are also described in Moses, 
and in Joshua, in Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and in the 
Prophets. 

XI. That the periodical changes which succeeded in the 
fourth, or Christian Church, are described in the Word of both 
the Old and Xew Testaments ; in particular, its rise or morn- 
ing is described in the Evangelists, in the Acts, and in the 
writings of the Apostles ; its progression towards mid-day, in 
the ecclesiastical history of the first three centuries ; its de- 
clension or evening, in the history of the following ages ; 
and its vastation, and final consummation, or night, in the 
Apocalypse. 

XII. That after these four churches, a new church will 
arise, which will be the true Christian Church, foretold in 
Daniel and in the Apocalypse, and by the Lord himself in the 
Evangelists ; which church was expected by the Apostles. 

****** 

XIII. That the church successively declines from the truths 
of faith and the goods of charity, and that it declines in the 
same proportion from the spiritual understanding and the 
genuine sense of the Word. 

XIV. Consequently, that the church in the same proportion 
departs from the Lord, and removes the Lord from itself. 

XV. That in proportion as this is effected, in the same pro- 
portion it draws to its end. 

XVI. That the church is at an end, when there is no longer 
any truth of faith and any genuine good of charity. 

XVII. That the church is then in falses and consequent 
evils, and in evils, and consequent falses. 

XVIII. That hence hell increases from those who depart 
from the world, rising up towards heaven, and interposing 
itself between heaven and the church, as a black cloud between 
the sun and the earth. 

XIX. That this interposition prevents every truth of faith, 
and thence every genuine good of charity, from penetrating to 
the men of the church ; instead of which, they have truth 
879 


19—36 


A BRIEF CONTINUATION 


falsified, which in itself is false, and good adulterated, which 
in itself is evil. 

XX. That then naturalism and atheism together invade the 
church. 

XXI. That this state of the church is understood and de 
scribed in the Word, by vastation, desolation, and consummation 

****** 

XXII. That while the vastation exists, and before the con- 
summation arrives, the coming of the Lord is announced, with 
redemption from the Lord, and a new church. 

XXIII. That these three, while the Israelitish Church still 
existed, were announced in many parts of the prophetic Word. 

XXIY. That the prophetic Word almost throughout treats 
of vastation and consummation, of the last judgment at that 
time, of the coming of the Lord, of a new church, and of re 
demption. 

XXV. That the coming of the Lord ) 

XXVI. That redemption > are now at hand. 

XXVII. That a new church ) 

****** 

XXVIII. The particulars of redemption, by which alone 
salvation is effected, which was accomplished by Jehovah God, 
who is our Lord Jesus Christ. 

XXIX. That the first act of redemption was the total sub- 
jugation of the hells. 

XXX. That the second act of redemption was the separa- 
tion of the evil from the good, and the casting of the evil into 
hell, and the raising of the good into heaven. 

XXXI. And afterwards the reduction to order of all in hell, 
and the reduction to order of all in heaven. 

XXXII. With instruction concerning the truths which will 
belong to faith, and in the goods which will belong to charity. 

XXXIII. And thus the establishment of a new church. 

XXXIV. That the final and efficient cause of redemption 
was the regeneration of man, and his salvation thereby. 

XXXV. That since the Lord alone is the Redeemer, He 
alone is also the Regenerator, and therefore the Saviour. 

****** 

XXXVI. That the Lord by His first advent, and by the 
redemption then effected, could not form a new heaven, and 
from that heaven a new church of Christians, because there 
were then no Christians ; but men became Christians succes- 
sively, by the preaching and writings of the Apostles. 

880 


OF THE CORONIS. 


37—52 


XXXVTI. That neither could it be effected afterwards, since 
from the beginning so many heresies broke into the church, 
that scarce any doctrine of faith and charity appeared in its 
own light. 

XXXVIII. And that in process of time the apostolic doc- 
trine was shaken, torn, and adulterated by detestable and 
wicked heresies. 

XXXIX. That this is meant by “ the abomination of deso- 
lation,” and by “ the affliction such as was not, neither will be,” 
and by “ the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars,” in the 
Evangelists, in Daniel, and in the Prophets, and by the dragon 
and many other things in the Apocalypse. 

XL. Since the Lord foresaw these things, therefore in order 
that man „ might be saved, He promised that He would come 
again into the world, and accomplish redemption, and establish 
a new church, which shall be a true Christian Church. 

XLI. That the Lord Himself foretold His second coming, and 
that the Apostles frequently prophesied of it, and John plainly 
in the Apocalypse. 

XLII. In like manner of the new church, which is meant by 
the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse. 

XLIII. That this second redemption is effected in the same 
manner as the first, which was spoken of above, from n. xxviii. 
to xxxv. 

XLIV. That the regeneration and salvation of the members 
of the church, is also its final and efficient cause. 

****** 

XLV. That the falses which have hitherto desolated the 
Christian Church, and at length consummated it, were principally 
the following. 

XL VI. 1. That its members receded from the worship of 
the Lord preached by the Apostles, and from faith in Him. 

XLVII. 2. That they separated the Divine Trinity from the 
Lord, and transferred it to three divine and eternal persons, and 
consequently to three gods. 

XLVIII. 3. That they divided saving faith among these 
three nersons 

XLIX. 4. That they separated charity and good works from 
this faith, as not being at the same time of a saving nature. ^ 

L. 5. That they deduced from this faith alone, justification, 
that is, the remission of sins, regeneration, and salvation, inde< 
pendent of man’s co-operation. 

LI. 6. That they denied marl free-will in spiritual things, 
asserting thus, that God alone operates in man, and that on his 
part man does not operate at all. . 

LII. 7. That the necessary consequence of this was Pre- 
destination, by which religion is abolished. 

881 


LLL 


53—62 


A BRIEF CONTINUATION 


LOT. 8 . That they made the passion of the cross to be 
redemption. 

LI V . That from these tenets falses burst forth in such abun- 
dance, that there was no longer any genuine truth unfalsified, 
nor any genuine good unadulterated. 

LY. That the church is totally ignorant of its desolation and 
consummation, and cannot know any thing of it, until the Divine 
Truths revealed by the Lord in the work entitled True Christian 
Religion, are seen in the light and acknowledged. 

LYI. That the Word is so darkened and changed, that no 
truth any longer appears in it. 

LYII. That this new Christian Church shall not be estab- 
lished like the former by miracles, and this for many reasons. 

LYIII. But that instead of miracles, the spiritual sense of 
the Word is revealed, and the spiritual world discovered, and 
the nature of heaven and hell manifested, also that man lives a 
man after death as before ; which discoveries are to be preferred 
to all miracles. 

****** 

LIX. That this new and true Christian Church, which the 
Lord is establishing at this day, will exist to all eternity ; that 
it will be the crown of the four preceding churches ; and that it 
has been foreseen from the creation of the world, — proved from 
the Word of both the Old and New Testaments. 

LX. That in this new church there will be spiritual peace, 
glory, and internal blessedness of life, because there will be true 
faith and true charity, — proved also from the Word of both the 
Old and New Testaments. 

LXI. That these blessings will exist in this new church, for 
the sake of conjunction with the Lord, and through Him, with 
God the Father. 

LXII. An invitation to this church addressed to the -whole 
Christian world, and an exhortation worthily to receive the Lord, 
who has foretold that He will come into the world, for this 
church and to it. 


The Author, in another MS., says, that there is in the old 
church 

Ho knowledge of God but what is erroneous ; 

No knowledge of the Lord ; 

No knowledge of the Holy Spirit ; hence 
No knowledge of the Divine Trinity ; 

No knowledge of the sanctity of the Word ; 

No knowledge of redemption ; 

882 


OF THE COEONIB. 


No knowledge of faith ; 

No knowledge of charity ; 

No knowledge of free-will ; 

No knowledge of repentance; 

No knowledge of the remission of sins ; and hence 
No knowledge of conversion; 

No knowledge of regeneration ; 

No knowledge of imputation ; 

No knowledge of heaven and hell; 

No knowledge of the state of man after death ; and hence 
No knowledge of salvation and eternal life ; 

No knowledge of Baptism ; ' 

No knowledge of the Holy Supper ; 

No knowledge of the Law but what is erroneous ; 

No knowledge of the Gospel but what is erroneous. 


883 


POSTSCRIPT TO THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


I have read what Dr. Ernesti has written about me in 
his Theological Work, p. 784, and have observed that it con- 
sists of mere aspersions against my person ; nor have I found a 
grain of reason therein against any one proposition or matter 
contained in my writings. But to attack a person with suet 
poisoned daggers, is contrary to the laws of honor or honesty ; 
and therefore 1 deem it unworthy of my character to enter into 
a contest with that celebrated man, in the way of which he has 
shown the example, that is, by returning and rebutting re- 
proachful language by reflections of the same kind : for this 
would be like two dogs barking and snarling at each other ; or 
like women of the lowest description, who in their disputes 
mutually cast the mud of the street in each other’s faces. 
Read, if you please, an account of the Arcana revealed by the 
Lord through me his servant, as given in my last Work, en- 
titled True Christian Religion, n. 846 to 851 ; and after that, 
draw, a conclusion, yet under the direction of reason, on the 
subject of my revelation. 

Moreover, the Memorable Relation inserted in the True 
Christian Religion, n. 137, was written against the same Dr. 
Ernesti, and may be consulted at pleasure. 


INDEX 


IX) 

THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


The Figures refer to the numbers. 


Abaddon, or Apollyon, signifies those who 
destroy souls by means of falses, 310, 628. 

Abomination of Desolation, the, has 
arisen from the utter falsification of the Word, 
135. It is occasioned by the inward acknowl- 
edgment of three gods in the faith of the 
Church, 179—181. 

Accommodation. One tiling must be ac- 
commodated to another before there can be 
any communication between them-, or any ope- 
ration either of contrariety or concord, 125. 

Adultery. Adulterers, in the Word, 
signify the violators ©f the church, and all 
those who adulterate the Word, 122. To 
commit adultery, spiritually, is to adulterate 
the goods of the Word and to falsify its 
truths: in its inmost or celestial sense, it is 
to deny the divinity of the Lord, ’and to pro- 
fane the Word, 236, 314, 315. The whore- 
dom of Ephraim signifies the falsification of 
the understanding of the Word, that is, of its 
genuine truth, 247. See Ephraim. A harlot 
signifies falsification, 277. He who abstains 
from adulteries only through fear of the civil 
law, or from any external motive unconnected 
with any regard to spiritual law, is, in his 
inner man, an adulterer and whoremonger, 
for he is still in the belief that such evils are 
not sins, and therefore never condemns'them 
in his spirit before God, 316. See Will and 
Understanding. Lust and act cohere togeth- 
er like blood and flesh, or like flame and 
oil, for lust is in the act as the air is in the 
lungs during respiration or discourse, 328. 
Any charity or faith not being the issue of 
the marriage of the Lord and the church is 
illegitimate, consequently the fruit of polyg- 
amy or adultery, 380. All faith which 
acknowledges the Lord, and yet adopts false 
and heretical opinions, is the issue of polyg- 
amy ; and all faith which acknowledges three 
Lords of one church is the issue of adultery, 
380. Whoredom signifies the falsification of 
•ruth, 388. 

Advent. Unless the Lord had come into 
the world no flesh could have been saved, 3, 

885 


579. Nor at this day could any be saved 
unless He came again in the divine truth, 3. 
See Hell. Before the Lord came into the 
world the nature of the internal man and of 
charity was scarcely known to a single per 
son, which was the reason why He so fre 
quently instilled the doctrine of brotherly love 
or charity, in which consists the difference 
between the New and Old Testament, ot 
covenant, 409. 

Advent, second. The Lord’s second ad- 
vent is at this day, and a new church is to 
be established, 115. See Consummation oj 
the Age. It is not a coming to destroy the 
visible heaven and the habitable earth, 768 
— 771. But for the sake of separating the 
evil from the good, that those who have be- 
lieved, and who do believe in him, may bo 
saved, and that there may be formed of them 
a new angelic heaven, and a new church on 
earth, 772 — 775. Without this coming no 
flesh could be saved, 772 — 775. This com- 
ing is not in person, but in the Word, which 
is from Him and is Himself, 776 — 778. The 
reason why He will not appear in person, is, 
because since his ascension into heaven He is 
in his glorified humanity, in which He cannot 
appear to any man unless the eyes of his 
spirit be first opened, and this opening can- 
not be effected in any who are in evils and 
falses thence derived, 777. His coming is 
effected by the instrumentality of a man, 
before whom He has manifested Himself in 
person, and whom He has filled with his 
spirit to teach from Him the doctrines of the 
New Church by means of the Word, 779, 
780, 851. See Author. This New Church 
is meant by the new heaven and the new 
earth, and the New Jerusalem descending out 
of heaven, 781 — 785 : see New Church. 

Affections. See Love, Thought. Affec- 
tion, thought, and operation, are nothing 
unless they are conjoined in one, 387. 

Africans, the, are a more interior peo- 
ple than any other of the gentiles, 835. All 
among them who acknowledge and w'orship 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


one God, the Creator of the universe, cherish 
the idea of God as of a Man, insisting that 
it is impossible for any one to form any 
other idea of God, 836. Their interior sight 
is singularly clear and strong, 839. In con- 
sequence of having such a perception they 
have at this day a revelation, which is com- 
municated from the place of its commence- 
ment round about, but does not extend to 
the countries bordering on the sea, 840. 
They insist that there can be no true wor- 
ship of God unless a man live according to 
his religion, and if not, that he cannot but be 
both stupid and wicked, because he then re- 
ceives nothing from heaven, 840. 

Agate, the, signifies natural good, 609. 

Ammon, the Children of, signify the adul- 
teration of truth, 200. 

Angels, cannot open their lips to pro- 
nounce the word gods, by reason of the resist- 
ance of the heavenly aura in which they 
live, 6, 8, 25, 173. Every sentence spoken 
by the angels terminates in unity of accent, 8. 
Angels and spirits are substantial men, 29, 
240. They live together like men in the nat- 
ural world upon spaces and in times deter- 
mined according to affection and thought, 
29. The angels of heaven may see whatever 
is doing in hell, but the spirits in hell cannot 
have the least discernment of what is doing 
in heaven, 61. One angel or spirit may in 
an instant be made present with another, pro- 
vided they meet in similar affections of love 
and thence of thought, 64. See Power. 
Angels and spirits could not subsist if they 
were deprived of their support and resting 
place in mankind, 118. The Lord redeemed 
angels, because, not only every man, but 
likewise every angel is withheld from evil 
and preserved in good by Him, 121. There 
is not a single angel who was not once a man 
in the natural world, 121. An an-gel is always 
meditating and practising what is in agree- 
ment with his heavenly nature, 145. See 
Heaven. Man is consociated with the angels 
by means of the literal sense of the Word, 
because the celestial and spiritual senses are 
contained in that sense, and the angels of 
the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are in the spir- 
itual sense of the Word, and the angels of 
the Lord’s celestial kingdom in its celestial 
sense ; which two senses, are evolved or un- 
folded from the natural sense, while it is 
read by a person who accounts the Word 
holy, 234 — 239. The truths of the Word 
which men, while reading it, understand 
naturally, the angels at the same time under- 
stand spiritually, and celestially, according to 
their degrees, 235 — 239. What is wonderful, 
the angels extract these senses without hav- 
ing any knowledge of a man’s thought; but 
still the thoughts of angels and men make 
886 


one by correspondences, like end, cause, and 
effect, 236. See Cause, Delights, Word, 
Wisdom. The angels perceive the quality of 
a man’s will by observing only a single ac- 
tion, and the quality of his thought by at- 
tending only to a single expression, 593, 778. 
Among the angels some are of a simple and 
some of a wise character ; and it is the part 
of the wise to instruct the simple and to 
judge between them, 694. The recreations 
of the angels are among their joys, but do 
not constitute their happiness, 735. See 
Happiness. Every one who becomes an an- 
gel carries his own heaven within himself, 
because he carries in himself the love of his 
own heaven, 739. See Love. Every angel 
beholds the Lord immediately before him, 
however he may change the direction of his 
body and face, 767. This is the case because 
every truth of wisdom, is, as it were a mirror, 
in which the Lord is seen; and every good 
of love is his image, 767. 

Ancients. The most ancient people wor- 
shipped one God until the establishment of 
monarchical power, when worldly and cor- 
poreal affections began to close up the supe- 
rior understanding, 9. God in ancient times 
was called Jehovah from his esse, 19. As 
seen by the ancients, He was represented in 
human form by angels, 109, 188, 786. The 
ancients were familiar with the science of 
correspondences ; the book of Job, which 
was a book of the ancient church, is full of 
correspondences ; the hieroglyphics of the 
Egyptians, and the fables, were founded on 
the same science, 201, 493. The men of the 
most ancient church which was before the 
flood, were of so heavenly a genius that they 
could hold converse with angels by means of 
correspondences, 202. Enoch and his asso- 
ciates collected correspondences from the lips 
of these celestial men, and transmitted the 
knowledge fro posterity, whence it became 
known throughout many kingdoms of Asia, 
202. It was long preserved among those who 
were called diviners and wise men, and was 
known to the Philistines, 203, 279. See 
Idolatry, Worship. The ancient philoso- 
phers, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and others 
who have written about God and the immor- 
tality of the so ul, received their first infor- 
mation on those subjects from others, to 
whom it was successively handed down from 
those who had it originally from the ancient 
Word, 273. It was a received tenet of wis- 
dom amongst the ancients, that the universe 
both in general and particular has relation to 
good and truth, and thus, that the whole of 
the church had relation to love, or charity, 
and faith, 336. Those who are principled in 
the love of the world, were by the ancient 
church called Mammons, and by the Greeks 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


Plutos, 404. The dreadful persuasion, that! 
God had transfused and transcribed Himself; 
into men, was entertained by the men of the ' 
most ancient church, at the period of its end 
or consummation, 470. In the earliest ages 
it was believed that all the good of love, and 
thence all the truth of wisdom were from 
God, and that men were mere receptacles of 
his life ; whence they were called images of 
God, sons of God, and born of God, 492. 

Ancient Word. Previous to the Word 
% which the world now possesses there was a 
Word which is lost, from which the ancients 
derived a knowledge of the most holy things 
of the church, 264, 273 — 275. The his- 

torical parts of that Word were called the 
Wars of Jehovah,’ and the prophetical parts 
the ‘Enunciations;’ mention is also made 
of a book of the ancient Word called the 
book of ‘ Jasher,’ or the book of the upright, 

265, 279. This Word existed principally 
in Asia, previous to the Word which was 
given to the children of Israel, and is still 
extant among the nations in Great Tartary, 

266, 279. It is also preserved in heaven, 
and is in use among the ancients there who 
were in possession of it during their abode 
on earth, 266, 279. It is written wholly 
by correspondences, and contains the ac- 
count of the creation, from the beginning 
till the time of Noah and his children, which 
was transcribed by Moses, -27 9. The people 
of Great Tartary have possessed this Word 
time immemorial, and according to this Word 
they celebrate their divine worship, 279. 

Animals. The instincts of animals are 
evidence of a divine influx through the spir- 
itual world into the ultimates of nature, 12. 
Animals represent the various dispositions of 
men, 13. The wild beasts, which, at a dis- 
tance, appear in hell, are representations of 
the lusts of its inhabitants, 45, 312. Those 
animals which likewise appear in heaven rep- 
resent the loves of the angels, 66. See Cre- 
ation. The light within the eyes of owls and 
cats, by which they are enabled to see at 
night-time, arises from the lust of pursuing 
and devouring, 162, 334. The spontaneous 
acts of animals do not flow from any thought, 
335. The error of supposing beasts to have 
ideas is grounded solely in the persuasion 
that they have thoughts as well as men, and 
that speech alone is the distinguishing charac- 
teristic between them, 235. Every beast, 
bird, fish, reptile, and insect has its peculiar 
natural, sensual, and corporeal love, whose 
habitation is the brain, by means of which 
the spiritual world has an immediate influx 
into its bodily senses, and thus determines 
its actions, 335. All animals are merely 
organs receptive of life, each species being 
- form of some particular natural love, and 

887 


receiving light and heat from the spiritual 
world, mediately through heaven cr hell, the 
gentle kinds through heaven, and the fierce 
through hell ; man alone receives light and 
heat, that is wisdom and love, immediately 
from the Lord ; and herein consists the dif- 
ference between them, 47 3. Animals have the 
power of respiration from their natural free- 
dom, but man from his free determination in 
both natural and spiritual things, 480. Ani- 
mals act from the instinct of prolification, 
<fec., in the time of spring, because their 
bodies are then so disposed by the heat of 
the sun, that the love proper to their nature 
can act in freedom, 496. In the natural 
world beasts, birds, and creeping things 
have the faculty of associating according to 
the odors they exhale, but it is not so with 
men until they have east off their mortal 
covering, 569. See Spheres. 

Apocalypse. In the Revelation, from 
beginning to end, the present state of the 
Christian church is described. It is also 
foretold that the Lord would come again and 
subdue the hells, and form a new angelic 
heaven, and afterwards establish a new 
Church on earth, 116: see Heaven, Church. The 
appearance of the white horse and its rider 
relates to the Lord as the Word. The great 
supper to which all were invited to come, 
by the angel standing in the sun, relates to 
the appropriation of good of all kinds from 
the Lord, 196. By the New Jerusalem is 
meant a new church which is to be established 
by the Lord ; walls and foundations signify 
the doctrinals of that church derived from 
the literal sense of the Word; the numbers 
twelve, one hundred and forty-four, twelve 
thousand, all its goods and truths in one 
complex, 197, 209, 217, 307. The Lord, 
as the Word in ultimates, was represented 
before John, where all parts of the descrip- 
tion given of Him signify the ultimates of 
divine truth or of the Word, 261. By the 
lamb standing as it were slain, and by Him 
that was crucified, is signified the Lord 
hated of the evil, 311. Babylon signifies 
the falsification and adulteration of the Word, 
314. The Lord is called the Amen because 
He is the truth itself, 572. The beginning 
of the creation {Rev. iii. 14) signifies the 
commencement of regeneration, 573. The 
consummation of the present church is de- 
scribed by the seven plagues, each of which 
signifies some false; in like manner as the de- 
vastation of Egypt is described, 635. See 
Faith. To walk with the Son of man in 
white, signifies to follow the Lord, and to 
live according to the truths of his Word, 
682. The vials of the wrath of God poured 
,out upon the earth signify the falsities which 
should overflow and destroy the church at 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


its consummation, 761. For a particular 
and consecutive interpretation of the Revela- 
tion of John , see the author's work Apoc- 
alypse Revealed. 

Appearances. The appearance of spaces 
and times in the spiritual world are real, 
because they are constant according to the 
states of the inhabitants, 29. The appear- 
ances of truth in the literal sense of the Word 
consist of various accommodations to the ap- 
prehension of the simple who are not used to 
elevate their thoughts above visible objects, 
226, 254, 650. The Word is of such a na- 
ture that the appearances of truth, which are 
truths clothed, may be taken for naked truths, 
and such appearances when they are con- 
firmed become fallacies, 254, 258. See 
Heresies. All appearances in the spiritual 
world are correspondences, and are repre- 
sentative of such spiritual things as relate to 
affection and its derivative thought. 462. 
Without an appearance of place in the spir- 
itual world, there could be no habitations and 
distinct abodes, 739. 

Armageddon, signifies a state and desire 
of the mind to wage war, under the influence 
of falsified truths, from the lust of dominion, 

113. 

Ashur, or Assyria, signifies what is ra- 
tional, 200, 467. Likewise intelligence thence 
derived, 467. 

Athanasian Creed, the, agrees with the 
doctrine of the Word, if, instead of the 
union of the son born from eternity with the 
son born in time, it be understood to mean 
the union of the one eternal God with the 
Humanity, 98, 101. It teaches also that 
the Father and Son are united as soul and 
body, 112, 136, 137, 188. The trinity of 
divine persons taught by this creed can only 
mean a trinity of gods, 172, 632, 633. The 
Nicene and Anthanasian doctrines have to- 
gether given rise to a faith which has entirely 
perverted the Christian church, 177, 634. 

Atmosphere. The natural atmospheres 
are three in number, the aura, the ether, 
and the air, 32. By means of the heat and 
light of the spiritual sun, spiritual atmos- 
pheres were created, which are substantial, 
and three in number, 76. See Degrees. In 
like manner the three natural atmospheres 
were produced, by the natural sun encom- 
passing the former, 7 6. See Sun of Heaven. 

Atonement, signifies the removal of sins, 
into which a man would rush headlong were 
he to approach Jehovah unclothed with the 
Humanity, 135. 

Attraction. The Lord draws all towards 
Himself, but men and angels can only 
follow the vein of his attraction according to 
their measures and capacities, 350. Sym- 
pathy and antipathy are nothing else but 
888 


exhalation of affections from minds which 
excite affection in another according to their 
similitudes, and aversion according to their 
dissimilitudes, 365. According to these all 
conjunctions and consociations in the spiritual 
world are regulated, 365, 646. See Sphere. 

Author, the. The phenomena of animal 
life long regarded by him as a testimony in 
favor of an influx from God through the spir- 
itual world into the natural, 12. The ability 
to think analytically, sensibly perceived by 
him (during the previous 26 years, without 
interruption), to be from an influx of divine 
Wisdom, 12. Often a matter of wonder to 
him, that man while living in the body should 
be totally unacquainted with the life of his 
spirit, 14. From his early infancy, was never 
able to admit the idea of more Gods thar 
one, but plainly perceived that the expres 
sions of Scripture relative to the Divine 
government and the trinity were significant. 
16. When on a certain occasion his mind 
was illuminated by heavenly light concerning 
the trinity and unity of God, he perceived 
that his former ideas, which were merely 
natural, were separated like chaff from the 
wheat, 26. Convinced by experience of the 
danger of indulging in speculations abeffit 
God before the creation of the world, 32 
(See also a reference to this experience in 
n. 280). Purposes, if desired, after the 
completion of the “Universal Theology,” t< 
make known the manner in which the Lord 
reduced the heavens and hells to order, ot 
his omnipotence in effecting which he was a 
daily witness, 123. Had, now, been in open 
communication with the spiritual world for 
26 years, with this difference from the pro 
phets, that he was in the spirit and the body 
at one and the same time, and only on some 
particular occasions out of the body, 167 
(see n. 280). The angels did not know 
until explained by him, the differences be 
tween wdiat is spiritual and what is natural 
because there never before had been any 
opportunity of comparing them together in 
any person existing at the same time in both 
worlds, and without such comparison and 
reference those differences were not ascer 
tainable, 280. Had conversed with his rela 
tions and friends, and also with kings and 
princes and men of learning after their de 
parture out of this life, continually for 27 
years, 281, 771, 851. Had always acknow 
ledged, first from science, afterwards from 
perception, and lastly from an interior light 
that the wisdom of man is as nothing, 887 
Was seized with a painful disease which 
seemed to threaten his life, and lay in bed 
three days and a half; during which time his 
spirit was seen by the inhabitants of the great 
city called Sodom and Egypt, in the spiritual 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


world, as if it were lying dead in the streets ; I 
this occurred while he was writing the expli- 
cation of Rev. xi., 567. It pleased the Lord 
to open his spiritual sight for the sake of the 
New Church, 771. The Lord manifested 
Himself before him ; and from the first day 
of this call, he had never received any thing 
relating to the doctrines of the New Church 
from any angel, but from the Lord alone 
while reading the Word, 779. The Lord 
prepared him for this office from his earliest 
years, 850. He protests in truth that the 
memorabilia annexed to each chapter of the 
work are not fictions but were really seen 
and heard ; not seen and heard in any state 
of the mind in sleep but in a state of complete 
wakefulness, 851. 

Babylon. See Apocalypse. 

Baptism, signifies regeneration and puri- 
fication, 142, 670 — 673, 687. To baptize 
with the Holy Spirit and with fire, is to regen- 
erate by the divine truth which is of faith, 
and the divine good which is of charity, 142, 
684 — 686. To be born again of water and 
the spirit, signifies, of truth in the natural 
man, and of truth derived from good in the 
spiritual man, 142, 572. Baptism signifies 
spiritual washing, which is cleansing from 
sins, 510, 530, 621, 670 — 673. On this 
account John the Baptist preached repent- 
ance, 510. It is a sacrament of repentance 
and hence of introduction into the church, 
567. It is a sign before the angels that the 
person baptized is of the church, 621, 680. 
In this institution there is a something divine 
which has hitherto lain hid, because the spi- 
ritual sense of the Word was never before 
revealed, 668. Washings, and several ordi- 
nances of a like nature, were enjoined and 
commanded the Children of Israel, because 
the church established among them was a 
representative church, 670. Of all these 
representatives the Lord retained but two; 
baptism instead of washings, and the Holy 
Supper instead of the sacrifice of the lamb, 
which contain in one complex whatever re- 
lates to the internal church, 670. Washing 
and baptism are of no avail unless the internal 
man be purified from evils and falses, 672, 
673. Baptism was instituted in place of cir- 
cumcision to the end tha.t an internal church 
might succeed to the external, 674 — 676, 
677. See Circumcision. The first use of 
baptism is introduction into the Christian 
church, and at the same time insertion among 
Christians in the spiritual world, 677 — 680. 
A.s soon as infants are baptized they are 
placed under the guardianship of angels, by 
whom they are kept in a state of receiving 
faith in the Lord ; but as they grow up the 
guardian angels leave them, and they draw 
into association w’ith themseWes aiwh stm-ifc* 

889 


as make a one with their life an .I faith, 677. 
Without the Christian sign of baptism, some 
Mahometan or idolatrous spirit might apply 
himself to new-born Christian infants, and 
also to children, and infuse into them an in- 
clination in favor of his religion, 678. See 
Order. The second use of baptism, is, that 
the Christian may know and acknowledge the 
Lord Jesus Christ as the Redeemer and Sa- 
viour, and follow him, 681 — 683. In bap- 
tism the infant receives the sign of the cross 
on his forehead and breast, which is a token 
of his inauguration into the acknowledgment 
and worship of the Lord, 682. The Chris- 
tian name is received by all in baptism, for 
it is involved in the sign, 682. The third 
and final use of baptism, is, that the man 
may be regenerated, 684 — 686. The three 
uses of baptism cohere together as a one, 
for they follow each other in order, and join 
with each other in the ultimate use, 685. 
Whoever does not believe in the Lord cannot 
be regenerated, notwithstanding his having 
been baptized, 685. By the baptism of John 
a way was prepared that Jehovah the Lord 
might come down into the world and accom- 
plish the work of redemption, 688 — 691. 
Unless a way had been prepared for Jehovah 
when descending into the world, by baptism, 
(the effect of which in heaven was such as to 
occasion the closing of the hells), the Jews 
must have perished before Him, 689, 691. 
The baptism of John represented the cleans 
ing of the external man ; bat Christian bap- 
tism, the cleansing of the internal man, 690. 
The preparation of the Jews for the descent 
of Jehovah consisted in their being enrolled 
in heaven, by the baptism of John, and num- 
bered among those who in heart expected 
and desired the Messiah, in consequence of 
which angels were sent and made their guar- 
dians, 691. 

Bears. See Elisha. 

Birds. Those who have an immediate 
perception of truths are represented in the 
spiritual world by eagles; those who arrive 
at truth by a series of proofs and probable 
arguments, <fcc., by singing birds ; those who 
accept it on authority, by birds of the pie 
kind ; and those who have no inclination to 
perceive truths, by birds of night, 42. The 
man who draws wisdom from God is like a 
bird flying aloft enjoying a wide and exten- 
sive view, and directing its flight to whatever 
is required for its use, 69. Birds of night, 
in the spiritual world, represent such con- 
firmations of falses as appear like truths, 
334. Birds know each other, not by their 
feathers, but by their notes and cries, and 
when they are near each other by the sphere 
of life which exhales from their bodies, 459. 
Dl*'ds of night, in hell, are representative 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


images of the infernal phantasies which pre- 
vail there, 661. 

Blasphemy, against the Holy Spirit, means 
blasphemy against the Divinity of the Lord’s 
Humanity and against the holiness of the 
Word, 299, 683. 

Blood. See Holy Slipper. Flesh and 
blood siguify spiritual good and truth, 705, 
709. As blood signifies the divine truth of 
the Lord, which is also the divine truth of the 
Word, and this is the covenant and testa- 
ment both old and new, therefore blood was 
the most holy representative of the Israelitish 
church, 706, 730. When man thinks of the 
Lord’s blood, the angels perceive the divine 
truth of his Word, 706. The blood of the 
covenant signifies divine truth by which con- 
junction is effected, 706, 730. 

Body. See Generation , Soul. The body, 
which is from the mother, is not man in itself, 
but by derivation from the soul, and is only 
the clothing of the real man, composed of 
such materials as belong to the natural world, 
103. See Death. All things in and belong- 
ing to the body, are appendages to the mind, 
from which it receives life and action, 224. 
See Series. The material body with which 
man’s spirit is clothed in the natural world, 
is an accessory covering for the sake of con- 
tinuing his species and of the formation of 
the internal man ; for the internal man is 
formed in the natural body, as a tree is 
formed in the ground, and the seed in the 
fruit, 454. The delights of love and the 
pleasures of thought are perceived in an ob- 
scure manner so long as man lives in the 
natural body, because it absorbs and dulls 
them, but after death they are rendered fully 
sensible and perceptible, 569. The spiritual 
body is formed in the material body by means 
of truths and goods, 583. 

Brain. See Series. The brain is an 
organized substance in which the mind has 
its abode, 351. See Idea. Unless in the 
spiritual organism of the brain, there were 
action and co-operation with the influent- 
life, it would ^ impossible for thought and 
will to exist, 577. 

Butterfly, the, exhibits an image of man’s 
heavenly state, 12, 449, 571. 

Calf, a, corresponds to the natural affec- 
tion of seeing and knowing, 623. The golden 
calf signifies carnal pleasure, 849. 

Calvin. (See 137.) The tenet of predes- 
tination adopted by Calvin and his followers 
sprang from the belief of man’s absolute im- 
potence, and total want of freedom of deter- 
mination in spiritual things, 486. When he 
entered the spiritual world, he was with diffi- 
culty convinced that he was not still in a 
material body ; for he was a sensual man, 
believing nothing but what he drew in from 

8yo 


the objects of tne bodily senses ; and this 
being his quality, he framed all the tenets of 
liis faith from his own understanding, and 
not from the Word, 798. 

Camp, the, of the Israelites represented 
heaven ; the wilderness, hell, 614. 

Canaan represented the church ; the river 
•Jordan, introduction into it, 510, 675, 677. 

Canons of the New Church. 1st. No 
one can shun evils as sins, and do good 
which is good in the sight of God, of himself; 
but so far as any one shuns evils as sins, he 
does what is good, not from himself, but 
from the Lord. 2d. A man ought to shun 
evils as sins, and to fight against them as ol 
himself ; and if he shuns evils from any other 
motive than because they are sins, he does 
not shun them but only prevents them from 
appearing in the sight of the world, 330. 
It is a canon of the New Church, that falses 
close the understanding, and that truths open 
it, 508. 

Cause. See Creation. End, cause, and 
effect, are contained, in indissoluble con- 
nection, in the universe, 47, 210. End i? 
nothing unless it regards an efficient cause, 
and these two are nothing unless they pro 
duce the effect, 67, 387. In every complete 
thing there is a trinity, which is called, first, 
middle, and last ; likewise end, cause, and 
effect, 210. See End. Ends actually exist iD 
the celestial kingdom, causes in the spiritual 
ki ngdom, and effects in the natural kingdom, 
236. 

Cedar, a, in the Word signifies rational 
good and truth of the church, 200. 

Charity. See Charity and Faith. Char 
ity is the first in respect to end, and is there- 
fore the first-born in the mind, 336. Charity 
is not charity unless it is conjoined to faith, 
336, 355, 367, 377, 387, 450. Charity con- 
sists in willing what is good, 374, 408. Char- 
ity and works are distinct from each other ; 
like will and action, 374, 420, 421. See 
Works. The truths of faith not only en- 
lighten charity, but also give it its quality 
and nourish it, 377. Charity is the complex 
of all good, 392. Where charity is genuine, 
it is always attended with zeal for what is 
good, which in the external man may look 
like anger and flaming fire; yet on the repent- 
ance of its adversary, it is instantly extin- 
guished and appeased, 408. See War, Neigh- 
bor, Punishment. Charity ought to be ex 
ercised towards the evil according to natural 
equity, but towards the good according to 
spiritual equity, 413. Genuine charity is to 
will what is good for the sake of the neigh- 
bor, 421. It consists in acting justly and 
faithfully, in whatever office, business, or 
employment a person is engaged, and with 
whomsoever he has any connection, 422— 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


424. The man who thus exercises charity, j 
becomes more and more charity in form, for 
justice and fidelity form his mind, and there 
exercise his body ; so that from the form thus 
acquired he wills and thinks nothing but what 
has some relation to charity, 423. There are 
gratuitous acts of charity, consisting in those 
aids and assistances which a man lends to his 
neighbor, independently of the ordinary du- 
ties of his station, 425. Those who make 
charity itself consist in such actions, must of 
necessity in their hearts consider them meri- 
torious, 425. There are public, domestic, and 
private debts of charity, 429 — 432. The gra- 
tuitous acts and the debts of charity are dis- 
tinct from each other, like things done of 
free-will and those done of necessity, 429. 
Public debts of charity are more especially 
the payment of imposts and taxes ; those 
who are spiritual pay them out of good-will, 
because they are collected for the preservation 
of their country and the church, 430. Do- 
mestic debts of charityare of several kinds, 
as those of a husband to his wife, and of a 
wife to her husband ; of parents to their 
children, and of children to their parents; 
likewise of a master and mistress to their ser- 
vants, and of servants to their master and 
mistress, 431. With those who are under 
the influence of charity, parental affection is 
joined with love towards their neighbor and 
love to God, thus they love their children 
according to their morals, virtues, and quali- 
fications for the service of the public ; but 
those with whom there is no conjunction of 
charity with parental affection, frequently 
love best those amongst their children who 
are wicked, immoral, and crafty, 431. Pri- 
vate debts of eharity are also of several kinds, 
such as paying wages to workmen, returning 
borrowed money, observing agreements, keep- 
ing pledges, and other transactions of a like 
nature, 432. These duties also are dis- 
charged from different motives by those who 
are under the influence of charity, and those 
who are not, 432. . The convivial recreations 
of charity consist of dinners and suppers and 
social intercourse, 433, 434. Such feasts 
of charity are given only by those who are in 
mutual love from a similarity of faith, 433. 
See Feasts of Charity. The tenet that it is 
the first part of charity to do no evil to our 
neighbor, and the second to do him good, 
occupies the first place in the doctrine of char- 
ity, for it is as a door to it, 435, 535. Every 
person, if he pleases, may comprehend from 
external moral life the quality of charity ; let 
him only transcribe external moral life into 
the internal man, that this in will and thought 
may be similar and conformable to the actions 
of the ■external man, and he will then see 
charity in its type, 445. Unless charity «jake 

891 


one with faith, and both in conjunction look 
to the Lord, charity is either spurious, or 
hypocritical, or dead, 450. All charity which 
is not conjoined with faith in one God, in 
whom is a divine trinity, is spurious, 451, 
457. It is hypocritical with those who make 
a pretence of praying to God while in their 
hearts they nourish self-worship, 452. Dead 
charity is predicable of those whose faith is 
dead, since the quality of charity depends on 
the quality of faith, 453. There is no charity 
at all in those who adopt nature in the place 
of God, 453. Charity is spiritual in its ori 
gin, and natural in its derivation, 459. Nat- 
ural charity, if it be spiritual within, appears 
in the sight of angels, transparent like a dia- 
mond, 459. This spiritual principle consists 
essentially in this, that it be practised under 
the influence of the love of justice with judg- 
ment, 459. 

Charity and Faith. See Church. All the 
goods of the church are of charity, and its 
truths are of faith, 38. To live well is char- 
ity, and to believe well is faith, 334. Charity 
and faith are distinctly two, and yet must 
be united in man so as to become one, that 
he may be a member of the church, or in other 
words, that the church may be in him, 336. 
Faith, which also means truth, is first in re- 
spect to time, but charity, which also means 
good, is first in respect to end, 336. Man 
has power to procure faith and charity for 
himself, 356, 357. But only such as are nat- 
ural, since nothing of faith, of charity, and 
of the life of each is from man, but from the 
Lord alone, 359. Nevertheless man thus 
prepares himself to become a receptacle of 
the Lord, and according to such preparation 
the Lord enters and causes natural faith and 
charity to become spiritual, 359. Spiritual 
faith and charity are within natural faith and 
charity, as spiritual light and heat are within 
natural light and heat, 360. The Lord, char- 
ity, and faith, constitute a one, like life, will, 
and understanding in man ; and in case they 
are divided each perishes like a pearl bruised 
to powder, 362, 363, 367, 392, 442, 450, 
522,576,711,712. The life of the divine 
wisdom is the essence of faith, and the life 
of the divine love is the essence of charity, 
365. See Influx. To separate charity from 
faith is like separating essence from form, 
and is therefore to destroy both, 367. The 
Lord is charity and faith in man, and man is 
charity and faith in the Lord, 368, 372, 522. 
Man himself cannot be in the Lord, yet char- 
ity and faith which are in him from the Lord, 
can ; and by virtue of these two, he is essen 
tially man, 368. Charity and faith are to 
getherin good works, 373, 387, 442, 643. Se6 
Works. Charity and faith are merely mental 
and perishable things, unless they ire deter- 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


mined to works, and coexist in them when- 
ever practicable, 376, 376, 387 Charity and 
faith must exist together in order to produce 
works, 377. The conjunction of charity and 
faith is like the marriage of husband and wife, 
377. All spiritual offspring, which are the 
knowledges of good and truth, are produced 
by charity, as father, and faith as mother, 
377. ' See Marriage. Faith in its essence is 
the truth of wisdom, and charity in its es- 
sence is the affection of love, 386. Charity is 
of affection and faith is of thought : faith also 
is formed by charity, as speech by sound, 
386. Charity and faith cannot even exist, in 
reality, without works ; but endeavor, or will 
is accepted by the Lord, provided only that 
when opportunity offers it is not defective in 
operation, 387. Charity is the affection of 
the love of doing good to our neighbor, for 
the sake of God, salvation, and eternal life ; 
and faith is thought, grounded in trust and 
confidence, concerning God, salvation, and 
eternal life, 388. Charity is primary, and 
faith secondary, 388. They are like flame 
and light, for if flame be taken away light 
perishes at the same time, 388. The truth of 
faith is spiritual light and the good of charity 
is spiritual heat, 392. Faith and charity 
cannot be separated consistently with man’s 
spiritual life and salvation, 393. Without 
freedom of determination in spiritual things, 
there would not be any charity or faith, much 
less any conjunction of them in man, 485. 
Man, as to faith and charity, operates of him- 
self from the Lord, 606, 676. The power of 
acting well is from the Lord, and thence the 
will to act is, as it were, man’s, 576. There 
proceeds from each particular truth of faith 
an efflux of light, which illustrates ; and from 
each particular good of charity, an efflux of 
heat which warms and enkindles, 618, 722. 

Cfvstity. Abstinence from act does not 
consl.it ate a man chaste, but abstinence from 
the will, where the act is possible, 316. 
Where a man abstains in consideration of the 
sinfulness of indulgence, this constitutes true 
chastity, 316. 

Cherubs, signify guards to prevent the 
violation of the holy things, or internal sense 
of the Word, 220, 221. The literal sense of 
the Word, as a guard, is signified by cherubs, 
260, 508. Jehovah sitting and riaing upon 
cherubs, signifies, in the ultimate sense of the 
Word, 260. 

Children, little, signify innocence, 277. 
See Infants. 

Christians. See Church. Henceforth no 
Christian can be admitted into heaven un- 
less he believe in the Lord, and approach Him 
alone, 107, 795. From the tri-personal doc- 
trine have arisen many unbecoming notions 
concerning God, unworthy of the Christian 

892 


world, which ought to be, and which might 
be, a bright luminary respecting God and 
his unity, to all people and nations in the 
four quarters of the globe, 183. See Gen - 
tiles. The Word in the Christian church is 
life to all the rest, from the Lord through 
the heavens, as the heart and lungs are the 
means of life to the members and viscera of 
the whole body, 268. All things relating 
to the church and religion among Christians 
are derived from the Word, 315. Every 
one who desires to be a true Christian ought 
to believe that Jesus is the Son of the living 
God, 342. Throughout all Christendom 
there is no faith among those who reject the 
Lord and the Word, notwithstanding the mo- 
rality of their lives, and the rationality with 
which they can 6peak, teach, and write about 
faith, 384. The miserable desolation of truth, 
and the theological leanness which at this 
day prevail throughout the Christian world, 
are owing to the belief that faith is every 
thing ; when yet, of itself, it is nothing, 391. 
The tenets of the Christian churches at this 
day are derived, not from the Word, but from 
man’s own intelligence, confirmed by some 
passages out of the Word ; wherefore by tho 
Divine Providence, among the Roman Catho- 
lics, the Word was taken out of the hands of 
the laity ; and among the Protestants was 
closed up by the maxim that the understand- 
ing is to be kept bound under obedience to 
faith, 508. The mass of the people who call 
themselves Christians, and say they are in tho 
light of the gospel, are nevertheless in dark- 
ness itself, 619. Those who, after receiving 
the signature of Christ (see Baptism ), deride 
his worship, mock at his name, and confess 
Him not as the Son of God, but as the Son 
of Joseph, are rebels and regicides : theii 
words are blasphemies against the Holy 
Spirit, 683. Christians among whom the 
Word is read, and who know and acknowl- 
edge the Lord, the Redeemer and Saviour, 
are in the middle of all the nations and peo- 
ple that inhabit the spiritual ‘world, 800. 

Church. The Christian church since the 
Lord’s coming has passed successively from 
infancy to old age, 4, 762. It is reinstituted 
at this day, 4, 182. See Churches , Consum- 
mation of the Age. The church exists by 
the acknowledgment of one God, 10, 16. 
See Heaven. The man who denies God ex- 
communicates himself from the church, 14. 
The church on earth and the angelic heaven 
are one in operation, 14. The essentials ot 
the church are charity and faith, 38, 712. 
God, by his omnipotence, established the 
church, and revealed the laws of its order 
in his Word; and when it totally fell, Ho 
assumed the Humanity and restored it, 74. 
The Christian church was founded solely on 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


the worship of Jehovah in the Humanity, that 
is, ot God-Man, 94. See Denial. By Je- 
rusalem, in the book of Revelation, is signi- 
fied the church which shall descend out of 
heaven from the Lord, 107, 113. See New 
Church , New Jerusalem . All churches be- 
fore the coming of the Lord, were represen- 
tative churches, 109, 786, 833. At this day 
a new church is establishing by the Lord, in 
which the Lord alone will be worshipped as 
in heaven, 113, 786, 787. There is nothing 
of the church where there is no spiritual 
truth, and no religion where there is no spi- 
ritual good, 113. See Redemption, Advent, 
second. A new church could not be estab- 
lished unless the hells were first reduced 
into subjection and the heavens restored to 
order, 115. See Cross. On the idea enter- 
tained of God and of redemption, which 
makes one with salvation, every thing that 
has relation to the church depends, 133, 
163. That idea is like the inmost sanctuary 
and altar of the temple, 163. When we are 
acquainted with the primary faith of any 
church, we may know from thence the qual- 
ity of that church, 178. The Successive 
declination and corruption of the Christian 
church 1 is described in the Evangelists, and 
is effected by the infestation of truth by 
falses to such a degree that there does not 
remain a single truth which is not falsified, 
180, 761. See Salvation, Christians. The 
church, and those of whom it consists, are 
represented, and described as to their state 
in the parable of the ten Virgins, 199. See 
Disciples. The church exists from the Word, 
and the quality of the church with man is 
according to his understanding of the Word, 
and his faith and life thence, 243 — 247. 
To belong to the church is not merely to be 
in possession of the Word, to read it, or 
hear it from the preacher, but to understand 
it aright, 243. The two faculties of life in 
every man, the will and the understanding, 
ought to be united and make one in order 
that man may be a member of the church, 
249. See Will and Understanding. The 
church is as the heart and lungs in the uni- 
versal man, 268. The Lord provides that 
there should always be a church on earth, 
where the Word may be read, and He in 
consequence may be made known, 270. The 
church is called a mother, because as a 
natural mother nourishes her children with 
natural food, so the church nourishes her 
children with spiritual food, 306. The 
church constitutes the body of Christ, and 
every particular person in whom the church 
is, is in some member of that body 372 — 
379, 416, 608. The conjunction of good 
and truth, which constitutes heaven, consti- 
tutes also the church, 398. Man is initiated 

893 


into civil life by his country, and into spi 
ritual life by the church, 415. The com- 
munity, which is called the church, consists 
of all such persons as have the church abid- 
ing in them ; and it gains admission into 
every one when he is regenerating, 510. Re 
pentance is its first constituent, 510. With- 
out truths there can be no theology, and 
where there is no theology there can be no 
church, 619. The church appears before 
the Lord as one man, 762. 

Churches. Since the creation there have 
been four churches on this earth in a regular 
succession, one after another: 1st. The most 
ancient, which was extant before the flood, by 
which its consummation or end is described. 
2d. The ancient, which was in Asia and part 
of Africa, and was brought to its consum- 
mation and destruction by idolatries. (See 
Idolatry .) 3d. The Israelitish, which was 

consummated by its profanation of the Word. 
4th. The Christian, which the Lord estab- 
lished by the Evangelists and the apostles, 
760, 762, 786. The last time of the Chris- 
tian church is the very night in which the for- 
mer churches have set, 760. See Consum- 
mation of the Age. That there should have 
been four churches on this earth is agreeable 
to divine order, 762, 763. The successive 
states of the church in general and in partic- 
ular are described in the Word by the four 
seasons of the year, and by the four times of 
the day, 764. The state of the church in 
Christendom at the present day is night ; it 
therefore follows that the morning is at hand, 
in other words the dawn or beginning of a 
new church, 764. The church has its com- 
mon principles and its particulars, and like- 
wise its most common ; hence it is that four 
churches have proceeded in order, from which 
progression the most common principle of 
the church has arisen, 775. As all churches 
depend on the knowledge and acknowledg- 
ment of one God with whom the members of 
the church can have conjunction, and none of 
the four churches have been in that truth, it 
follows that a church is to succeed them, 786. 
The most ancient church worshipped the in- 
visible God, with whom there can be no con- 
junction ; (see Conjunction, Humanity,) so 
likewise did the ancient church, 786. The 
Israelitish church worshipped Jehovah, who 
in himself is the invisible God, but under a 
human form, which Jehovah God put on by 
means of an angel ; (see Representatives.) The 
fourth church, which was called Christian, 
acknowledged one God with the lips, but in 
three persons, each whereof singly or by him- 
self, was God, 786. See New Church 

Church, Apostolic, the, had no idea of 
a trinity of persons, or of three persons ex- 
isting from eternity, as is evident from th« 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


creed of that church, the composers of which 
had learnt from the Apostles that Jesus Christ 
is the true God, 174, 175, 636. Neither had 
they any knowledge of an imputative faith, 
636 — 639. In those primitive times all 
Christians throughout the world acknowl- 
edged the Lord Jesus Christ as God, to whom 
all power was given in heaven and earth, 
637. 

Circumcision of the foreskin, represented 
circumcision of the heart, and signified the 
rejection of the lusts of the flesh, and conse- 
quently purification from evils, 674 — 676. 
This primary rite of the Israelitish Church 
was inwardly similar to the sign of the 
Christian Church, which is baptism, 674. 
See Baptism. Foreskin signifies polluted loves 
of the flesh, 675. 

Clergy. The reasons why the clergy are 
particularly gifted with the graces of illus- 
tration and instruction, are, because these 
graces have particular relation to their minis- 
terial office, and their ordination to the min- 
istry conveys those graces ; and they believe 
also that while they are preaching in the heat 
of zeal they are inspired like the disciples of 
the Lord, 146. See Zeal. To the virtues 
of illustration and instruction, are added two 
intermediate ones, which are perception and 
disposition. Illustration is from the Lord 
alone (see Illustration') ; perception is ac- 
cording to the state of the mind, formed by 
doctrines; disposition is of the affection of 
love; and instruction follows as an effect. 
Thus illustration, which is from the Lord, 
is changed into various lights and colors in 
every individual according to the state of his 
mind, 155. See Perception. Priests who do 
the work of their ministry from no higher 
motives than those of gain and worldly hon- 
or, and who teach such doctrines as they see 
by the Word, or might see, to be untrue, are 
spiritual thieves ; for they rob the people of 
the means of salvation, which are the truths 
of faith, 318. A priest possesses conscience 
who has a spiritual willingness to teach 
truths, that he may promote the salvation of 
his flock ; but if he does it with any other 
view, or to any other end, he is without con- 
science, 666. 

Cocatrice, the, which should come forth 
out of the serpent's root, means the church’s 
doctrine concerning three gods, and concern- 
ing an imputative faith applied to every 
particular one of the elect; and his fruit, a 
fiery flying serpent, signifies no imputation 
of good or evil but immediate mercy^ 
whether man lives well or not, 487. 

Colors. Love, and consequently charity, 
in the spiritual world, is red, from the fire 
5>f the heavenly sun ; and truth, and conse- 
quently faith, is white, from the light of the 

894 


same sun, 367. Those who are regenerated 
by the divine good of love are clad in purple 
garments, because purple is the color of love, 
deriving it from the fire of the sun and its 
redness, which signifies love, 686. 

Combat, the, which the Lord waged with 
the hells, in effecting redemption, was not 
an oral combat, as between reasoners and 
disputers, but a combat of divine truth from 
divine good, 124. In this combat He could 
not possibly have engaged unless he had first 
put on the Humanity, 124. Six days of labor 
signify the Lord’s combats with the hells, and 
hence man’s combats against the flesh and its 
lusts, and at the same time against the evils 
and falses which are infused into him from 
hell, 301, 302. Man could not have been re- 
generated and saved, unless the Lord had, by 
his combats against hell, and his victories over 
it, deprived it of its power, 581. 

Comforter, the, or Holy Spirit, is the di 
vine truth proceeding from the Lord, 139, 163 
See Holy Spirit. 

Commandments. Although the evils for- 
bidden in the decalogue were universally 
known to- be evils, they were promulgated by 
Jehovah from Mount Sinai in order that they 
might become laws of religion, and thus be 
observed with a view to salvation, 282, 444. 
They were the first fruits of the Word, and 
thence of the Israelitish church, 283. They 
contain in a short summary the whole of 
religion, by which conjunction of God with 
man and of man with God is effected, and 
are therefore the very essence of holiness, 
283. Their holiness is evident from the 
miracles attending their promulgation, and 
preservation in the ark, 283, 284. They 
are called the covenant and testimony, on 
account of the conjunction they effect be- 
tween the Lord and man, 285, 456. They 
were called the ten words, because ten signi- 
fies all, and words signify truths ; and they 
were inscribed on two tables, the one of 
which contained the sum and substance of all 
duties relating to God, and the other of those 
relating to man, 286, 456. Thus they contain 
the whole of doctrine and of life, 287. The 
whole of faith and of charity, 289. The 
spiritual sense of . the First Commandment 
is, that no other God is to be worshipped 
than the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is Je- 
hovah, who came into the world and accom- 
plished the work of redemption, without 
which neither man nor angel could have 
been saved, 294. The celestial sense is, 
that Jehovah the Lord is Infinite, Immense, 
and Eternal, that He is love itself and wisdom 
itself, and thus the only Being from whom 
are all things, 295. In the Second Com- 
mandment, to take the name of God in vain, 
signifies, spiritually, to take any thing from 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


lilt Word and use it in vain discourses, false 
assertions, lies, execrations, witchcrafts, and 
iucantations : in the celestial sense the blas- 
phemy against the Holy Spirit is signified, 

299. See Blasphemy , Name. The 
Third Commandment, in the spiritual sense, 
signifies the reformation and regeneration of 
man by the Lord. In the celestial sense, 
conjunction with the Lord, and thence peace, 
which is the effect of protection from hell, 
802, 303. See Sabbath. To honor father 
and mother, as commanded in the fourth 
precept, implies, in a more extensive sense, 
that honor is due to public magistrates, who 
provide for the good of the community ; and 
in a sense still more extensive, that men 
should love their country, since it is this 
which nourishes and protects them. In the 
spiritual sense, by honoring father and mother 
is meant to revere and love God, who is the 
Father of all; and the church, which is the 
mother. (See Church.) In the celestial sense, 
by Father is meant our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and by mother, His church throughout the 
whole world, 305 — 807. The Fifth Com- 
mandment not only forbids murder and wan- 
ton injury to others, but also the spirit of 
enmity, hatred, and revenge, and all death- 
breathing passions, 309. In the spiritual sense, 
murder signifies all methods of killing and de- 
stroying the souls of men, as for example by 
turning them away from God, from religion, 
and from divine worship, by insinuating ob- 
jections against them, and raising such scan- 
dalous suggestions as may beget aversion from 
them, and even loathing, 310. In the celestial 
sense, it signifies to indulge hasty resentment 
against the Lord, to bear hatred towards 
Him, and to be desirous to blot out His 
name, 311. The Sixth Commandment not 
only forbids the committing of adultery, but 
also the cherishing of filthy and obscene de- 
sires, and giving them vent in wanton thoughts, 
words, and actions, 313. In the spiritual 
sense, to commit adultery signifies to adul- 
terate the goods of the Word and to falsify 
its truths, 314. In the celestial sense, to 
deny the holiness of the Word, and to pro- 
fane it, 315. See Adultery. The Seventh 
Commandment, which forbids stealing, ex- 
tends to all impositions and unlawful methods 
of gain, usury and exactions; likewise to all 
fraudulent practices in the payment of duties 
and taxes, and in the discharge of debts, 317. 
In the spiritual sense, to steal means to de- 
prive others of the truths which they embrace 
in faith, which is done by means of false and 
heretical opinions, 318. In the celestial sense, 
thieves signify those who take away divine 
power from the Lord, and also those who 
arrogate to themsel/es His merit and righte- 
ousness, 319. The Fighth Commandment 

895 


forbids all kinds of lies and hypocritical 
artific s, forged with a bad design, arid also 
all ways of traducing or defaming our neigh- 
bor, 321. In the spiritual sense to bear 
false witness is to endeavor purposely to per- 
suade others that the false of faith is the 
truth of faith, and that the evil of life is the 
good of life, and contrariwise, 322. In the 
celestial sense, it is to blaspheme the Lord 
and the Word, and thus to expel truth itself 
from the Church, 323. The Ninth and Tenth 
Commandments relate to all the preceding 
Commandments, teaching and enjoining that 
evils are not to be done, or even lusted after, 
325, 326. In the spiritual sense, they forbid 
all lusts which are contrary to the spiritual 
principles of the church, which chiefly relate 
to faith and charity, 327. In both the spiritual 
and celestial senses, they have respect to what- 
ever is contained in the spiritual and celestial 
senses of the other Commandments, 327. 
The Ten Commandments contain all things 
which relate to love to God, and all things 
which relate to love towards our neighbor, 
329, 444, 456. The true reason why there 
is no direct injunction of the duties of love 
and charity, but only a prohibition of the 
opposite vices, is, because in proportion as 
a man slfuns evils, as sins, his will is influenced 
by the goods of love and charity, 329. ^See 
Canons of the New Church. Man has power 
to do the Commandments of God, 369. God 
and his Commandments make one, 382. To 
act in opposition to the Commandments, is 
to act in opposition not only to men but to 
God, 445. The Commandments in the hand 
of Moses formed one table ; on the right part 
was written what related to God, and on the 
left what related to man, 456. All the Lord’s 
Commandments have relation to love towards 
our neighbor, and consist in these two gen- 
eral precepts, not to do evil to him, but to 
do him good, 458. See Neighbor. 

Confession. A general and undiscrimi- 
nating confession, of sin was substituted by 
the reformed church in place of actual re- 
pentance, 516. See Contrition. When such 
confession does not proceed from internal 
conviction and discernment, it is a mere con- 
trivance to deceive God for the sake of de- 
liverance, 517. Persons confirmed in this 
delusion are fearful above others of self- 
examination, 519. A general confession of 
sin, however, both precedes and follows ref- 
ormation and regeneration, with those who 
act and believe aright, or with those who re- 
pent of some particular sins, 519. Con- 
fession ought to be made before the Lord 
God the Saviour, and at the same time sup- 
plication for help and power to resist evils, 
538. There is not any need for a particular 
enumeration of sins before the Lord, becau3f 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


He was the guide in the work of examination, 
and discovered the sins, inspiring a sorrow 
for them and at the same time an endeavor 
to desist from them and begin a new life, 539. 
Confession before a minister of the church, 
for the sake of absolution and to obtain ease 
of mind, is not hurtful, because by this means 
man may be introduced into a habit of ex- 
amining himself: this confession, however, 
is only of a natural kind, 559. 

Confirmation. Those who confirm them- 
selves in favor of nature, appear, in spiritual 
light, with their understandings open below 
but closed above, 12. Man may confirm 
himself in favor of the Divine Being from 
regarding the objects of nature, 12. After 
death, no one has it in his power to alter 
the belief which he had impressed on his 
mind by arguments of confirmation, especially 
of whatever relates to God, 110. The true 
cause hereof is, that confirmation enters 
the will, and the will is the real man, and 
imparts to the understanding whatever form 
it pleases, whereas bare knowledge enters 
the understanding only, 255. See Heresies. 
It is impossible for those who, from con- 
firmation and life, are in evil and its false, 
to know what good and truth are, because 
they believe their evil to be good, and their 
false to be truth, 398. Those who, from 
confirmation and life, are in good and truth, 
have a capacity to know what the evil and 
false are, because every thing heavenly is in’ 
the light, but every thing infernal is in 
darkness, 378. The confirmation of the false 
is the denial of the true, 758. 

Conjuoial Love, which in itself is spir- 
itual, corresponds to the love of the Lord 
and the church, and is capable of receiving 
and perceiving all blessings, satisfactions, and 
delights, in a full and sensible manner. It 
is with man such as the religion is; spiritual 
with such as are spiritual, natural with the 
natural, and merely carnal with adulterers, 
847. True conjugial love -is from the Lord 
alone, and is given to those who are regen- 
erated by him, 847. 

Conjunction. By believing on the Lord, 
man has conjunction with Him, and by con- 
junction, salvation, 2, 369, 484. The con- 
junction of faith and charity, and thereby of 
the Lord and man, consists in this, that man 
should do good as of himself, yet believing 
that it is from the Lord operating with him 
and by him, 3, 457. Those who are in com- 
munion with the good on earth are in con- 
junction with heaven, and with every par- 
ticular angel therein, 15. Conjunction with 
the final cause, implies also conjunction with 
the middle causes, 47. Man was created to 
receive love and wisdom from God, and yet 
in all likeness as from himself, which was for 

896 


the sake of reception and conjunction, 48. 
Conjunction with God can only be effected by 
means of the Humanity w’hence comes sal- 
vation, 98, 370, 787. There is a reciprocal 
conjunction subsisting between all things in 
the world that are perfectly and completely 
united, 99. The conjunction of good and 
truth is effected by regeneration, 105. Con- 
junction with the Lord is effected by tempta- 
tions, 126. Man has conjunction with the 
Lord by means of the Word, because He 
is the Word itself; but this conjunction is 
not apparent to man, but is in the affection 
of truth and its perception, 234. See Angels . 
In every Divine work there is a conjunction 
of good with truth and of truth with good, 
248. See Marriage. There is no possibility 
of conjunction with heaven unless there be, 
in some part or other of the earth, a church 
which is in possession of the Word and is 
thus acquainted with the Lord, 267. The 
conjunction of good and truth is signified by 
a chaste wife, 277. God, who is continually 
with man, and gives him life, together with 
the faculties of understanding and loving, 
must needs conjoin himself by love with the 
man who lives well and believes aright, 341. 
Conjunction of God with man is from the 
reeeption of a spiritual principle in the nat- 
ural ; and the conjunction of man with God 
results from the natural principle being 
derived from the spiritual, 369, 371. There 
are three things which follow each other in 
orderly and necessary connection : accom- 
modation, application, and conjunction. Ac- 
commodation on the part of God was effected 
by his being made Man. Application on the 
part of God is perpetual, so far as man 
applies himself in his turn, and as this is 
effected, so also is conjunction, 370. The 
conjunction of the Lord and man is recip- 
rocal ; wherefore a man ought to conjoin 
Himself with the Lord, in order that the 
Lord may conjoin Himself with him, 371, 
484, 688, 726, 787. The reciprocal con- 
junction of the Lord and man is effected by 
means of charity and faith, 372. See Recip- 
rocation. Divine order requires that good 
and truth should be conjoined, not separated, 
for they proceed in conjunction from God, 
and they are in conjunction in heaven ; and 
therefore they ought to be in conjunction in 
the church, 398. Evil and the false, being 
their opposites, are also conjoined, 398. See 
Evil and False. Conjunction is represented 
by breaking bread and distributing it, and 
by drinking out of the same cup, and handing 
it to one another, 433. Friendship ic natural 
conjunction only, but love is spiritual con- 
junction, 446. See Friendship. Neither man, 
nor angel, nor spirit, is aware of the conjunc- 
tion between spirits and men, 607. This 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


conjunction is effected, not as to thoughts, but 
as to affections, and on these scarcely any 
one reflects, because they are not in the light 
of the understanding, but the heat of the will, 
607. Homogeneous affection conjoins, and 
heterogeneous affection separates, 622. There 
can be no conjunction with an invisible God, 
786, 787. 

Connate. See Faculty. The loves and 
knowledges of animals are.connate with them, 
48. Neither men nor beasts have anv connate 
ideas, 335. Man has no connate ideas, be- 
cause he has no connate thought: where 
there is no thought there is no idea, 335. 

Conscience, considered in its true na- 
ture, is not any pain or uneasiness, but a 
spiritual willingness to act according to the 
requirements of religion and faith, 666. 
The pain of mind which is supposed to be 
conscience, is not conscience, but temptation ; 
which, when it is spiritual, arises from con- 
science, but if natural only, from natural 
diseases, 666. All who have conscience 
speak and act from the heart in all they say 
and do, 666. 

Consummation of the age, by the, is sig- 
nified the end of the church at this day, 182, 
198, 271, 753 — 759, 784. The darkening 
of the sun and moon, signifies the obscurity 
of love and faith in respect to the Lord ; 
the stars falling from heaven, the loss of 
all knowledges of good and truth, 198, 271. 
It was foretold by the Lord in the Evan- 
gelists that there would then be no faith in 
consequence of their being none directed 
towards the Lord as the Son of God, the God 
of heaven and earth, and as one with the 
Father, 384. The consummation of the church 
comes to pass when there remains no divine 
truth, but what is falsified or rejected, 
753. When truth comes to its consummation 
in the church good also comes to its con- 
summation, that which is then supposed to be 
good being only natural good, 753, 754. 
Wasting, desolation, and decision, signify the 
same as consummation ; desolation, the con- 
summation of truth ; wasting or vastation, 
the consummation of good ; and decision, 
the full consummation of both, 755. The 
present day is the last time of the Christian 
Church, which the Lord foretold and de- 
scribed in the Gospels and in the Revelation, 
757 — 759. The abomination of desolation 
foretold by Daniel is at this day in the Chris- 1 
tian Church, 758. This last time of the Chris- 
tian Church is the very night in which the 
former churches have set, 760 — 763. See 
Churches. After this night morning succeeds, 
and the coming of the Lord is this morning, 
764 — 767. See Advent. 

Contrition, which is said to precede faith 
and to be followed by Evangelical consolation 

897 


is not repentance, 512 — 515, 665. It inspires 
a dangerous confidence in imputative faith, 
514, It is a mere figment substituted for re- 
pentance, by the reformed church, that they 
might be separated as far asunder as possible 
from the Roman Catholics, who urge the neces- 
sity of repentance, together with charity, 515. 

Copper, signifies natural good, 609. 

Correspondence. There is a plenary cor- 
respondence between heaven and man, 66. 
201. Also between effects and uses in the 
spiritual and natural worlds, 70, 75. Mag 
nificent. and splendid objects in heaven cor- 
respond to the affections of the love of good 
and truth ; but the filthy and unclean ob- 
jects in hell to the affections of the love of 
evil and the false, 77, 78. See Creation. 
Objects of every kind, whether natural or 
spiritual, are correspondences, 78. See Heart 
and Lungs. The several parts of a tree 
correspond to truths, and its fruits to goods, 
106. Those who have a distinct idea of 
judgment and redemption may discern several 
things that lie concealed under figures in the 
prophetical parts of the Word, and which yet 
stand plainly revealed by an explication of 
correspondences, 123. The Word, which 
is inwardly spiritual, is written by corre- 
spondences, 194. The Lord, during his 
abode in the world, spoke by correspond- 
ences, and thus both spiritually and nat 
urally at the same time, 199, 201. See 
Literal Sense of the Word. Tne science 
of correspondences was most familiar to the 
ancients, who esteemed it the science of 
sciences, and cultivated it so universally 
that all their books were written by cor- 
respondences, 201, 279, 833, 846. See 

Ancients. As divine things fix their exist- 
ence in outward nature, therefore the Word 
was written solely by correspondences, 201. 
When the representative rites of the church, 
which were correspondences, began, in pro- 
cess of time, to be corrupted by idolatrous 
and likewise magical applications, by the 
Divine Providence of the Lord the science 
of correspondences was gradually lost, and 
among the Israelitish and Jewish people wa9 
entirely obliterated, 204, 846. It remained 
among many eastern nations even till the 
coming of the Lord, 205. It was not dis- 
covered to the Christians- of the primitive 
church, because from their simplicity they 
[could have found no use for it, 206. It 
is now revealed because the divine truths ol 
the church are now coming to light, 207. 
Correspondences are the receptacles and 
abodes of genuine truth, 215. There is a 
constant correspondence between natural 
operations and spiritual, or between what 
is done in the body and what is done in the 
spirit, 583. 

M M M 


1 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


Covenant. . See Word. 

Creation. The end of creation is to form 
an angelic heaven from the human race, 13, 
778. See Sun of Heaven. Creation was 
effected from the divine love by means of 
the divine wisdom, 37. The three essentials 
of the divine love were the cause of the crea- 
tion of the universe, and are also the cause 
of its preservation, 46. * See Love. Without 
some knowledge of spiritual things man can- 
not form a just idea of creation, 75. A par- 
ticular explanation and demonstration of the 
laws of creation do not properly belong to a 
system of theology, 75. The universe was 
not created out of nothing, since out of noth- 
ing, nothing can be produced ; but creation 
was effected by the sun of the angelic heaven, 
76. It was effected according to the laws of 
correspondence, 78. In the spiritual world 
animals and vegetables are created instan- 
taneously, according to the affections of the 
inhabitants; and in like manner, at the be- 
ginning, in the natural world, where it was 
provided that they should be renewed succes- 
sively by propagations from one another, 78. 
Noxious plants 'and animals are not created 
in the spiritual world by God, nor were they 
in the natural world, for all things that God 
created were good, but they had their birth 
in the natural world together with hell, 78. 
Natural things are so created that they invest 
spiritual, # 78. Subsistence is perpetual ex- 
istence, and preservation is perpetual crea- 
tion, 224. There are several things which 
are not creatable : 1st. The infinite. 2d. 
Love and wisdom. 3d. Life. 4th. Light 
and heat. 5th. Essential activity (ipsa ac- 
tivitas) considered in itself ; but the organs 
receptive of these are creatable and are cre- 
ated, 472. It is a law of creation, that 
wherever there are actives, there are also 
passives, and that these two should conjoin 
themselves into one, 472, 576. If actives 
were creatable as passives are, there would 
be no need of the sun or of its heat and light, 
472. See S%m, the natural. 'Hie Creator is 
joined in an eternal covenant, like that of 
marriage, with all things of His creation by 
good and truth, 624. 

Creatures ( Mark xvi. 15) signify all who 
are in a capacity to be regenerated, 573, 687. 

Cross, passion of the. It was the final 
temptation by which the Lord glorified his 
Humanity, and reduced the hells to order, 2, 
126. It did not constitute the act of re- 
demption, but of the glorification of the 
Humanity, 95, 126, 134, 579. See Glorifi- 
cation. Although redemption and the passion 
of the cross ire distinct, yet the} 1- make one 
in respect to salvation, 126, 127. See Pro- 
phet. It is a fundamental error of the church 
to believe the passion of the cross to be re- 

898 


demption itself, and this error, together with 
that relating to three divine persons from 
eternity, has perverted the whole church, so 
that nothing spiritual is left remaining in it, 
132, 133, 378, 579. The worship of those 
who put up formulary prayers, and confirm 
themselves in the faith that the Lord took 
away all the sins of the world by his passion 
on the cross, is hypocritical, 618. Redemp- 
tion and the passion of the cross are two dis- 
tinct things, and ought by no means to be 
confounded together, 581. 

Damnation, the, which threatened the 
whole human race in consequence of the 
power of evil prevailing over the power of 
good, was averted by the advent of the 
Lord, 3, 579. Whoever denies God is already 
among the condemned, and after death is 
gathered to his companions, 14. God could 
not redeem mankind (that is, deliver them 
from damnation and hell, 118), except by 
assuming the Humanity, 84. As it is im- 
possible for God to condemn any one who 
lives well and believes aright, so is it alike 
impossible for Him to save anyone who lives 
an evil life, 341. The sensual and corporeal 
man is utterly unconscious of any damnatory 
evil or saving good, and becomes like a tree 
planted on a hard rock, which shoots a few 
roots between the clefts and at length withers 
away for want of moisture, 564. 

Darkness, signifies falses arising either from 
ignorance, or from false principles in religion, 
or from evils of life, 635. 

Death. See Life. After death man is pre- 
pared for his final abode in' heaven or hell, 
74, 447, 448, 568. Every man after death 
casts off the natural, which he had from his 
mother ; and retains the spiritual, which he 
had from his father, together with a certain 
limbus which invests it from the purest parts 
of nature, 103. Every man after death en- 
ters the spiritual world and takes along with 
him altogether the same nature which he had 
in the natural world, 120, 199, 568, 792. He 
also comes into association with his deceased 
relations and friends, 120, 447. Entrance 
into the spiritual world is generally the third 
day after decease, 138, 281. See Instruc- 
tion. It is a man’s spirit which lives after 
death, 156. After death, man is prepared 
in the spiritual world ; for heaven, if his life 
has been good ; for hell, if it has been evil, 
160, 447, 475. Every man after death is 
instructed by angels, and those who discern 
truths, and thence falses, are received into 
heaven, 255. Man is a real man after 
death, 274, 281, 568, 792, 846. Those who 
are confirmed in self-derived intelligence, 
after death, become first like persons intoxi- 
cated, afterwards like idiots, and lastly they 
6ink into stupidity and sit in darkness, 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


Spiritual death, considered in itself, is natural 
life without spiritual, 369. After death, man 
is no longer in externals but in internals, 
373. Being then in spirit, he is attached to 
that society, either in heaven or hell, where 
his ruling love prevails, 447, 622. He is 
prepared for full association by the rejection 
of every love which is not in agreement with 
his principal love, 447. After this prepara- 
tion lie finds an eternal borne prepared for 
him, in the society which exactly agrees with 
his own affection, 622. Death is not an ex- 
tinction but a continuation of life, conse- 
quently it is only a passage from one state 
to another, 792. All after death are kept 
for some time in the confession of faith and 
the religion of their country, 820. 

Degrees. Each degree of altitude is ca- 
pable of progression towards infinity, but 
no degree can be elevated into a higher de- 
gree, thus the natural cannot become spir- 
itual, nor the spiritual, celestial, 32. Degrees 
were caused by the creation of one thing 
from another, 33. See Love and Wisdom. 
In each world (the spiritual and the natural) 
there are three degrees, which are called 
degrees of altitude, 75. See Order. The 
three heavens exist from the three degrees of 
the spiritual atmospheres, 76. See Life. A 
man is in the natural degree so long as he 
continues in this world, and at the same time 
so far in the angelic spiritual degree as he is 
in genuine truths, and so far in the angelic 
celestial degree as he is in a life according to 
those truths, 239. The difference between 
the spiritual and natural, is like that which 
exists between the prior and the posterior, or 
between the cause and the effect, which bear 
no determinate proportion to each other, 280. 
The natural can never, by any subtilization 
or refining, so approach the spiritual as to 
become itself spiritual, 280. In the spiritual 
world whatever is interior is also superior, 
which is the case with the three heavens, 379. 

Delights, the, of love, cause what is 
good to be called good, and the gratifica- 
tions of wisdom, what is true, to be called 
true, 38. The delights of love and the grati- 
fications which appear to be of wisdom are 
*of two kinds ; there are delights of the love 
of good and delights of the love of evil, and, 
consequently gratifications of the faith of 
truth, and gratifications of the faith of the 
f -dse, 38, 570. See Evil. The delight of the 
angels occasioned by the perception of the 
spiritual and celestial senses of the Word, 
while a man, who accounts it holy, reads it 
in the natural sense, is communicated to the 
man, and produces consociation and like- 
wise a communication of perceptions, 238. 
See Angels. The delight arising from the 
perception of the truths of faith and from 

899 


the practice oi the goods of love grows 
more blessed in proportion as man becomes 
spiritual, 361. All a man’s enjoyments, 
satisfactions, and happiness take their rise 
from his ruling love, for what he loves that 
he calls delightful, 399. The delight of doing 
good to our neighbor is its own reward ; it 
is the delight the angels of heaven experience, 
and is spiritual, eternal, and infinitely supe- 
rior to every natural delight, 440, 734. Those 
who are in the, enjoyment of this delight 
are unwilling to hear of merit, for they 
love to do good and therein perceive true 
blessedness, 440. Delight constitutes the life 
of man’s love, 490, 570, 746. The delight of 
evil envelops the merely natural mind, as a 
thick mist does a bog, and absorbs and suffo- 
cates the rays of light, 564. This infernal 
delight can only be amended, and reformed by 
means of a spiritual-rational and moral prin- 
ciple, 564. Delight is the all of life to every 
one in heaven, and the all of life to every 
one in hell, 570. The activity of love is 
what produces the sense of delight, which ac- 
tivity in heaven is attended with wisdom and 
in hell with insanity, each of which in its re- 
spective subjects closes in delights, 570. This 
activity is an influx from the Lord into the 
will and understanding, whence all delight is 
derived, 570. The delight of use originating 
in love and operating by wisdom is the life 
and soul of all heavenly joys, 734, 737. This 
delight enters into the soul by influx from the 
Lord, and descends through the superior and 
inferior regions of the mind into all the bodily 
senses, and in them is complete and full, 
737. 744. Every love has its particular de- 
light, for by delight love is kept alive, 746. 

Denial. Those who deny God, deny also 
the Word, and all the spiritual things of the 
church, as well as their own spiritual existence, 
14, 23. Those who deny the sanctity of the 
Word, and yet load themselves with reli- 
gious notions and opinions, only talk like 
parrots which speak by rote, 22. Those who 
deny the unity of God become like movable 
statues, 23. See Satans, Idea. The denial 
of the exclusive Divinity of the Lord involves 
the total destruction of the whole Christian 
Church, 94. All those deny the holiness of 
the Word, and profane it, who, in their hearts, 
make a mockery cf whatever relates to the 
church and religion, 315. See Command- 
ments. All those are evil who deny the 
creation of the world by God, and thus deny 
God, for they are atheistical naturalists, 382. 
See Good. Those who deny man’s freedom 
in spiritual things, and in consequence of 
such denial reject it, change spiritual freedom 
into a freedom merely natural, and at length 
into that which is infernal, 494. See Free- 
will. 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


Dkvtls. are those who have lived aban- 
donedly, and thereby rejected all acknowl- 
edgment of God from their hearts, 35, 80. 
With respect to their essences they are no- 
thing but evils and falses, 87. A devil is 
always meditating and endeavoring to prac- 
tise what is in agreement with his infernal 
nature, 145. Devils are those who are in 
evils and thence in falses, 281. A devil can 
understand truth when he hears it, but he 
cannot retain it, for the affection of evil, on 
the return of its influence, dispels the thought 
and consideration of truth, 388. Devils 
derive their rationality from the glory of 
self-love*, 507. Every devil is allowed the 
enjoyment of his delight, even the most 
unclean, provided he does not infest good 
spirits and angels; but as in consequence of 
their delight they cannot refrain from infest- 
ing them, they are confined in workhouses, 
where they undergo great hardships, 570, 
661. See Satans. 

Disciples. The Lord called together his 
twelve disciples, now angels, and sent them 
throughout the spiritual world to preach the 
gospel there anew, 4, 108, 791. To each 
of them a particular district was assigned, 
where they are fulfilling their charge with 
the utmost zeal and industry, 108. After 
the disciples, when in the world, had re- 
ceived from the Lord the gift of the Holy 
Spirit, they promulgated the Gospel by speak- 
ing and writing, and this they did of them- 
selves from the Lord, each according to his 
own particular intelligence, 154. Peter, 
James, and John, when they saw Jesus 
transfigured, were in the Spirit, similar to 
the prophets, 157. The twelve disciples 
represent the church, as to all the truths 
and goods which it has from the Lord by 
means of the Word, 226. The faith of the 
Apostles was no other than a faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, 338. The twelve apos- 
tles, having been sent by the Lord, were 
present -frith the author while he wrote on 
saving faith, 339. 

Distance. If there were no intermediate 
bodies the eye would not perceive that any 
distance existed, 64. Distances with spirits 
are according to the states of their affections, 
694. 

Divine. The Divine Being from himself, 
through the spiritual world, operates all 
things in nature, 12. What is from God 
is not called God but is called Divine, 25. 
God himself and the Divine which proceeds 
immediately from him is not in space, 30. 
From the Lord proceeds the Divine celestial, 
which is of the Divine love; the Divine spir- 
itual, which is of the Divine wisdom ; and 
the Divine natural, which partakes of both, 
and is their complvv in ultimates, 195. 

900 


Doctrine. The most essential doctrine 
of the church, is, that Jehovah God descend* 
ed and assumed the Humanity, 98. Those 
who are in falses of doctrine have no com- 
municatioif with heaven by means of the 
Word; but with those who are in truths of 
doctrine, the reading of the Word penetrates 
even into heaven, and effects conjunction with 
the angels, 209. See Perception. By means 
of doctrine, the Word is rendered, not only 
intelligible, but bright and shining in the 
understanding, 227. Those who read the 
Word without doctrine are in the dark con- 
cerning every truth, so that their minds must 
be wavering and unsettled, prone to errors, 
and easily betrayed into heresies, 228. Doc- 
trine ought to be drawn from the literal sense 
of the Word and confirmed thereby, 229 — 
231. The doctrine of genuine truth may 
be fully drawn from the literal sense of the 
Word, for the Word in that sense is like a 
person with his clothes on, whose face and 
hands notwithstanding are bare ; so all things 
in the Word which relate to man’s faith and 
life, and consequently to salvation, are bare 
and naked, but the rest are clothed, 229. 
Doctrine is not attainable by means of the 
spiritual sense of the Word, but is only capa- 
ble of receiving illustration and confirmation 
from it, 230. Genuine truth in the literal 
sense of the Word, which should constitute 
doctrine, is apparent Only to those who are 
in illustration from the Lord, 231, 232. See 
Illustration. Mere doctrine does nof estab- 
lish and constitute the church in each indi- 
vidual man, but faith and life in agreement 
with it, 245. The whole of doctrine and of 
life relates to love towards God and towards 
the neighbor, 287. All the doctrines of the 
church which teach and point out the way to 
heaven or to salvation depend on its faith, 
338. The doctrines of the New church are 
a chain of truths revealed from the Lord by 
the Word, and their confirmation by rational 
considerations causes the understanding to 
be opened more and more upwards- — and 
thus elevated into the light which the angels 
of heaven enjoy, 508. 

Dominion. There are two kinds of dof* 
minion, one originating in love towards our 
neighbor, and the other in the love of self, 
400, 404, 661. See Self-Love. He who is 
principled in the former, the higher he is 
exalted in dignity, the more is he glad, not 
on account of the mere dignity, but because 
his sphere of use is thus rendered wider in 
extent and more excellent in degree, 400. 
Such are intrusted with dominion in the 
heavens ; but then it is not they who rule, 
but the uses and goods which they love ; and 
when these bear rule, it is the Lord who 
rules, 400, 661. With those who are in the 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


love of dominion , grounded in the love of 
self, the love of heaven is made into a kind 
of footstool, on which they rest their feet 
when they appear before the vulgar, but 
which, when they are retired from common 
observation, they throw into a corner, or 
cast out of doors, 405. Under the influence 
of this love, when indulged without restraint, 
the clergy would be gods, and the laity kings, 
405, 661. II a man has it in his power to 
obtain some place or office, but resigns his 
claims to another candidate because he knows 
him to be better qualified, such a one in 
consulting the good of society proves himself 
possessed of a good conscience, 666. To 
reign with Christ is to be wise and perform 
uses, 736. 

Dove. Doves often appear in heaven, and 
correspond to the affections and thoughts re- 
lating to regeneration and purification, 144. 

Dliagon. By the dragon are signified all 
those who are principled in the faith of the 
present church, 182, 648. All those who 
reject the spiritual sense of the Word, 207. 
There are three spheres which proceed from 
the spirits of the dragon : 1st, a sphere which 
takes away the belief in the divinity of the 
Lord’s humanity ; 2d, a sphere which takes 
away faith ; 3d, a sphere which affects the 
conjunction of faith and charity, and breaks 
all connection between those two means of sal- 
vation established from the creation of the 
world, 619. See Salvation , Faith. 

Duxcn, the, more than other people, are 
under the influence of the spiritual love of 
trade, 801. See Trade. They adhere to 
their religious principles more tenaciously 
than others, and even if they are convinced 
that they are wrong upon particular points, 
still they will not confess it ; thus they re- 
move themselves from the interior intuition 
of truth, not suffering their reason to exert 
itself in any freedom of inquiry, 802. Those 
of them who are in the life of charity become 
more constant than others, for they do not 
suffer themselves to be led away by any rea- 
soning or fallacy, 802. 

Earth, the, in the Word signifies the 
Church as the common mother, 585, 677. 
The new earth, a new church as to its exter- 
nal, 784. 

Earthquake, an, signifies the overthrow of 
the church, which is effected by falses and the 
falsifications of truth, 179. 

Edom, signifies what is natural, 200. 

Egypt, signifies what is scientific, 200. 
Likewise a church which in its beginning was 
of superior excellence, 635. 

Election. There is no election either 
before a man’s birth or after it, but all are 
elected and predestinated to heaven, 664. 
After death the Lord elects those who are 

901 


found to have lived well and believed aright, 
664. 

End. See Cause. The first and last ends 
contain in them the mediate ends, 152. The 
first also is in the middle, and by means of 
the middlje in the last, and thus the last is 
the continent, 210, 214. Every Divine work 
is complete and perfect in the last, and in the 
last is contained the whole, 210. Ends by 
means of causes produce effects, 374. 

English. The better sort among them are 
in the centre of all Christians in consequence 
of possessing an interior intellectual light, 
807. This light however is not active of it- 
self but is made so by others, especially by 
men of reputation and authority, shining with 
peculiar brightness as soon as such men de- 
clare their sentiments, 807. There is among 
them a similitude of disposition which leads 
them to an intimate connection with friends 
of their own country, but seldom with others : 
they are also kind in relieving each other’s 
necessities and loAre sincerity, 808. The doc- 
trine of justification by faith alone taught by 
the clergy is not generally received by the 
laity: this is particularly the case with the 
inhabitants of Scotland and its borders, 812. 

Enthusiast. Most enthusiasts after death 
fall into the insane fancy that they themselves 
are the Holy Spirit, 138. See Zeal. 

Ephraim, signifies the understanding of 
the Word in the church, 247. See Adul- 
tery. 

Equilibrium. See Free-will. There is no 
substance in the created universe which does 
not tend to an equilibrium that it may be in 
liberty, 496. So long as man lives in this 
world, he is, as to his spirit, in equilibrium, 
between the world and heaven, and as he 
withdraws his affections from heaven and 
fixes them on the world, in the same propor- 
tion he draws near towards hell, 497. 

Esse. The Divine Esse, or very Being 
of God, transcends every idea of human 
thought, 18, 28. Because God alone is the 
Esse, or I am, nothing exists in the created 
universe but what is derived from him, 19. 
Esse is the verimost substance, 20. The 
Divine Esse is Esse in Itself, and at the same 
time Existere in Itself, 21. See Essence, 
The Divine Esse is one, and immutably the 
same, the very Essential Self, and the Indi- 
visible, 25, 366. See Immensity , Place. 
The Esse of God does not pre-exist, but yet 
enters into His Essence, cohering with, deter- 
mining, forming, and at the same time ex- 
alting it, 36. Infinity, Immensity, and 
Eternity pertain to the Divine Esse, 49. God 
does not operate at all in man of himself as 
He is in His esse : this is because He is in 
the first beginnings and inmost principles of 
all things, and consequently in a most emi* 


TKUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


nent degree above every sphere of the human 
mind, 370. See Humanity. 

Essence, the Divine, is distinguished from 
the Divine Esse, as what is posterior from 
what is prior, 21. The Divine Essence is 
love itself and wisdom itself, 21, 37. See 
Love. Because the Lord cannot be received 
by any creature as He is in Himself, He ap- 
pears according to His quality in His essence 
fi.8 a sun above the angelic heavens, 25. Om- 
nipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence per- 
tain to the Divine Essence, 49. Every one is 
at all times in the endeavor to act from his es- 
sence, 145. There are general and also par- 
ticular essentials of every one thing, which 
altogether constitute one essence, 166. In 
the Lord God the Sa viour the three essentials 
of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make one 
Essence, 167, 170, 172. See Trinity. God 
could not and cannot divide His own essence, 
that being one and indivisible, 364. The 
essence or nature which every one appropri- 
ates to himself during hiS life in the world 
cannot be changed after death, 651. 

Eternity. See Infinity. The Divine Esse 
was from eternity, 21. Eternity was the 
original source of time, 27, 31. The Infin- 
ity of God with respect to time is called 
eternity, 31. The angels, by eternity, per- 
ceive the Divine as to His existere, 31. See 
Idea. 

Evil. The love of evil is as the heat of the 
sun when it parches, withers, and operates 
upon barren ground and noxious plants, die., 
38. God does not hold man in evil, but de- 
tains him from it, 61. By the continual 
striving and resistance of evil and falsity 
against the Divine good and truth, God per- 
ceives both their quantity and their quality, 
61. See Power. A single evil is in connec- 
tion with the whole power of hell, 68. The 
power to resist the evil an.d the false is from 
the Divine Omnipotence, in proportion as 
man lives according to Divine order, 68. 
See Punishment. Without redemption evils 
would so accumulate as to overrun the spir- 
itual world with their contagious influences, 
120. See Hereditary Evil, 154. The lust 
of evil, notwithstanding a forbearance from 
the outward . commission, constitutes an act, 
826. Evils, which are of hell, must be re- 
moved before good inclinations, which are 
of heaven, can be implanted, 329, 435, 436, 
520, 524, 614. So far as man shuns evils 
his will is influenced by good, because evils 
and goods are opposites, 330, 437, 567. A 
man ought to purify himself of evils, and not 
wait for the Lord to purify him by an im- 
mediate act of His power, 331, 436. See Can- 
ons of the New Church. The appropriation 
of whatever is evil and false conjoins man to 
hell, as the appropriation of whatever is 


good and true conjoins him to hoaven, 888 
Faith cannot dwell with evil, for evil dwells 
in darkness and faith in light, and evil by 
means of falses extinguishes faith as darknesa 
does light, 383. Evil cannot exist in the in- 
ternal man and good at the same time in the 
external, for in such case, good in the exter- 
nal man would be like a wound healed on 
the surface, but inwardly full of putrid mat- 
ter, 435. Evil was not from God, but was 
introduced by man after creation, 490. It 
is caused by man turning the good, which 
proceeds continually by influx from God, into 
evil, in consequence of averting himself from 
God and turning himself towards self, in which 
case the delight of good remains and becomes 
the delight of evil, 490. All that proceeds 
from the Lord is good and true, and by spirits 
it is turned into evil and the false, 492. 
Those who do not do good from a religious 
motive do evil, 536. The evil which a man 
does not see, know, and acknowledge, re- 
mains with him, and thus becomes rooted in 
him more and more deeply, until it closes up 
the interiors of his mind, so that he is ren* 
dered, first, natural, then sensual, and lastly, 
corporeal, 564. Unless evils are expelled one 
by one, until the chain which holds them to- 
gether is broken asunder, it is impossible for 
a man to be made new, 611. Every evil in 
man has conjunction with such spirits in hell 
as are in a similar evil, 613. Every evil 
that he appropriates to himself remains with 
him, 614. Evil, and a faith in the one true 
God cannot be together, for evil is against 
God, and faith is in favor of God, 657. No 
evil is imputed to man, which is an object of 
thought only, 659. See Thought. 

Evil and False. All things which are 
contrary to Divine order, have relation to 
evil and the false, 398. If truth be adjoined 
to evil, it is no longer truth but becomes 
false, for it is falsified ; and if good be ad- 
joined to the false of evil, it is no longer 
good but becomes evil, for it is adulterated, 
398. As all intelligence and wisdom arise 
from the conjunction of good and truth, 60 
all insanity and folly arise from the conjunc- 
tion of evil and the false, 398. See Evil , 
Falhe. 

Exinanition. See Glorification. 

Existere, differs from Esse as what is prior 
from what is posterior, 22. God is not only 
Esse in itself, but also Existere in itself, 21. 
See Eternity. The Esse of His substance is 
Divine Good, and the Existere of His sub 
stance is Divine Truth, 624. 

Extense. The expanse around the sun of 
the angelic heaven, is not an extense, but is 
in the extense of the natural sun, and present 
with all living subjects according to their 
reception, 36. 


INDEX TO THE WORE. 


Faculty, the only, connate with man is 
that of receiving, which is the cause of his 
superiority to brute animals, and which con- 
sists in a laculty to know and an inclination 
to love, 48, 335. These two capacities, to 
know and to love, are preserved in the 
highest regions of the soul, even with the 
evil, 70. 

Faith, is the gate of introduction into the 
Lord’s temple, 1. The faith of the New 
Church in its universal form, is, that the 
Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came 
into the world that He might subdue the 
hells and glorify His Humanity ; that without 
Him no flesh could have been saved and that 
all will be saved who believe in Him, 2. See 
Jehovah God, Humanity , Redemption. Faith, 
or believing in the Lord, implies a good life, 
2, 22, 151. Knowledges, which afterwards 
become truths of faith, enter the mind from 
without and dispose man for the reception of 
the divine influx through the soul, by which 
natural faith is transformed into spiritual, 
8, 11. See Influx , Knowledge , Understand- 
ing. Natural faith is at first but a mere 
persuasion, 11, 345; when changed into spir- 
itual it becomes real consent, and acknowl- 
edgment, 11. Faith is a spiritual sight or 
perception of God’s existence, 22, 344, 346. 
It is a law of order that man should introduce 
himself into faith by truths from the Word 
and into charity by good works, 71, 356, 
357. Frequent discourse from the memory, 
although not from thought and intelligence, 
gives birth to an appearance of faith, 77. 
The truths which constitute the faith in the 
divine humanity of the Lord God the Saviour, 
are so many stars which by their several lights 
give it both manifestation and form, 137. A 
man acquires this faith from the Word .by 
means of his own natural light, in which light 
it is science, thought, and persuasion ; but the 
Lord, in such as believe on Him, causes it to 
become conviction, trust, and confidence, 137. 
Man is reformed and regenerated by truth 
from good, that is, by faith from charity, 
142. To believe in the Lord is not only to 
acknowledge Him, but also to do his com- 
mandments, 151. The faith of the church in 
relation to God, is like the soul which ani- 
mates the body, and points of doctrine are 
like the members of that body, 177. The faith 
of every church is as the seed from which all 
its doctrines spring, 178, 338. Faith and a life 
according to it constitute the church, 245. 
A saving faith, is a faith in the Lord God the 
Saviour Jesus Christ,, 337 — 339, 384. Faith, 
in its essence is spiritual, but in its form 
natural, 339. The first requisite of a faith 
directed towards Jesus Christ is an acknowl- 
edgment that He is the Son of God, 342. 
Man receives faith in consequence of ap-l 

903 


proaching the Lord, kain.ng truths from 
the Word, and living a life in conformity 
with them, 343, 347, 348. The esse of the 
faith of the New Church, is, 1st. Confidence 
in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. 
2d. A trust, that whoever lives a good life 
and believes aright will be saved by Him. The 
essence of this faith, is, truth derived from 
the Word. Its existence, 1st. Spiritual sight. 
2d. An harmonious agreement of truths. 3d. 
Conviction. 4th. Acknowledgment inscribed 
on the mind, 344. Faith in its essence is 
truth, 347, 348, 377. Its life and essence 
are in the Lord and consequently from Him, 
347. It is nothing but a complex of truths 
shining in the human mind, 347, 349, 618, 
The number of such truths, cohering as in a 
fascicle or bundle, exalts and perfects faith, 
349, 352. See Truth. They are capable of 
being multiplied to infinity, 350. They are 
arranged into orderly series, and such ar- 
rangement is effected according to the use of 
reason in a state of freedom, 351. See Series. 
Faith thus becomes more and more perfectly 
spiritual, and consequently less and less sen- 
sual-natural, 352. The truths of faith, how 
ever numerous they may be, and however 
different they may appear, make one perfect 
form, 354. When a man is in spiritual faith 
lie is also in natural faith, for spiritual faith 
is within natural faith, 360. Faith in its be- 
ginning with man is natural, and is rendered 
spiritual as he approaches the Lord, 361. 
Faith is conjunction with God by means of 
truths which belong to the understanding 
and thence to the thoughts, 369. The oper- 
ation of faith is to produce truths and these 
enlighten charity and its exercises, 377. 
There is a true faith, a spurious faith, and a 
hypocritical faith, 378. See Raise Faith. 
There is only one true faith, and it is directed 
towards the Lord God the Saviour Jesus 
Christ, and abides with those who believe 
Him to be the Son of God, the God of heav- 
en and earth, and one with the Father, 378, 
379* There is no faith with the wicked, 
namely with those who theoretically deny 
the Lord, and with those who practically 
commit sins, 382 — 384. The reason is, that 
all evil and falsity is of hell, and faith is of 
heaven, . 383. See Christians. A merely 
natural man, who, in respect to faith is dead, 
can converse and give instruction about faith, 
charity, and God, but not from and under 
their influence, 384. Faith separate from 
charity is like the light in winter; and faith 
conjoined with charity is like the light in 
spring, 385, 618. It is now allowable to 
enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith, 
508. Faith and truth make one thing, the 
good of faith being like a soul whose body is 
formed by truths, 618. The faith of the New 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


Church teaches that there is only one Divine 
person from eternity. That the Divine Trin- 
ity is united in one person. It is directed 
towards a God visible and approachable, in 
whom is the invisible and unapproachable. 
It attributes to Him all power of imputing, 
and also of operating the effects of salvation. 
Acknowledges Him as at once Creator, Re- 
deemer, and Saviour. It teaches repentance, 
reformation, regeneration, and thus remission 
of sins by man’s co-operation. An imputa- 
tion of good and of evil, and at the same time 
of faith. That Jesus Christ is God, Redeemer, 
and Saviour. That man has freedom of deter- 
mination in spiritual things ; and it conjoins 
faith in the Lord and charity towards the 
neighbor, as two inseparable things, and so 
foi*ms its religion. In all these particulars it 
is directly opposed to the faith of the old 
church, 647. The faith of the former church 
is described in the Revelation by the dragon ; 
and the faith of the New Church by the 
woman encompassed with the sun, who had 
on her head a crown of twelve stars, 648. 
Faith passes sentence on its subjects accord- 
ing to the good or evil with which it is con- 
joined, 654 — 657. Faith in the one time God 
causes good to be good even in its internal 
form; but faith in a false god, causes it to be 
good only in its external form, 655. Time faith 
is accompanied with a confidence that all good 
is from God, and that it is this which makes 
our own good to be saving good, 655. 

False Faith. A faith in one God ren- 
ders the forms of the human mind clear and 
angelic, but a faith in several gods dark and 
bestial, 8. From mistaken opinions of faith 
and omnipotence, falses and fallacies have 
arisen in the church, 57, 341. A faith in 
the mere humanity of the Lord is like the 
sepulchre of our Lord after His resurrection, 
137. In the faith of the present church, 
which is internally directed towards three 
gods, but externally towards one, there are 
contained legions of falsities ready to burst 
forth like the swarms of young spiders hatched 
from the ball of eggs produced by a single 
mother, 178. From the idea of three gods 
a heavy and stupid faith is begotten, under 
the influence of which men think of God 
like people dreaming in their sleep, 183. 
Faith is not faith unless it is conjoined to 
charity, 336, 355, 367, 377, 387. Faith di- 
rected towards an invisible God is actually 
blind, because the human mind does not see 
its god ; and the light of such a faith, since 
it is not spiritual-natural, is a false light, 
839. The faith of those who deny the Divin- 
ity of the Lord’s Humanity is only a kind 
of persuasion, 339. False or merely natural 
faith consists of* several kinds, all 'of which 
ar? represented by disorders of the eyes, 

904 


345, 346. There can be no faith profitable 
to salvation, unless man approaches the Lord, 
acquires truth from the Word, and lives a 
life according to them, 348. All who ap- 
proach the Lord are not principled in faith 
towards Him ; for true faith is internal as 
well as external, 379. Every faith which 
does not acknowledge the Lord to be the 
Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, 
and one with the Father, is spurious, 380. 
See Adultery, Marriage. A spurious and 
adulterous faith belongs to those who regard 
the Lord, not as God, but as a mere man, 
380. Those who honor the Lord with their 
mouths and lips only, but in heart and spirit 
regard Him as a mere man, in case they open 
their thoughts and persuade others to think 
as they do, are spiritual murderers, and the 
worst of them are spiritual cannibals, 880. 
A hypocritical faith is no faith, 381. Faith 
is dead in all who are without works, 453. 
The faith of this day occasions God to be 
regarded as the cause of evil, 489. The 
doctrine that faith alone saves, and that- man 
can do no good of himself is infused into the 
thoughts of those who belong to the reformed 
church, by associate spirits of a like nature 
with themselves, and it diverts them from 
self-inspection, 561. No one who is con- 
firmed in the faith of the present day can 
see with clearness the truths which are de- 
clared in the Word, 618. Faith, imputation, 
and the merit of Christ, form in the present 
church, one whole, and may be called a 
triune, for if one of the three were taken 
away, modern theology would cease to be, 
626, 627. Such faith is not Christian faith, 
because it is at variance with the Word, and 
the imputation of such faith is vain, because 
the merit of Christ is not imputable, 627. 
See Imputation. In consequence of the faith 
in three gods, all the good of charity and all 
the truth of faith is banished ; for the mind 
denies what the mouth speaks, and the mouth 
denies what the mind thinks, so that at 
length there is no belief in three gods or in 
one, 634. 

Falses. In natural light, when separa- 
ted from spiritual, falses appear to be truths 
and truths falses ; and reasoning from falses 
appears to be wisdom, and from truths mad- 
ness, 40. All evils and falses thence origi- 
nating are from hell, and to oppose even one 
of them is to oppose the whole power of hell, 
which none can do but God, by virtue of His 
omnipotence, 68. See Evil. Every one who 
is under the influence of falses originating 
from evil, is, as to his spirit, actually in con- 
sort with devils in hell, 69. Falses flow in a 
continued series from one false principle, 132. 
See Faith. To those who interpret the Word 
by the doctrines of false religion, the truths 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


of the Word appear as the shades of night, 
and the falses as the light of day, 232. Truths 
are not only concealed by falses, but are also 
obliterated and rejected, 246. Falses of re- 
ligion, when confirmed by man, are made 
permanent, and cannot be extirpated, 264. 
See Confirmation. When the literal sense of 
the W ord is applied to the confirmation of 
falses, such falses obtain interior possession, 
and when these enter truths are dissipated, 
268. False's attend evils, and evils adhere to 
falses, 281. Those who confirm the falses of 
religion by fallacies, to the misleading of 
others, are guilty of spiritual theft, 320. See 
Commandments {seventh). The false which 
does not spring from evil, is capable of being 
conjoined with good, 398. The false does 
not see the true, but the true sees the false, 
769. 

Fantasy or Phantasy, exists from sensual 
thought, while the ideas are closed against 
the admission of any interior thought, 80. By 
phantasies infernal spirits are able to repre- 
sent very magnificent objects, 187, 662. All 
are in the phantasy of their lust who indulge 
their imaginations too much by conversing 
with themselves, and by their visionary fan- 
cies drown their understanding, 662. 

Father. By the Father is understood 
the Divine good, 88. The Father and Son, 
that is, the Divinity and Humanity, are 
united in the Lord like soul and body, 98. 
188. Their union also is reciprocal, 99. 
The Humanity of the Lord ought to be ap- 
proached in order to come to the Father, 
113, 188. See Humanity , God , Jehovah 
God. 

Feasts of Charity, were instituted among 
the primitive Christians, that they might 
meet together in cordial joy and friendly 
union, 433, 459, 727. The spiritual sphere 
which prevailed on those occasions, was the 
sphere of love to the Lord, and towards the 
neighbor, which exhilarated every mind, 
softened the tone of every expression, and 
communicated to all the senses a festivity 
from the heart; for from every man there 
emanates a spiritual sphere derived from the 
affection of his love and corresponding 
thought, which inwardly affects those in his 
company, particularly at the time of conviv- 
ial recreations. This sphere emanates both 
by the face and the respiration, 433. It is 
because dinners and suppers, or feasts, were 
significative of such consociation of mind, 
that they are so often mentioned in the Word, 
433. See Conjunction. Feasts in the ancient 
churches were feasts of charity, as were those 
in the primitive Christian church, 727. 

Figs, signify the goods of charity, and 
thence of faith, in the natural or external 
man 461. A fig-tree, natural good, 609. 

’ 905 


Finite. All created things are finite, and 
the world was United by successive degrees, 
proceeding from God the Creator, 33. 

Fish, signify truths in the natural man, 
635. 

Food. Meat and bread, in a spiritual 
sense, signify the good of lote and charity, 
and water and wine the truth of wisdom and 
faith, 367. The soul is nourished by spirit- 
ual food, wherefore the Lord calls Himself the 
bread of life, 494, 709. Fruit corresponds to 
good, 660. 

Form. See Sub&ance. Form cannot exist 
except it be derived from a substance, 21, 
367. Love operates all things in and by 
f-orm, 37. Light, life, and wisdom, are not 
creatable, but only the forms that receive 
them, and human and angelic minds are such 
forms, 40. Form originates in wisdom oper- 
ating from love, and its quality and state is 
according to the order inherent in it, 53. 
Essence is not any thing without form, nor 
form without essence, for essence has no qual- 
ity but from form, and form is a subsisting 
entity only from essence, consequently noth- 
ing is predicated of either when separated 
from the other, 367. See Influx. 

Formula Concordle, in "the, it is estab- 
lished that the Human nature of Christ was 
made Divine, 101. Also that God is man 
and that man is God, 112, 137. The faith oi 
the evangelical Protestants, £8 expressed in 
this book, teaches that man is utterly impo- 
tent in spiritual things, having no power 
whereby he may understand, embrace, think, 
will, begin, finish, act, co-operate, or apply, 
or accommodate himself to grace, or contrib- 
ute any thing towards conversion, 356, 503. 
It denies man’s freedom in spiritual things, 
463, 484. It substitutes lip-confession in 
place of actual repentance, 516. It declares 
it damnable idolatry to put trust and faith in 
Christ according to His Human nature, 798. 

Free-will. God is perpetually striving 
with and acting upon man, and even touches 
his freedom, but never forces it, 74, 504 
In the state of reformation, a man is at full 
liberty to act according to the dictates of his 
rational understanding ; likewise in the state 
of regeneration, but then he wills and acts 
under the influence of a new love, 105. As 
a means of effecting a reciprocal conjunction 
with the Lord, man is endowed with a free- 
dom of choice, 371, 497. He is receptive 
of influences both from heaven and from hell, 
being in the midst between them, and thus 
in spiritual equilibrium, 383, 455, 475 — 478, 
490, 659. Unless man had freedom of deter- 
mination, the injunctions in the Word would 
be mere empty sounds in whatever concerns 
his salvation, 463, 483, 484, 504. It is 
from his freedom of determination that a 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 




man is man, and not a beast, 469. The ori- 
gin of man’s freedom is the equilibrium in 
which his spirit is held between good and 
evil influences in the world of spirits, 475 — 
478. See World of Spirits. Animals are also 
in a state of freedom, but they are carried 
away by the senses of the body, according 
to the suggestions of pleasure and appetite, 
nor would man be at all unlike them if he 
had the liberty of acting, as he has of think- 
ing, without restraint, 478. It is other- 
wise when man imbibes the spiritual things 
of the church, and so restrains his liberty, 
478. He is then withdrawn by the Lord 
from lusts and evil pleasures till he finds 
delight in what is good, in which heavenly 
freedom, which is true freedom, consists, 
478. Without the capacity of free-deter- 
mination, even in the most minute particu- 
lars, man could not even respire, for respira- 
tion follows the thought, and thence the 
speech, in every mode, 480, 482. Man’s 
natural freedom is a consequence of his spir- 
itual freedom, 481, 482. Freedom of deter- 
mination and will may be called a living 
• effort or tendency in man; for on the cessa- 
tion of will, cessation of action ensues, and 
when freedom of determination ceases, will 
also ceases at the same time, 482. See Will 
and Understanding. Without freedom in 
spiritual things, man would have nothing 
which could enable him to conjoin himself by 
reciprocation with the Lord, and consequently 
there would be no imputation, but mere pre- 
destination, which is detestable, 485 — 488. 
Without free-determination in spiritual things, 
God would be chargeable as the cause of evil, 
489 — 492. Man could not possibly have 
been created, and still be a man, without 
freedom in spiritual things, 489. His freedom 
consists in the power of willing and acting, 
of thinking and speaking, to all appearance 
as from himself, 489. Every spiritual prin- 
ciple of the church, that is received with 
freedom, remains, but not otherwise, 493 — 
495, 500. All freedom which is from the 
Lord is freedom itself, but that which man 
derives from hell is slavery, 495. Every man 
may be convinced that he enjoys freedom in 
spiritual things by attending only to his own 
thoughts, 497. Free-determination itself re- 
sides in the human soul in fullest perfection, 
and thence flows into the mind both as to 
will and understanding, and through these 
into the bodily senses, the words and actions, 
498. Freedom is the faculty in which the 
Lord is present with man, 498, 580. If 
men were destitute of freedom of determina- 
tion in spiritual things, it would be possible 
for all men throughout the whole world, in a 
Bingle day, to be induced to believe in the 
Lord, 500—502. 

906 


Friendship. The friendship of love, con* 
tracted with a person without regard to his 
spiritual quality, is detrimental after death, 
446 — 449. The friendship of love, which is 
internal friendship, is distinct from that ex- 
ternal friendship which regards the person 
alone, and which is intended for the various 
purposes of bodily and sensual gratifications, 
and worldly business and connections, 446. 
Friends and relatives who are dissimilar as to 
spirit, are separated imperceptibly and by 
degrees in the other life, 447. Those who, 
during their abode on earth, have contracted 
friendships of love with one another, are not 
capable, like the rest, of being separated ac- 
cording to order, and of being consigned to 
the society corresponding to their life, for 
they are connected interiorly as to their 
spirits, and cannot be plucked asunder, be- 
ing like branches of trees joined to each other 
by grafting, 448. The case is altogether dif- 
ferent with those who love good in another, 
for if they do not observe a like quality in 
his person after death they immediately brake 
off all friendship with him, 449. The friend- 
ship of love among the wicked is intestine 
hatred towards each other, 454, 455. Those 
who have not openly joined themselves with 
malefactors, and practised theft and robbery, 
may possibly fancy their friendship for others 
is not of such a nature, but it is so in various 
degrees, with all those who have rejected 
faith and despised the holy things of the 
church, 455^. 

Frogs, signify reasonings originating in the 
lust of falsifying truths, 635. 

Fruits, correspond to good works, 462. 

Gabriel, and Michael, are. not the names 
of two persons in heaven, but signify all those 
in heaven who are in the enjoyment of wis- 
dom concerning the Lord, and who worship 
Him, 300. 

Garden. A garden, a grove, and a 
wood, signify wisdom, intelligence, and sci- 
ence, 200. A garden signifies intelligence, 
461, 467. 

Garden of Eden, signifies intelligence and 
wisdom, 467, 520, 606. The two trees in the 
garden signify the freedom of determination 
which man enjoys in respect to spiritual 
things, 466 — 469, 489, 520. Adarn and his 
wife signify the most ancient church which 
existed on our earth, 466, 520. 

Garments. Purple and fine linen in the 
Word signify the good and truth of the Word, 
215. A wedding garment, faith towards the 
Lord, 380. White garments of fine lineL, 
divine truths, 686, 815. 

Generation. The soul is in the seed ot 
the father, and is clothed with a body in the 
womb of the mother, 92, 103. All the spir- 
itual part of man is from the father, and all 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


the material part from the mother, 92, 103. 
There is in the seed of which every one is 
conceived, a graft or offset of the father’s 
soul in its fulness, contained within certain 
involutions of the natural elements; by 
which, in the womb of the mother, his body 
is formed, either after the father’s or the moth- 
er’s likeness, the true image of the father still 
remaining within, and continually endeavor- 
ing to unfold itself ; which, if it cannot do in 
one generation, it effects in another, 103. 
See Soicl. A man has his beginning from the 
soul, which is the very essence of the seed, 
and which is not only the initiating, but also 
the producing cause of all the parts of the 
body in their respective order, 166. Noth- 
ing is provided in the womb of the mother 
except a body, conceived by, and derived 
from, the soul, 167. The seed of man is 
conceived interiorly in the understanding, 
and formed in the will, and thence is trans- 
ferred into the testes, where it clothes itself 
with a natural covering, and is thus conveyed 
into the womb, 584. 

Gentiles, the ancient, worshipped the su- 
preme God under the name of Jove, 9, 275. 
Those who believe in one God, and live ac- 
cording to the precepts of their religion, are 
saved, 107. All who are without the pale of 
the Christian Church, whether they are Ma- 
hometans, Jews, or Gentiles, whatever relig- 
ion they profess, have conceived an aversion 
to Christianity, solely because Christians be- 
lieve in three Gods, 183. Such persons as 
have no knowledge of God, but yet are pos- 
sessed of rationality, so far as relates to civil 
concerns, in the spiritual world have the ap- 
pearance of sphinxes ; but as by birth they 
are men, and consequently in a capacity of 
receiving spiritual life, they are instructed by 
angels, and vivified by knowledges concern- 
ing the Lord as to His Human character, 274. 
In consequence of thinking materially about 
God (see Thought), the ancient gentiles, not 
only made three gods, but multiplied their 
number even to a hundred, for of each attri- 
bute they made a separate god, 623. 

Germans, the, pay but little attention to 
matters of judgment, but much to studies 
that only exercise the memory, 814. They 
seldom elevate the spiritual subjects of the 
church into the superior region of the under- 
standing, but only admit them into the in- 
ferior region, and thence reason upon them, 
in which practice they differ entirely from 
free nations, 815. 

Glorification. The progress of the Lord 
to union with the Father, was His state of 
exinanition, and the union itself is His state 
of glorification. He was in a state of glori- 
fication when He was transfigured before His 
disciples, 104. The Lord underwent the two 

907 


states of exinanition and glorification l ecauso 
there is no other possible way of attaining 
unto union, 105. The Lord glorified His 
Humanity by a similar process to that by 
which He regenerates man, 105. Glorifica- 
tion was the uniting of the Lord’s Humanity 
with the Divinity of His Father, which was 
effected by successive steps, and fully com- 
pleted by the passion of the cross, 126, 128. 
See Humanity. 

Glory, signifies divine truth united to di- 
vine good, 128. Also the spiritual sense of 
the Word, 198, 271. And divine truth in its 
fulness, 780. The glory of the Lord’s second 
coming is His manifestation in the spiritual 
sense of the Word, 780. 

God. See Jehovah God. The Scriptures 
throughout teach that God is one, 6. There 
is a universal influx into the souls of men, 
that there is a God, and that He is one, 8, 24. 
All the nations, influenced by religion or 
sound reason, acknowledge a God, and that 
He is one, 9. Nations and people differ re- 
specting the nature and qualities of God, 
from various causes, 11. Human reason 
may perceive, if it will, that there is a God, 
and that He is one, 12. The existence and 
unity of God are evident from the phenome- 
na of the universe, 12. See Universe. He is 
present in its particular uses, 13. God is the 
whole of the church, 14, 15. See Church. 
God is substance itself and form itself, 20, 
75. His form is truly and verily Human, 20. 
He is esse itself and existere itself, 21. The 
very essential Self, the one only Being, the 
Self-Essent, 22. It is impossible that a God 
should be derived from God, 23, 188, 364. 
He is infinite, because He is and exists in 
Himself, and all things in the universe are 
and exist from Him, 28, 29. See Esse. God 
must be acknowledged such as He can be 
apprehended in His creation, 28. God, since 
the world was made, is in space without 
space, and in time without time, 30. He is 
love itself and wisdom itself, 37. Con- 
sequently, He is good itself and truth itself, 
38. Thus He is the veriinost life which is 
life in itself, 39. He is omnipotent, omni- 
scient, and omnipresent by the wisdom of His 
love, 50. See Order. His power and will 
are one, and since he wills nothing but what 
is good, therefore he can do nothing but 
what is good, 56. He is in His omnipotence 
in the order of the universe, according to 
which He acts, 56. He sees, perceives, and 
knows all things that are done according to 
order, and by that means also whatever is 
done contrary to order, 59, 62. He is om- 
nipresent from first to last in his own order, 
63, 64. The one God descended and was 
made man, for the purpose of effecting 
redemption, 83, 224. Being in- inraostt* 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 


%nd thus in purest principles, He could not 
by any other means descend to ultimate, or 
lowest principles, 84. Although he de- 
scended as the Divine Truth, lie did not 
separate the Divine Good, 88. He is never 
angry with any one, He never avenges, 
tempts, punishes, casts into hell, or condemns ; 
such things are as far from God as hell is 
from heaven, and infinitely farther, 135, See 
Word. The grace of God is infinite and 
eternal, 161. Everyone has a place in heav- 
en according to his idea of God, 163, 621. 
This idea, like a touchstone by which gold 
and silver are tried, is the true test for ex- 
amining the quality of good and truth in a 
man, 163. The Humanity of the Lord is 
Divine, and consequently in Him God is 
Man and Man is God, 170. God came into 
the world as the Word, and by means of the 
Humanity, which was Divine Truth, put on 
all power, 224. He is the same from eter- 
nity to eternity, though His identity is not 
simple identity, but infinite ; and all varia- 
tion is from the subject in which He abides, 
366. Unless God be approached in thought 
as a Man all idea of God is lost, and be- 
comes like bodily vision when directed to- 
wards the wide universe, so that it either 
fixes itself on an empty nothing, or on na- 
ture, 638, 621, 787. 

Gog, signifies external worship without in- 
ternal, 200. 

Gold, signifies internal good, 595; or, ce- 
lestial good, 609. 

Good. Every particular good creates it-- 
self a form by means of truths, 38. The 
love of good is like the sun’s heat, fructify- 
ing, quickening, and operating upon fertile 
ground, Ac., 38. All the good of love and 
charity is from God, 41, 69. Good without 
truth is powerless to act, 87. Evil and 
good cannot abide together, and in propor- 
tion as evil is removed, good is regarded and 
felt, 331. No one can do any good from 
the love of good except from God, 333. 
Good is in man, and every work which pro- 
ceeds from him is good, when the Lord, 
charity, and faith reside in his internal man, 
373. Those who deny a God have not the 
will, and, consequently, not the capacity to 
receive any good from any other source than 
their own selfhood : whatever proceeds from 
this source is spiritually evil, howsoever nat- 
urally good it may appear, 382. See Mo- 
rality. There are many kinds of good, in 
general, spiritual good and natural good, 
which are both conjoined in genuine moral 
good, 398. Every man ought to be loved 
in proportion to the quality of the good 
which is in him, therefore good itself is essen- 
tially our neighbor, 410, 417 — 419. Good 
is our neighbor because it belongs to the 

908 


will, and the will, is the esse of a man’o life, 
419. Truth in the understanding is only 
our neighbor so far as it proceeds from good 
in the will, 419. Man does nothing that is 
good unless it appear to him as it the power, 
the will, and the deed are of himself, there- 
fore this appearance is granted, and when 
he does good from freedom a3 of himself, 
such good is imputed to him and accepted 
as that reciprocal operation, by which con- 
junction with God is effected, 457. God is 
good itself, and in this He is omnipresent, 
perpetually striving and urging to be re- 
ceived, and though He is not received, still 
He does not remove Himself away, 490, 766, 
774. He provides and offers good to all 
creatures and things, but it is changed into 
evil by recipient objects, 491. Every good 
in man has conjunction with such angels in 
heaven as are in a similar good, 613. 

Good and Truth, are derivations of love 
and wisdom, 38. Good has its residence in 
the will of man, and truth in his understand- 
ing, 87. God is intimately present with man 
in the good of love and the truth of faith, 105. 
By these two man is reformed and regen 
erated, 142. The Lord continually endeavort 
to implant in every man truth and good, oi 
faith and charity, 145. The church is estab- 
lished and constituted in individuals, by a 
faith and life conformable to the truths and 
goods which each extracts from the Word, 
and applies to his own state, 245. There is 
a marriage of good and truth in every part 
of the Word, and these two must be united in 
man, 249, 624. See Conjunction. The rea- 
son why two expressions are so often used in 
the Word, which appear like repetitions oi 
the same thing, is, because one has relation to 
good and the other to truth, or to their op- 
posites, the evil and the false, 250. Good is 
the essence of truth, and truth is the form ot 
good, and these two are in all and every par- 
ticular thing that essentially exists, 367, 397, 
398. Good and truth proceed from God, 
from whom are all things, 398. Since the 
conjunction of good and truth is like a mar- 
riage, it is evident that good loves truth, and 
truth in return loves good, and that they have 
a natural desire to be conjoined, 398. All 
and everything, whether living or not living, 
whether animate or inanimate, were created 
from the marriage of good and truth, and to 
be the subjects of that marriage, 624, In the 
Lord God the Creator, Divine good and Di- 
vine truth are in their very substance itself, 
624. Good belongs to the will, and truth to 
the understanding, 660. 

Grace. See God. 

Grapes, signify the goods of charity anc' 
thence of faith in the spiritual or interna 
man, 461. 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


Hail, signifies the infernal false, 635. 

Hair. See Head. 

Hand, in the Word, signifies power; the 
right hand of God. omnipotence, 13fi. 

Happiness, must be within joys and flow 
forth from them, and this happiness is de- 
rived to every angel from the use he pro- 
motes in his occupation or employment, 735. 
The joys of heaven and eternal happiness 
depend not upon place, but upon the state of 
the life of man, 739. See Delight. 

Harvest, is the consummation of the age. 
Wheat (Matt, xiii.) the truths and goods of 
the New Church. Tares, the falses and evils 
of the former church, 784. 

Head, the, in the Word, signifies intelli- 
gence, which angels and men have from the 
Lord, by means of Divine truth, 223, 507. 
Hair, therefore, signifies intelligence in its 
ultimates or extremes, derived from Divine 
truth, 223. The Nazarites represented the 
power of the Word in its ultimates, 223. 

Heart and Lungs, the, are the universals 
of the body, because the heart corresponds 
to love, and the lungs to wisdom, 37. The 
heart can produce no motion or sensation 
without the respiration of the lungs, 87, 367. 
The heart corresponds to the will and its 
goods, and the lungs to the njiderstanding 
and its truths, 87, 367, 601. -A new heart 
signifies a will towards good, and a new 
spirit the understanding of truth, 143, 601. 
The heart propels the blood in every direc- 
tion, but the viscera imbibe it, each accord- 
ing to the kind of use which it performs, 154. 
The reciprocation by which the heart and 
lungs are conjoined, is alternate, 371. See 
Reciprocation. The heart acts, and the ar- 
teries, by their coverings or coats, co-operate, 
and thus produce the circulation of the 
blood, 577. The air acts by its weight or 
pressure upon the lungs, and the ribs first 
co-operate with the lufigs, and immediately 
afterwards the lungs with the ribs ; hence the 
action of respiration is communicated to 
every membrane of the body, 577. Heart 
signifies love ; hence the love of good is 
meant by a heart of flesh, 705. 

Heat and Light. See Sun. Heat and 
light exist in nature, because they correspond 
with the Divine Love and the Divine Wis- 
dom, 37. Divine Love forms life, as fire 
forms light, 39. Natural heat and light 
serve as clothing and aids to spiritual heat 
and light, by which they may be conveyed 
to man, 75, 360, 361. Natural heat and 
light are naked, but the heat and light pro- 
ceeding from the Lord as a sun, contain in 
their bosoms all the infinities that are in the 
Lord ; -the heat all the infinities of his love, 
and the light all the infinities of his wisdom, 
865. The light and heat in which the angels 

909 


dwell are the truth of wisdom and the affec- 
tion of love, 385. Spiritual light in its es- 
sence is truth, and spiritual heat in its essence 
is good, 392, 618. 

Heaven. The angelic heaven is as the 
head of the church on earth, and these to- 
gether are called the body of the Lord, 10. 
To form an angelic heaven from the human 
race is the end of creation, 13. The an- 
gelic heaven is arranged into societies accord 
ing to all the varieties of the love of good, 
15, 32, 447. See Conjunction. The whole 
angelic heaven is arranged into its form and 
preserved in it from the divine love oper- 
ating by the divine wisdom, 37. The whole 
heaven is a form of divine order in its largest 
portraiture, and appears in the sight of God 
as a single man, 65, 68, 119, 268, 354, 608. 
Wherefore there is a plenary correspondence 
between heaven and man, 65. The end of 
creation was the formation of an angelic 
heaven out of the human race, 66, 773. There 
is at this day a new angelic heaven forming 
by the Lord, consisting of such only as be- 
lieve on the Lord God the Saviour and ap- 
proach Him immediately in their worship, 
108, 781 — 784. See Salvation , New Church. 
When the- church on earth perishes, the in- 
ferior heavens pass away, but the inhabitants 
are preserved, and at the last day raised up 
into a new heaven, 119. The heavenly so- 
cieties, which are innumerable, appear to the 
inhabitants of the world of spirits like stars in 
their firmament, 160. The angels of the ce- 
lestial or highest heaven, are in the good of 
love from the Lord; those of the spiritual or 
middle heaven, are in divine wisdom from the 
Lord ; and those of the natural or lowest 
heaven, are in the faith of charity from the 
Lord, 195, 212, 242, 580, 608. A copy of the 
Word, written by angels, under the Lord’s 
inspiration, is kept by every considerable 
society in a sacred repository appointed for 
that purpose, lest it should suffer alteration 
in any of its points and marks, 241. See Lan- 
guage. The Lord by the Word is the all in 
all of heaven, 272. The heavens have their 
being from the divine love, and exist from the 
divine love and wisdom, 386. There are 
offices of administrations even in heaven, and 
dignities annexed to them, but the persons 
who fill them, being spiritual men, find their 
chief delight in the performance of uses, 403, 
694, 736. The delights of heaven are the 
delights of love townrds the neighbor and of 
love to God, 455. All who are in heaven 
turn their faces towards the Lord, 613. If 
any wicked person is admitted into heaven, 
where charity and faith towards the Lord 
prevail, he is immediately seized with giddi- 
ness, insanity, and violent pain, and becomes 
like a dying person, 641. In heaven the 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


holy subjects and rights of the church do not* 
more engage the minds of the inhabitants 
than where in the world God is truly hon- 
ored and worshipped; although the honor 
and worship in heaven are of a purer and 
more interior nature, 695. There are in 
heaven frequent occasions of meeting cheerful 
company to exhilarate and entertain the 
minds of the angels; which succeed to the 
fulfilment of certain appointed uses, 734, 745. 
Likewise food, which every one receives ac- 
cording to the use in which he excels, and 
which in its essence is love, wisdom, and use 
united, 735. There are joys of heaven which 
affect the senses of the body, consisting in 
various pastimes' and delights in accordance 
with the angelic dispositions of its inhabi- 
tants, 745. 

Hell. The power of hell prevailed over 
the power of heaven at the time of the Lord’s 
advent, 3, 579. When man, by a denial of 
God, is excluded from communion with the 
angels of heaven, he associates himself with 
the satanic spirits of hell, 14. Hell is divided 
and subdivided into innumerable societies, 
according to the varieties of evil, 32, 68, 447. 
These are so connected that the universal hell 
resembles one monstrous devil, 3£, 68. The 
love of self is the cause of the hatred and 
lust which prevail there, 45, 455. The in- 
habitants of hell do not acknowledge God, 
but worship as gods those who have most 
power over them, 45. See Animals , Angels. 
God is omniscient in hell as well as in heav- 
en, 62. The subjugation of hell maybe com- 
ared to the destruction of an army of rob- 
ers and rebels, to the slaughter and disper- 
sion of wild beasts, and the defence of plains 
and fields against all further depredations , 
to the destruction of locusts and vermin, by 
which the trees of a garden are restored to 
bloom and fruitfulness, 1 17. At the time of the 
Lord’s first advent the hells had so accumu- 
lated as to fill the whole world of spirits, and 
not only to disturb the lowest heaven, but 
also to make assault on the middle heaven, 
which they infested in a thousand different 
ways, 121, 579. It was similar at the Lord’s 
second advent, 121. See Spiritual World. 
Hell consists of myriads of myriads of spir- 
its, being composed of all those who from* 
the creation of the world have alienated them- 
selves from God, by evils of life and falses 
of faith, 123. The smoke seen in the hells 
arises from falses confirmed by reasonings, 
and fire is anger kindled against those who 
maintain contrary opinions, 159. Hell com- 
municates with societies of the evil in the 
world of spirits, and it consists, in general, 
of caverns and workhouses, with a difference 
between those inhabited by satans and those 
inhabited by devils, 281, 570. All are gath-| 

910 


ered in hell who love themselves with the 
chief and governing love, 293. The fire of 
hell is the "fire of hatred and revenge, 309. 
The devils and satans in hell are spiritual 
murderers, with whom are conjoined those 
in this world who violate and prostitute the 
sanctities of the church, 310. See Com- 
mandments. Devils and satans in hell, from 
the rage and cruelty of their hearts, appear 
at a distance like wild beasts of all sorts, as 
tigers, leopards, wolves, &c., 312. That 
men on earth who wish to destroy the Lord’s 
.church are of a similar nature and form 
with those infernal spirits, is not apparent to 
those among whom they now live, because 
their bodies, which serve them for the out- 
ward exercise of social duties, absorb and 
conceal the true forms of their spirits, never- 
theless this is apparent to the sight of angels, 
312. All who are in hell are sensual, 402, 
565. The deeper the hell in -which they are, 
so much the more sensual are they, 402. Hell 
is beneath or under the ground of the spir- 
itual world, which ground is of spiritual 
origin, consequently not in any natural ex- 
tense, 475. When the inhabitants of hell are 
viewed from heaven, they are seen with 
their faces averted, and also with their feet 
upwards, notwithstanding they walk upright 
on their feet, and turn their faces in every 
direction, 613. 

Heresies. All the heresies that ever did, 
or do still exist in Christendom, have sprung 
from this circumstance, that men have taken 
appearances of truth for genuine truths, and 
as such have confirmed them, 254. No one 
is condemned for heresies received in sim- 
plicity, but for confirmations of the falses 
they contain, together with an evil life, 254. 
Those who teach falses and heretical opinions 
and yet read the Word, from whence they 
might learn what is true and what is false, 
are guilty of theft spiritually understood, 320. 
The cause of so many divisions and seditions 
as have existed in the church from its infan- 
cy are chiefly these three: 1st. The Divine 
Trinity was not understood. 2d. Man had no 
correct knowledge of the Lord. 3d. The pas- 
sion of the cross was regarded as redemption 
itself, 378. Sensual men have been the prin- 
cipal broachers of heretical doctrines, 402. 
The charity adjoined to any heretical faith is 
spurious, 451. From the prevailing faith that 
the passion of the cross constitutes the sum 
and substance of redemption have arisen 
many horrible falsities respecting God, faith, 
and charity, 581. 

Hereoitary Evil, acts in and upon every 
man ; if it acted by or through him he 
would not be capable of reformation nor 
yet be a subject of blame, 154. It is not a 
I consequence merely of what Adam did, but 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


« successively communicated to children from 
their parents, who necessarily entail upon 
them that inclination to evil which prevails 
in themselves, 469, 520, 621, 822. It de- 
pends on each individual in every family 
whether he will choose or refuse the evil so 
propagated, 469. The hereditary evils in 
which man is naturally born are chiefly de- 
rived from these two loves, the love of rul- 
ing over all, and the love of possessing the 
wealth and property of all, 498. 662, 822, 
823. Man is not born in evils themselves 
but only in an inclination to them, yet with 
a greater or less bias to particular evils; 
wherefore, after death no one is judged or 
condemned for hereditary evil, but only for 
those which he has actually committed, 521. 
These propensities to evil can only be bro- 
ken by a new birth from the Lord (see Re- 
generation) without which they acquire new 
strength in every succeeding generation, 521. 
The evil propensities into which man is born 
reside in his natural man, 574, 587, 659. 
From the will of the natural man they enter 
by influx into his thoughts, 659. 

Hirelings, by, in the Word, are signified 
those who look to recompense as a reward of 
merit in the concerns of salvation, 441. 

Holy One of Israel, signifies the Lord 
with respect to his Divine Humanity, 93. 
Thus, as to the Divine Truth of the Divine 
Wisdom, 253. 

Holy Spirit, the, is the Divine that pro- 
ceeds from the one omnipresent God, 138, 
188. Properly speaking the Divine truth, 
and consequently the Word, or the Lord 
Himself is signified by the Holy Spirit, 139. 
Its divine virtue, or operation, consists in 
general, in reformation and regeneration, 142. 
Its particular graces with the clergy are those 
of illustration and instruction, 146. The 
operations of "the Holy Spirit are of the 
Lord from the Father and not contrariwise, 
153, 188. It was breathed on the Lord’s 
disciples after Hi^ glorification, 153. All 
the angels in heaven are filled with the Spirit 
of the Lord, but every one of them speaks 
and acts according to the state of his own 
mind, 154. There was no Holy Spirit be- 
fore the coming of the Lord, and therefore 
there is no mention made of the Holy Spirit 
in the Old Testament, 158. See Blasphemy. 
The influx of life from the Lord is called 
the Spirit of God ; in the Word, the Holy 
Spirit, 461. 

Holy Supper, tne, was instituted for the 
sake of consociation with angels and con- 
junction with the Lord : the bread being, 
in heaven, Divine Good, and the wine Divine 
Truth, both from the Lord, 238, 702 — 710. 
Such correspondence was established from 
creation, in order that the angelic heaven 

911 


and the church on earth might make a ome, 
and that the Lord might at once conjoin 
Himself with both, 238. See Angels. Mel- 
chizedech, the King of Salem, blessed Abra- 
ham, and brought forth bread and wine, 
these being the most holy things of the 
church, 264, 715. The Lord’s flesh signi- 
fies Divine Good, and His blood Divine 
Truth, 372, 702 — 709. The Holy Supper 
is a sacrament of repentance, and hence an 
introduction into heaven, 567, 719 — 721. 
He who looks to the Lord and performs 
actual repentance, is conjoined to the Lord 
by this most Holy Sacrament, and intro- 
duced into heaven, 621. These effects are 
not produced by the material bread and 
wine, but by their spiritual correspondents, 
which are love and faith, 621, 705, 727. 
S qq Baptism. It is impossible for any one, 
without an acquaintance with the corre- 
spondence of natural things with spiritual, 
to know the uses and benefits of the Holy 
Supper, 698 — 701. As true Christianity is 
now beginning to dawn, and the Lord i3 
now instituting a new church, it* has pleased 
Him to reveal the spiritual sense of the 
Word, to the intent that this church may 
be admitted into thfe real use and benefit of 
the two sacraments — Baptism and the Holy 
Supper, 700. This sacrament, so long as 
its correspondences with heaven are unre- 
vealed, may be compared with an angel ap- 
pearing in the world among men in a com- 
mon garb, who is only respected according to 
his dress; but the case would be changed 
were he discovered to be an angel, angelic 
wisdom flowing from his tongue, and Won- 
derful effects from his actions, 701. The 
Lord’s flesh, and likewise the*bread, signifies 
all the good of charity as well as Divine good ; 
and his blood, and likewise the wine, signi- 
fies all the truth of faith as well as Divine 
truth ; and to eat signifies to appropriate, 
702 — 709. Bread and wine, in a natural 
sense, signify the same as flesh and blood, — 
the passion of the cross, 704. In the su- 
preme sense they signify the Lord Himself 
as to the Divine good of His love and the 
Divine truth of His wisdom, 705. There 
are three things involved in the Holy Supper, 
the Lord, His Divine goc*l, and His Divine 
truth ; consequently it includes and contains 
the universals, and therefore the particulars, 
of heaven and the church, 711. These uni- 
versals are also three — God, charity, and 
faith ; and to these correspond the three 
universals of man — the soul, will, and un- 
derstanding ; to which again, the body, the 
heart, and the lungs correspond externally, 
712. On the other hand there are three 
coposites to these three universals — the devil, 
r bell, the evil, ard the false; these being 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


opposite are altogether separate, yet they 
are held in connection by a wonderful sub- 
jection of all hell to heaven, of evil to good, 
and of false to truth, 713. Since the Lord’s 
flesh signifies the Divine good of His love, 
and His blood the Divine Truth of his wis- 
dom, it is evident that the Lord, both as 
to His Divinity and His glorified Humanity, 
thus with the whole of His redemption, is 
entirely omnipresent in the Holy Supper, 
716. All those who worthily approach the 
holy communion, become, recipients of the 
effects and fruits of redemption, 7 17. With 
such the Lord is present, and he opens heav- 
en to them; He is also present with those 
who approach it unworthily, but does not 
open heaven to them, 719 — 721. In the 
latter case man shuts heaven against himself, 
still he is preserved in the possibility of re- 
pentance and conversion so long as he abides 
in this world, 720. There are no other uni- 
versal entrances into the church and heaven 
besides the sacraments of Baptism and the 
Holy Supper, 721. They approach the Holy 
Supper worthily who are under the influence 
of faith towards the Lord, and of charity 
towards their neighbor, thus who are regen- 
erate, 722 — 724. By the regenerate who 
approach the Holy table worthily are meant 
those who are internally in the three essen- 
tials of heaven and the church, and not those 
who are only externally in them, 723. With 
such it effects conjunction with the Lord, 
725 — 727. It is also a signing, sealing, 
certifying, and witnessing, even before the 
angels, that they are the sons of God, and 
is moreover as a key to a house in heaven 
where they aare to dwell to eternity, 728 — 
730. In order that man may be actually ad- 
nitted into heaven, he must actually present 
himself to the Lord, and receive Him in His 
glorified Humanity, as at the sacrament of 
the Holy Supper, 728. Those, however, who 
die in their infancy or childhood, and so do 
not arrive at an age capable of worthily ap- 
proaching the Holy Supper are introduced 
into heaven by the Lord through baptism, 
729. See Infants. 

Horse, the, signifies the understanding of 
the Word of God, 113, 277, 623, 776. A 
white horse the understanding of the Word 
with respect to truth and good ; a red horse, 
the understanding of the Word destroyed 
in respect to good ; a black horse, the same 
with respect to truth, 113. A dead horse, 
the understanding of truth annihilated, 277, 
623. By the winged horse Pegasus, the 
ancients meant the understanding of truth, 
which is the medium of attaining wisdom ; 
and by the horse’s hoofs, matters of expe- 
rience, by which natural intelligence is at- 
tained, 693. See Water. To ride, signifies 

912 


to instruct in divine truths from the Word, 
776. 

Humanity. The Lord glorified the Hu- 
manity, which He assumed in the world, by 
the temptations which He endured, and 
finally by the passion of the cross, 2. This 
Humanity was the Divine Truth, 3, 126, 579 
As the Divine Itself, which was from eternity 
lives in Itself, so also the Humanity which 
It assumed in time, lives in Itself, 40. God 
could not have made His Humanity Divine, 
unless It had been at first as the humanity of 
an infant, afterwards like that of a child, 
and lastly had formed Itself into a receptacle 
and habitation into which the Father might 
enter, 73, 89. The Humanity which was 
assumed in time was not the Divine Esse, 
81. See Redemption. The soul and life of 
the Humanity was Jehovah God, 82, 538. 
God assumed the Humanity according to His 
own Divine order, and was actually made 
man, by conception, birth, and successive 
instruction as other men ; with this differ- 
ence, that He more rapidly, more fully, and 
more perfectly than others accomplished the 
different stages of that progression, 89. By 
acts of redemption the Lord put off the Hu- 
manity which He derived from His mother 
and put on a Humanity from His Father, in 
consequence of which It is Divine, and in 
Him God is Man and Man God, 101, 102. 
See Glorification, Lord. Unless Jehovah God 
had assumed the Humanity and thus clothed 
Himself with a body which is in last or ulti- 
mate principles, it would have been in vain 
to have attempted redemption, 124, 125. 
The Lord suffered, not as to His Divinity, 
but as to His Humanity, and at the time 
of suffering the most intimate and complete 
union was effected, 126. It is the Humanity 
which mediates, intercedes, propitiates, and 
atones, 135. See Mediation , <fec. By the 
Humanity, the Lord is in last and lowest 
principles as well as in first, 136. The 
Humanity of the Lord* acted of itself from 
the Father, and not the Father by and through 
the Humanity ; as the body acts of itself from 
the soul, 154, 188. The Humanity is Divine 
because it is the Humanity of Jehovah, and 
ought to be approached in order to come to 
the Father, 188, 538. See Light. The one God 
Who is invisible came into the world, and 
assumed the Humanity, not only that He 
might redeem men, but also that He might 
be made visible, and thus such a one as they 
might have conjunction with, 786. Se* 
Churches, Mew Church. 

Hypocrisy. If the internal man wills what 
is evil, and still the external does what is 
good, they are both, notwithstanding, under 
the influence of hell, because the wilt is from 
thence, and the deeds are hypocritical, 340 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


The hypocrite is the lowest of natural men, 
being merely sensual, 381. There dwells 
in the hearts of all who are deeply sunk in 
hypocrisy, an intestine hatred against all 
who are truly spiritual ; although they are 
not sensible ot this while living in this world, 
it manifests itsell after death, 381. Every 
man who is not inwardly under the Lord’s 
guidance, is a dissembler, a sycophant, and a 
hypocrite, 662. 

lr*EA. 2s atural ideas are conceived from 
objects ot this world, and therefore involve 
some notions of space, 30, 31, 280. A spir- 
itual idea derives nothing from place, but 
ts all from state, 30. See State. Man can 
have no distinct idea of the Immensity of 
God before the existence of spaces, and of 
His Eternity before the existence of times, 31. 
Without a just idea of the relation between 
the spiritual and natural worlds, man may 
easily be betrayed into naturalism, and deny 
God, 75. See Fantasy. Not a single idea 
ot natural thought is adequate to an idea of 
thought purely spiritual, 280. Spiritual 
ideas are inexpressible, ineffable, and incom- 
prehensible to the natural man, 280. One 
natural idea is the continent of several spir- 
itual ideas ; and also one spiritual idea is 
the continent of several celestial, 280. See 
Thought. Ideas can only be predicated of 
the result of thought ; and the true test of 
thought is to act in a given manner, for a 
given purpose, 335. The mind has its abode 
in the brains, where its ideas are fixed and 
become permanent according to their recep- 
tion and confirmation, 351. 

Idolatry. Where the intellectual sight 
has been made dependent on the bodily 
senses, and yet men have been desirous to 
see God, they have formed for themselves 
various idols, 11, 24. A plurality of gods 
among the nncieuts, and also among the 
moderns, arose from the non-understanding 
of the Divine Esse, 24. See Spiritual World. 
The idolatries of the Gentiles of old took 
their rise from the science of correspondences, 
when men began to worship as deities the 
images and resemblances set up by their 
forefathers, because they found them in and 
about their temples, 205, 275, 291, 833. 
Such worship prevailed among the people of 
Israel during -their sojourning in Egypt, 291. 
It was a common practice in Asia and the 
neighboring countries, and also among the 
Greeks and Romans, to worship men as gods, 
292. All who acknowledge and worship any 
other god than the Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, who is Jehovah God himself in a 
human form, offend against the First Com- 
mandment ; and so also do those who per- 
suade themselves into the belief of three 
Divine persons actually existing from eter- 

913 


nity, 296. To adore any one as God’s vicai 
on earth, or to make invocation to any saint, 
is ot no more avail than praying to the sun, 
moon, and stars, and seeking an answer of a 
diviner, 560. 

Illustration. See Clergy. With those 
who do not immediately approach the Lord, 
illustration, which is of a spiritual nature, 
and descends from Him, becomes more and 
more natural, and at last sensual, 176. Illus- 
tration conies from the Lord alone, and is 
afforded to those who love truths for truth’s 
sake, and apply them to the uses of life ; none 
else can receive illustration from the Word, 
231. Every one, whose soul desires it, is 
able to see the truths of the Word in clear 
light, 621. 

Image and Likeness. See Man. An image 
of God is a form of Divine order, 65. The 
angels discern the images of their affections 
and thoughts in the objects by which they 
are surrounded, 66. Works, which are 
derived from man’s affections and thoughts, 
are like so many mirrors reflecting his real 
image, 373. 

Immensity, is the original source of space, 
27, 31. The angels in heaven, by the im- 
mensity of God, perceive His Divinity as to 
its Esse, 31. See Idea. 

Immortality. Since the soul is a form of 
love and wisdom, it cannot die to all eter- 
nity, for it is the proximate receptacle of 
life from God, and thus His habitation. 697. 
See Man , Soul, Life. 

Imputation. Those who know their duty, . 
and not those who are ignorant of it, are 
the objects of imputation, whether it be of 
righteousness or of guilt, 107. The imputa- 
tion of the merit and righteousness of Christ 
is impossible, 134, 640 — 642, 649. The Lord 
does not impute sin to any man, for He is 
love itself and good itself, 409, 651; 652.. 
Without the reciprocal conjunction of man 
with the Lord and of the Lord with him, 
there can be no imputation, 485. See Con- 
junction. A faith imputative of the merit 
and righteousness of the Lord God the Sa 
viour, necessarily led to the denial of man’s 
freedom, 489, 630. Imputation and the faith 
of the present church, which alone is said 
to justify, are one, 626, 627. Unless the 
prevalent error respecting imputation were 
to be abolished, atheism would overrun the 
whole Christian world, 628. The faith of 
the imputation of Christ’s merit was not 
known in the apostolic church, and is no- 
where declared or signified in the Word, 636 
— 639. See Nice, Council of. When this faith 
was once introduced and had overspread the 
whole Christian world, all other faith was 
rejected and shut up in darkness, 639. Where 
imputation is mentioned in the Word, the 

N N N 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


imputation of good and of evil, and at the 
lame time of faith, is meant, 643. There was 
no other law of imputation at the beginning 
of the church, and there will be no other at 
the end, 643. The received faith of imputa- 
tion has afforded ,to the Christian world a 
light like that of a fire in the night time, and 
by this light it bears the semblance of the 
most essential theological truth, 644. Unless 
this light had been preserved, the whole 
Christian church would have disappeared, 
644. Good, which is charity, and evil, which 
is iniquity, are imputed aftir death, 646. 
The faith and imputation of the New Church 
cannot be together with the faith and impu- 
tation of the former church, without proving 
hurtful to man’s salvation, 647 — 649. The 
Lord imputes good to every man, and hell im- 
putes evil to every man, 660 — 652. Thought 
is imputed to no one, but will only, 658 — 660. 
See Thought. 

Infants. The bodily senses of infants are 
successively perfected by means of the objects 
on which they are exercised, and as they 
learn by degrees to lisp out vocal sounds, at 
first without ideas, there arises a certain ob- 
scurity of fantasy, which, as it becomes clearer 
and more distinct, gives birth to the obscurity 
of imagination, and thence of thought, 335. 
Those who die in their infancy incline to 
evils, and thus will them, from their here- 
ditary nature, but still they do not commit 
them, for they are educated in the spiritual 
world under the Lord’s auspices and are 
saved, 521. They are introduced by bap- 
tism into the Christian heaven, and angels 
are there assigned them by the Lord to take 
care of them, 677. Such infants and chil- 
dren as are born out of the Christian church 
are, after the reception of faith in the Lord, 
introduced by another medium into the 
heaven set apart for those of their own 
religion, 729. 

Infinity and eternity, are predicable of 
the Divine Esse, 21. Infinity comprehends 
both Immensity and Eternity, 27, 31. God 
is Infinite because He is self-existent, 28. 
And because he was before the world, con- 
sequently before spaces and times had birth, 
29. The Infinity of God is perpetually rep- 
resented in the universals of creation, 32. 
It dwells in the finite as in its receptacles, 
and in men as in its images, 33. As the 
Esse of God is more universal than His 
Essence, so the Iufinity of God is more 
universal than His love; and therefore In- 
finite is an adjective applied to the divine 
attributes, 36. 

Influx. See God. The influx from God 
into the souls of men, descends thence, and 
vivifies the inferior degrees, 8. When re- 
ceived into forms not corresponding, the 

914 


forms produce a change according to the 
prevailing laws in the three kingdoms of 
nature, 8, 366. The mind is disposed to re- 
ceive the divine influx through the soul by 
means of knowledges from without, 8. All 
the phenomena of nature are dependent on 
influx from the spiritual world, 12. Man’s 
reasoning faculty is owing to the influx of 
Divine wisdom, 12. The influx which flows 
from the spiritual world into the senses of 
animals is called instinct, and is so called, 
because it exists without the medium of 
thought, 335. See Animals , Thought , Idea. 
Connate. The Lord, with all His Divine love, 
all His Divine wisdom, and all His Divine 
life, enters by influx into every man, 363, 364. 
Consequently, with the whole essence of 
faith and charity, 365. Every man receives 
these things according to his particular form, 
366. God enters by influx into the knowl- 
edges of Himself which man possesses, and 
thus induces an acknowledgment ; He also 
enters at the same time with an influx of His 
own love to mankind, 457. He who receives 
only the former influx receives it in his un- 
derstanding merely, and rests in knowledges 
without an interior acknowledgment of God, 
but he w r ho receives both the former and the 
latter influx, receives it in his will, and by 
derivation thence in his understanding, con- 
sequently, in his whole mind, 457. The 
spiritual influx from the Lord is received by 
every man according to the direction in 
which he is turned, whether it be towards 
God or towards himself, 491. If the delight 
of evil, which enters by influx from hell, is 
received into the understanding, the man is 
then enslaved to hell, 564. If the delight of 
charity and the pleasantness of faith were to 
enter, by influx, into the spiritual organism 
of the minds of those who are in the delight 
of evil and the false, thus without their co- 
operation, they w’ould be tortured and tor- 
mented by the intrusion, 578. The learned 
at this day know nothing about the spiritual 
world and its influx into the natural, but 
only of an influx of nature into natural ob- 
jects, 695. 

Iniquities, to bear, does not mean to re- 
move them, but to represent the profanation 
of the truths of the Word, 130. 

Inspiration. The Lord breathed on His 
disciples, because breathing is an external 
representative sign of divine inspiration, and 
inspiration is an insertion into the angelic 
societies, 139. 

Instinct. See Animals. Unless man had 
the faculty of elevating the understanding 
above the will, he would have no capacity 
of thinking or speaking from thought, but 
w'ould only utter a sound expressive of hii 
affection ; he would have no capacity of act 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


mg from reason but only from instinct, 588. 
Bee Influx, 

% Instruction. Those, who, after instruc- 
tion in the spiritual world, depart from their 
belief that the Holy Spirit is a God of itself, 
are afterwards taught concerning the unity of 
God and prepared to receive the faith of the 
new heaven, 138, 255. See Clergy. But 
those only are in a capacity to receive truths 
who have not confirmed themselves in falses, 
255. 

Intellect. Every man, whether he be 
good or evil, is capable of being elevated as 
to his intellect into the light which the angels 
of heaven enjoy, 79. 

Intelligence. It is no mark of a man’s 
intelligence to be able to confirm what he 
pleases ; but to be able to discern that to be 
true which is true, and that to be false which 
i3 false, is the mark and character of intel- 
ligence, 334. See Wisdom. Those with 
whom the internal spiritual man is opened 
towards heaven and to the Lord, are in the 
light of heaven and in illumination from the 
Lord, and thence in intelligence and wisdom, 
401. These see truth in the light of truth, 
and have a perception of good from the love 
of it, 401. Atheists, who, from the love of 
self, are in the glory of reputation and dis- 
tinction, and thence in the conceit of their 
own intelligence, sometimes enjoy a more 
sublime rationality than others; but this is 
only the case when the thinking principle of 
the understanding is uppermost in them, and 
not the love-principle of the will, 507. Man 
has no other sensation and perception, but 
that intelligence and wisdom ar.e in and from 
himself, whereas he possesses nothing but 
the faculty of receiving them, 663. Every 
one is intelligent according to his affection 
for knowledge, 694. 

Intention. Whatever is of the intention 
is also of the will, and is thus in its essence 
the act itself, 309, 313. In the spiritual 
world the good are distinguished from the 
evil by their purpose, intention, and end, 
since a good end is regarded by all in heaven, 
and a bad. end by all in hel], 523. Man 
should remove the evil intentions of his will 
by examination and repentance, 532. Man 
examines the intentions of his will at the 
same time that he examines his thoughts, for 
the intentions manifest themselves in the 
thoughts, 532. 

Intercession, signifies perpetual mediation, 
135. See Mediation. 

Internal and External. While the 
internal man is enlightened without the ex- 
ternal, or the external without the internal, 
man sees only as in a twilight shade, 109, 
401. In all human will and thought, and 
action and speech thence derived, there is an 

915 


internal and ai external, 147, 401. The 
internal and external are perfectly distinct 
from each other and yet reciprocally united ; 
the internal acts in and upon the external, 
but not by or through it, 154, 188. The 
internal, by reason of the universals included 
in it, resembles an ocean, from whose stores 
the external selects as much as is sufficient 
for its use, 154. When the Word dwells in 
some degree of fulness in the internal of a 
man, he then speaks and acts of himself 
from the Word, and not the Word by or 
through him, 154. The external man is never 
rendered internal, or reduced to a conformity 
of ,action with the internal, until lusts are 
removed, 326. The spiritual must be re- 
ceived in the natural, that man may possess 
it as something real ; naked spirituality being 
like ether which flows in and out without 
affecting him in any perceptible manner, 339. 
See Perception. When the internal man 
wills what is good, and the external does 
what is good, then they both become a one, 
340. See Hypocrisy. The internal and 
external of man are distinct from each other, 
like cause and effect, for the causes of all 
things are formed in the internal man, and 
the effects thence resulting are produced in 
and by the external, 374, 401. Love to the 
Lord and love towards our neighbor open 
and form the internal spiritual man, for there 
they have their residence ; but the love of 
self and the love of the world, when they 
have the ascendancy, shut up and destroy the 
internal spiritual man, and render man natu- 
ral and sensual, 399, 401. The internal is 
that by which man is in the spiritual world, 
and thus in the light of heaven ; and the ex- 
ternal, that by which he is in the natural 
world and its light, 401, 454. It is the 
internal which is actually elevated towards 
heaven, with those who are spiritual men; 
and which is averted from heaven and turned 
towards the world, with those who are merely 
natural, 401. It is the internal which thinks 
and wills, and the external which speaks and 
acts, 401. By the internal and external are 
to be understood the internal and external of 
a man’s spirit, his body is only an additional 
external within which the former exists, 401, 
420. Charity itself resides in the internal 
man, where it is like a principle of good will, 
and is thence derived into the external man, 
where it manifests itself in good deeds, 410, 
412. It follows, therefore, that the internal 
man ought to be the object of love, and the 
external only subordinately so, 410. Those 
in whom the internal and external make one, 
are understood in the Word by the single in 
spirit, 443. See Morality. The nature and 
quality of every man in himself depends on 
that of his internal man, and not on that o* 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


h is external, 454. All a man’s interiors pro- 
ceed and are continued to his exteriors, and 
even to what is most external, in order to 
produce their effects and pericwh their works, 
462. It is not necessary that man should 
know all the interior operations of the Lord, 
within him, provided what is extreme and 
most external be known, in which the man 
with his thought and will is together with 
God, 462. Saving faith and charity are in 
the internal man, and these are the source of 
Christian faithfulness and morality in the 
external man, 568. The internal natural 
man is first to be regenerated, and by it the 
external, 593. It is like a soul in the exter- 
nal, not only in general, but also in the 
minutest particulars, 5-93. All things de- 
rive their external value from their internals, 
595, 785. When the internal man is re- 
formed by means of truths, and from these 
6ees what is evil and false in the external or 
natural man, there arises a combat between 
them, 596. See Temptation. 

Israel, in the Word, signifies the Church 
spiritual, 200, 594. 

Jacob, in the Word, signifies the church 
natural, 200. 

Jeiiovaii' God, is essential love and essen- 
tial wisdom, or essential good and essential 
truth, 3. He is the one God, the Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, in whom is the Divine 
trinity, 3. The one God is called Jehovah, 
from his Esse, because He alone is; was, and 
will be, 19, 159. See Esse. On this ac- 
count the Lord in His Humanity is not called 
Jehovah, 81. Jehovah Himself assumed the 
humanity to redeem and save mankind, 82, 
84, 188, 370, 641. See Humanity. Jehovah 
cannot approach any devil in hell or any 
devil on earth, so as to curb his fury and 
subdue his violence, except by His Human- 
ity, 84, 135, 370. By Jehovah is signified 
Divine love, or Divine good; and by God, 
Divine wdsdotn, or Divine truth, 85, 253. 
He descended as the Divine truth, which is 
the Word, nevertheless He did not separate 
from it the Divine good, 85. He is a man ; 
as in first principles, so also in ultimates, 
102. By reason of the marriage of Divine 
good and Divine truth in every part of the 
Word, the expression of Jehovah God, so fre- 
quently occurs, 253. The name Jehovah 
God is in itself so holy that the Jews, from 
the first time it was used, never durst, and 
still dare not pronounce it, 297. 

Jesus Christ, is Jehovah the Lord, from 
eternity the Creator, in time the Redeemer, 
and to eternity the Regenerator ; at once, 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 26, 188, 294 
— 296, 683. See Priest and King. No 
other God is to be worshipped but the Lord 
Jesus Christ, 294. The name of Jesus is 

916 


so holy that no devil in lull has power to 
pronounce it, 297. The name Jesus sig- 
nifies the all of Salvation by redemption, and 
Christ, the all of Salvation by his doctrine, 
298, 726. The reason why it is necessary 
to have faith in God the Saviour Jesus Christ, 
is, because such faith is directed towards a 
visible God, in whom is the invisible, 339. 
The first requisite of a faith directed towards 
Jesus Christ, is, an acknowledgment that 
He is the Son of God, 342. The body of 
Christ is Divine good and truth, 372. See 
Holy Supper. In the Word the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ signifies an acknowledg- 
ment of Him and a life according to His com- 
mandments, 682. 

Jews, the, durst not use the name Jeho- 
vah on account of its sanctity, 81. The 
general image of Jacob and Judah still re- 
mains in their posterity because they have 
hitherto adhered steadily to their religious 
principles, 103. The Jews were called an 
adulterous generation because they violated 
the church and adulterated the Word, 122. 
They had no knowledge whatever of the 
science of correspondences, 204, 205. The 
Jewish nation is represented by the rich man 
in the parable of Lazarus, because they were 
in possession of the Word in which there are 
spiritual riches, 215, 246. See Messiah. 
The hereditary disposition of the Jews has 
so increased that they are unable with a true 
faith of heart to embrace the Christian re- 
ligion, the interior will of their minds being 
averse to it, 521. See Will and Under- 
standing. Before the last judgment the Jews 
in the spiritual world appeared in a valley on 
the left side in the central part inhabited by 
Christians ; after that they were translated 
towards the north, and were forbidden all 
intercourse with Christians, 841. Some of 
them are willing to receive instruction, and 
acknowledge Christ for the Messiah, 841, 
482. The Jews are less aware than any other 
people of their being in the spiritual world, 
believing themselves to be still living in the 
natural world, and that because they are al- 
together external men, and do not at all think 
of religion from an interior principle, 844. 

John the Baptist. See Baptism. 

Jordan. See Canaan. 

Joy and Gladness. The reason why 
these are mentioned together in the Word, 
is, because joy is predicated of good, and 
gladness of truth ; or, joy of love, and glad- 
ness of wisdom : for joy belongs to the heart, 
and gladness to the spirit; or joy belongs to 
the will, and gladness to the understanding, 
252. 

Judah, in the Word, signifies the church 
celestial, 200. 

Justice and Judgment. Justice is pred 


INDEX TO THE WORK. * 


lea ted of love and judgment of wisdom, 51. 
See Righteousness. Justice and judgment 
cannot allow that one person should take 
upon himselt the wickedness of another, 184. 
It is lawful to judge respecting an evil man 
that he is evil, it it be done righteously, 226. 
See Charity. The love of justice with judg- 
ment can come from no other source than 
the God ot heaven, 459. Whoever, from the 
Lord, loves justice and does it with judg- 
ment, he is charity in its image and likeness, 
459. A judge who regards justice only, and 
administers it with judgment, possesses con- 
science, 666. 

Justification, by faith alone, so intoxicates 
the mind, that man cannot discern the es- 
sential truths of the church, 98. Although a 
mere chimera it is accounted every thing in 
all Christian churches, 181, 389. It occasions 
a false security, blindness, sleep, and dark- 
ness with respect to spiritual things, and 
thereby brings death to the soul, 182. • It 
does not teach to do any good which is of 
and from God, or to shun any evil, and is 
therefore a dead faith, 389. 

Knowledge. No knowledge of God could 
exist without a revelation, 11. Although 
the faith of God enters by a prior way, yet 
all knowledges concerning God are received 
externally from the revealed Word, by means 
of the bodily senses, 11. It is the duty of 
every one to prepare a way for the descent 
of God into his mind by the acquisition of 
knowledges, 24, 89. When these are de- 
ficient or despised by man, lie is not in a 
capacity to form any judgment concerning 
God, 24. Without some knowledge of the 
laws of creation man is liable to fall into 
naturalism, 75. Knowledge concerning the 
Lord is far more excellent than all other 
knowledges, 81. To know words only, 
without knowing what they contain, is to 
know nothing, 185. Knowledges of truth 
and good are represented by stars, 198. The 
Lord grounds his teaching on the knowledges 
which a man is in possession of, and does 
not infuse new ones immediately, 208. Wri- 
ters on natural religion do not derive their 
knowledge on the subject from themselves, 
but only confirm by rational deductions the 
truths they have learnt from the church, 
which is in possession of the Word, 273. 
Unless a man know something of a certainty, 
and advance into it step by step as a man 
advances in walking, he can never arrive at 
wisdom, 333. 

Lake, the, of fire and brimstone (Rev. xix. 
20 ; xx. 10) signifies hell, 635. See Hell. 

Lamb, the, seen by John on Mount Sion, 
was a representation of the Lord s innocence, 
144, 200. 

Lamps, signify such things as relate to the 

917 


understanding and oil, such as relate t« 
love, 199, 606. 

Language. There is a universal lan- 
guage, natural to all angels and spirits, which 
has nothing in common with any language 
oh earth ; and every one after death comes 
into the use and understanding of this lan- 
guage, so that throughout the whole spirit- 
ual world each understands another’s speech, 
19, 280. Every alphabetic letter in the 
spiritual world signifies some particular thing, 
and every vowel somewhat of affection or 
love, 19, 278. See Angels. The spiritual 
style of writing consists of mere letters, each 
of which involves some particular sense; and 
there are small lines, curvatures, and dots, 
above and between the letters, and inserted 
in them, which exalt the sense, 241, 278, 280. 
The letters used in the spiritual kingdom 
are similar to those used in printing among 
men ; those in the celestial kingdom are, in 
some societies, like Arabic characters, in 
others, like the old Hebrew letters, 241. In 
the Word of' the celestial kingdom, the ex- 
pressions are goods of love, and the marks 
are affections of love; but in the Word of 
the spiritual kingdom, the expressions are 
truths of wisdom, and the marks interior 
perceptions of truth, 242. In the celestial 
heaven they do not express any consonants 
roughly, but softly, and in that heaven they 
are not able to pronounce the vowels i and e, 
278. The letter H, added to the names of 
Abram and Sara, signifies the Infinite and 
Eternal, 278. Every spirit and angel, when 
conversing with a man, speaks to him in his 
particular language, 280. The sound of 
spiritual language differs so far from the 
sound of natural language, that a spiritual 
sound, though loud, could not be at all 
heard by a natural man, or a natural sound 
by a spiritual man, 280. The angels per- 
ceive in the sound of the voice all the affec- 
tions of a man’s love, with their nature and 
quality, 365. This is in some measure per- 
ceivable even by man, and similar hidden 
contents are perceivable in the radiance is- 
suing from the eye when one person looks at 
another, 365. Sound corresponds to affec- 
tion, and speech to thought ; therefore affec- 
tion forms the sound or tone of the voice, 
and thought the speech or words of a dis- 
course, 386. Spiritual discourse contains 
and enfolds in it thousands of things which 
natural language cannot express, and such 
as do not' fall within the ideas of natural 
thought, 386. Expressions from heaven re- 
lating to the good of charity, which passed 
through the world of spirits and penetrated 
even to hell, were changed into such as wen 
wholly opposite, and at length into such as 
breathed hatred ; truths also, in like manner 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGIOH. 


Vl il, changed into their opposite falses, 492. 
In the spiritual world a variety and mixture 
of affections is distinctly perceived in sound, 
694. The affections of spiritual love are 
rendered sonorous by modifications of the 
voice in singing, and thus the affection in 
the song is perceived in heaven as the very 
affection itself flowing into the minds of the 
hearers, 745. 

Last Judgment. The Lord in His Human- 
ity accomplished a last judgment in the spir- 
itual world-; by which he formed a new 
heaven of such as were found worthy, and a 
new hell of such as were unworthy, 95. See 
Redemption. The last judgment took place 
in the spiritual world in the year 1757 : 115, 
772, 796, 818, 841. Since that time the state 
of all the inhabitants of the spiritual world 
is so changed, that they are no longer per- 
mitted to collect into companies as before; 
but ways or paths are appointed for every 
kind of love, whether good or evil, which all 
immediately enter, on leaving the natural 
world, and so depart to the societies cor- 
responding to their loves, 818. 

Laws, of justice are in the first, place, polit- 
ical laws in the second, and economical laws 
in the third, 55. Unless the evils forbidden 
in the decalogue were provided against by 
laws, no kingdom, commonwealth, or any 
society could subsist, 282. See Command- 
ments. The law of charity prescribed and 
given by the Lord is this, “Whatever ye 
would that men should do unto you, do ye 
even so unto them,” 411, 444. Those who are 
influenced by the love of heaven, love their 
neighbor according to this law, 411. See 
Charity , Neighbor. Unless the commission 
of evil, both in the spiritual and natural 
world, were restrained by laws, society would 
perish, 497, 498. 

Life. God is life itself, 21, 39, 363, 364, 
461, 474. A life according to the command- 
ments of God is an actual acknowledgment 
that salvation and eternal life are from Him, 
22. See Man. The Divine life actuates 
man according to the degree in which it is 
received, 34, 36.4. Life is nothing else than 
love and wisdom, 35, 471. The human body 
is an organ of life, 35, 362, 364, 461. Life 
in itself, which is God, is the very and only 
life, by derivation from which all angels and 
men live, 40, 362. See Perfection. A man’s 
true life is God in him, and a man’s true 
death is the persuasion and belief that his 
life is from himself and not from God, 48. 
See Tree of Life. There are three degrees 
of life in every man from creation, the celes- 
tial, the spiritual, and the natural, 239. The 
life and understanding of man are from spir- 
itual light, 334. Life, with all its constitu- 
ents, is denved by continual influx from the 

918 


God of heaven, who is the Lord, 362. The 
life of God is present in all its fulness, not 
only with the good and pious, but also with 
the wicked and impious; the difference be- 
ing that the wicked obstruct the way, so 
that God is prevented from entering the in- 
ferior regions of their minds, whereas the 
good prepare the way, 366. The very life 
of man is his love, and such as the ruling love 
is, such is the life and even such is the whole 
man, 399. There are four periods of life 
through which man passes from infancy to old 
age ; 1st. When he acts from and under the 
guidance of others. 2d. When he acts o 
himselij under the guidance of the under 
standing. 3d. When the will acts upon the 
understanding, and the understanding modi- 
fies the will. 4th. When he acts from fixed 
confirmation and purpose, 443. Man is not 
life, but a recipient of life from God, 470 — 
474. God, being infinite and therefore life 
in Himself, cannot by any possibility create 
this life and so transcribe it into a man, for 
this would be to make him God, 470. Life 
is the inmost activity of love and wisdom, 
which are in God, and which are God ; which 
life may also be called the very essential liv- 
ing force, 471. God grants man a sense that 
the life in himself is as if it were his own, to 
the intent that he may live as of himself ac- 
cording to the laws of order, 504. The two 
universals of the life of every man are will 
and understanding, 778. 

Light. See Sun. By light in the Word is 
understood the Divine truth, 85. The light 
arising from the confirmation of what is false 
is the' light of infatuation, 162. Jehovah 
God dwells in light inaccessible, but by the 
assumption of the Humanity He became ac- 
cessible, and made Himself the light of the 
world, 176, 188. Light from heaven discov- 
ers the quality of every form, 187. The light 
of heaven, in which is the spiritual sense of 
the Word, descends by influx into natural 
light, in which is the literal sense, and illu- 
minates a man’s intellectual or rational prin- 
ciple, 215, 334, 401. The light of heaven is 
Divine wisdom, 242. 

Literal Sense of the Word. See Word. 
The literal sense of the Word is signified 
by the clouds of heaven, and the spiritual 
sense by glory, 198, 222, 271, 776, 777, 780. 
By a garden, a grove, and a wood, in the 
literal sense, are spiritually meant wisdom, 
intelligence, and science. By the olive, 
the vine and the cedar, the poplar and the 
oak, are meant the good and truth of the 
church under the different qualities of celes- 
tial, spiritual, rational, natural, and Sensual. 
By a lamb, a sheep, a goat, a calf, and an 
ox, are meant innocence, charity, and nat- 
ural affection ; and by mountains, hills, and 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


ralleys, are meant, the higher, the lower, and 
the lowest things relating to the church, 200. 
% Egypt, Assyria, and Israel, are sign i tied 
the scientific, the rational, and the spiritual, 
200, 247. — These, at the time of the Lord’s 
coming, are to be united and made one, 200. 
(See also n. 205.) The literal sense of the 
Word is capable of being turned any wav, 
207, 260, 508. But while the Divine truths 
of the church are in man it cannot be per- 
verted, for if it be turned to favor the truth 
its sanctity is preserved, 207. The literal 
sense of the Word is the basis, the continent, 
and the firmament of its celestial and spirit- 
ual senses, 210—213, 226. Without the pro- 
tection of the literal sense the holy things of 
the Word would be exposed to open violence, 

213. Divine truth in the literal sense of the 
Word is in its fulness, sanctity, and power. 

214, 224, 225^ 229, 234, 260 (see Truth) : be- 
cause the literal sense contains the celestial 
and spiritual senses, 214. The truths in the 
literal sense, in some cases are not naked 
truths, but only appearances of truth, 215, 
226, 257. The truths in the literal sense of 
the Word are understood by the precious 
stones of which the foundations of the New 
Jerusalem were built, 217. Likewise by the 
Urirn and Thummim on Aaron’s ephod, 218. 
See Urirn and Thummim. By the precious 
stones in the Garden of Eden wherein the 
King of Tyre is said to have been, 219, 260. 
See Tyre and Sidon. By the curtains, veils, 
and pillars of the tabernacle, 220, 260. And 
also by the externals of the temple at Jeru- 
salem, 221. In the literal sense the Lord 
is intimately present, 225. And from that 
sense he teaches and enlightens mankind, 
225. There are some things in the literal 
sense which appear like contradictions, when 
nevertheless there is not a single contradic- 
tion in the Word if it be viewed in its own 
spiritual light, 226. The quality of the 
church is always determined by its under- 
standing of the Word, 247. All and every part 
of the literal sense of the Word has commu- 
nication with heaven, 258, 272. This arises 
from the spiritual sense which it contains, 
and which is opened in its passage from man 
to heaven, 258. The reading of the Word by 
a man who is in falses, and who applies the 
literal sense to favor them, is rejected in its 
way I : heaven, 258. No hurt ensues from 
the litetal sense being understood differently 
by different persons, unless falses are intro- 
duced, which are contrary to divine truths, 
260. The literal sense of the Word is a 
guard to the genuine truths concealed in it, 
lest they should be injured, 260. Whatever 
occurs in the literal sense of the Word, which 
is natural, involves and signifies something 
spiritual, 583. 

919 


Locusts. Certain spit its who ajpearea 
at first sight like locusts, were of the number 
of those who, during their abode on earth, 
had directed their worship immediately to 
God the Father, and had confirmed the doc- 
trine of justification by faith alone ; and they 
were the same that are described in the Rev- 
elation, ix. 1 — 11 ; 162. Locusts signify fal- 
ses in the extreme parts, 635. 

Loud. The Lord Jesus Christ, in whom 
is a Divine Trinity, is the only God and 
Saviour, 2, 26, 294, 608, 615. He Himself 
is man, both as to the all-begetting Divinity 
and the Divine Humanity, 25. See Sun of 
Heaven. The Lord alone, when He was in 
the world, was wise and good from Himself, 
because the Divine Itself was in Him from 
nativity. 48. By the Lord the Redeemer, 
is meant Jehovah in His Humanity, 81. He 
is called Lord and not Jehovah, because He 
is so called in the New Testament, 81. See 
Jehovah God. He came into the world, 
that He might fulfil the whole of the Word, 
85, 261 — 263. And by acts of redemption 
made Himself righteousness, 95, 102. By 
the same acts He united the Father and the 
Son in Himself, 97 — 100, 105. The Lord, 
when in the world, put on the Divine Nat- 
ural, which is His glorified Humanity, 109. 
He arose from the sepulchre with His whole 
body, which He had in the world, leaving 
nothing behind, 109, 170. He alone, in 
the whole spiritual world, is fully Man, 109. 
By means of the Divine Natural, He en- 
lightens, not only the internal spiritual man, 
but also the external natural man, 109. The 
Lord acts in a double office, as a priest and 
as a king, 114. See Priest and King. Dur- 
ing His abode in the world, He fought against 
the hells and overcame and subdued them, 
and thus reduced them to obedience, 116, 224. 
The Lord not only redeemed man but also 
angels, 121, 579. By His Divine Power, 
He also fights at this day against hell, in 
every person who is advancing in regenera- 
tion, 123. The Lord, as the Word or 
Divine Truth, is the Holy Spirit, 139, 142. 
He is Divine Truth itself, and whatever pro- 
ceeds from Him i3 Diyine Truth, 142. He 
operates of Himself from the Father, 153, 
188. He alone is holy, 158. He is the 
life and salvation of all who believe in Him 
as the visible God, 159. Those only who 
approach the Lord immediately are able to 
apprehend divine and doctrinal truths, 162. 
In the Lord there is a Divine Trinity of 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 164, 165. See 
Trinity. The Lord never speaks with man 
but in fulness, as in the literal sense of the 
Word, 260. The Lord before his incarna- 
tion was the Word, or the Divine Truth, 
only in first principles; but when the Word 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


was made flesh, then the Lord was made 
the Word in ultimates also, 261. He who 
thinks and speaks nothing but truth, be- 
comes that truth ; and he who wills and 
does nothing but good, becomes that good ; 
and thus the Lord, in consequence of fulfill- 
ing all Divine Truth and Divine Good con- 
tained in the Word, became good itself and 
truth itself, thus the Word, 263. The Lord 
©ur Saviour is Jehovah Himself, who is at 
once the Creator, the Redeemer, and the 
Regenerator, 294. He is the Word, the 
God of heaven and earth, the real essential 
light, truth, and eternal life, 354. See 
Charity and, Faith. He is Jehovah the 
Father in Human form, 370, 379. The con- 
junction of the Lord with the Father is re- 
ciprocal, 371. He has repeatedly, in the 
new covenant, enjoined that men should 
approach, worship, and adore Him, 538. 
The Lord is called the Creator, the Former, 
and Maker, because he creates anew, or re- 
generates man, 573. He came into the 
world and removed and subdued the hells, 
and thus opened heaven, so that he might 
afterwards be present with men on earth, 
and save such as live according to His com- 
mandments, 579. He is the Redeemer, 
Regenerator, and Saviour to eternity, 579, 
699. He is the sun of the spiritual world, 
whence all spiritual light and heat are de- 
rived, 618, 641, 661. See Sun of Heaven. 
To attribute evil, or any thing connected 
with evil, to the Lord, would be contradic- 
tory to His Divine Essence, and this would 
be as wicked as to join together the Lord 
and the devil, or heaven and hell, 651. When 
the Lord manifests his more immediate pres- 
ence in heaven, the wicked who are under 
heaven begin to mourn, to be in torment, 
and to feel the symptoms of death, so that 
they flee away into dens and clefts of the 
rocks, 691. The Lord Himself does not 
descend, but an angel encompassed with a 
sphere of love from the Lord, 691. With 
those who only understand what is true 
and good, the Lord’s presence is universal 
and external, but with those who also will 
and do what is true and good, it is both uni- 
versal and singular, or both internal and ex- 
ternal, 719. The Lord is present with every 
man, and is urgent and instant to be re- 
ceived, 766, 774. But His coming is with 
those only who receive Him, that is, who 
believe on Him and do His commandments, 
774. See Advent, Humanity, God. 

Lord’s Prayer, the, was commanded for 
the present time, in order that God the 
Father might be approached by means of 
His Humanity, 112. The real essence of 
the church and religion is involved in the 
proper understanding of the words, “Our 

920 


Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be 
thy name, thy kingdom come,” 113. The 
angels in heaven repeat the Lord’s prayer 
daily, and at such times do not think of God 
the Father, because He is invisible; but of 
Him in His Divine Human, because in this 
He is visible, 113. 

Love. Infinite Love cannot desire any 
other end than the eternal happiness of man, 
13, 43. Love is the essence which forms 
all things, which also unites and conjoins 
them and so keeps them, when formed, in 
order and connection, 37. It begets all 
things by wisdom as its bride or wife, and 
Divine Love and Wisdom are conjointly pres- 
ent in all created things, 37. Love is the 
complex of all goodnesses, 38. The essence 
of love is to love others out of or without 
itself, to desire to be one with them, and 
from itself to make them happy, 43. Divine 
Love is extended to the evil as well as to 
the good, 43. The love of parents for their 
children, as well as every other kind of sym- 
pathy, is an effect of the Divine Love, 44, 
308. Diabolical love, which is the love of 
self, is the very opposite of Divine Love, 
45. Divine Love is the same from eternity 
to eternity, 46. The first .principle of love 
to God and of love towards our neighbor 
is to do no evil ; and the second is, to do 
good, 329, 435 — 438. All hell is in the 
love of doing evil, and all heaven in the 
love of doing good, 329. Love to God is 
conjunction with Him by means of goods, 
which belong to the will and thence to the 
affections, 369. Love originating from the 
Lord, as a sun, is the vital heat of angels 
and men, 386. The derivations of love 
are called affections, and by them are pro- 
duced perceptions and thus thoughts, whence 
it follows that wisdom in its origin is love, 
386. Love is nothing without wisdom, but 
in wisdom it is formed for use, 387. There 
are three universal loves, the love of heaven, 
the love of the world, and the love of self; 
394, 403, 507. Charity has something in 
common with each of these three kinds of 
love, because considered in itself it is the 
love of uses, 394. See Seif-love , Love of the 
World , Love of Heaven. These three loves 
are implanted in every man, and they tend 
to his perfection when they are rightly sub- 
ordinated to each other, 395, 403 ; but when 
otherwise, to his destruction, 395. When 
in due subordination they are also co-ordi- 
nate, the supreme love being within the sec- 
ond, and thence in the third or lowest ; and 
the love which is within directs that which is 
without at its pleasure, 395. That which a 
man loves above all things, forms the end oi 
all his purposes, 399. See Ruling Low. 
From love to the Lord and love to the neigh 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


t>or are derived all the varieties of good and 1 
truth, 399. From the love of self and the 
love ot the world are derived all the varie- 
ties of evil and the false, 399, 533. Love 
towards the Lord is a universal love, and is 
consequently in all and every thing that be- 
longs to spiritual life as well as to natural 
lifo'j lor that love has its residence in man’s 
supreme or highest principles, and the higher 
descend by influx into the lower, 416. He 
who loves good because it is good, and truth 
because it is true, pre-eminently loves his 
neighbor, 419. See Neighbor. That which 
is received in freedom gains admission into 
the love which acknowledges it as its own, 
and forms and fashions itself by it, 496. Love 
produces heat, to which natural heat cor- 
responds, 496. Every kind of love in man 
exhales its delight, by which it makes itself 
perceptible : it exhales it flrst into the spirit 
and thence into the body, 569. 

Love and Wisdom. Whatever proceeds 
from a man’s love he calls good, and what- 
ever proceeds from his wisdom he calls true, 
38. Love and wisdom in God make one, 
and so far as they are united in man he is an 
image of. God, 41. See Man. There are 
three degrees of love and wisdom, and thence 
three degrees of life, 42. Love and wisdom 
are the two constituents of life, 461. They 
enter by influx from God, but are received 
by man, and proceed from him, as if they 
were his own, 461. See Life. He who does 
not receive love and wisdom, or, what is the 
viame, charity and faith, does not receive life 
from God, but from hell, which is inverted 
life, and is called spiritual death, 471. Love 
and wisdom exist only ideally when confined 
to the affections and thoughts of the mind, 
and acquire a reality in use, because they are 
then together in the act and operation ot the 
body,. 744. 

Love of Heaven, the, is love towards the 
Lord, and love towards our neighbor, and 
because each of these regards use as its end, 
it may be called the love of uses, 394. *If the 
love of heaven is within the love of the world, 
and thence in the love of self, the man is an 
instrument of uses in each love from the God 
of heaven, 395. Heavenly love is to love 
for its own sake the use or the good which 
the church, a man’s country, the society to 
which he belongs, or his fellow-citizens re- 
quire of him, 400. 

Love of the World, the, is the love, not 
only of riches and property, but also ot all 
things which the world supplies for the de- 
light of the bodily senses, 394. It is not 
opposed to heavenly love, in the same degree 
as the love of self, for the evils concealed in 
it are not so great, 400. - It becomes worse 
as it inclines to avarice or to self-conceit, and 

921 


an assumption of pre-eminence over others, 
404. A man in whom the love of the world 
prevails worships God merely from a princi- 
ple of natural love, which places merit in all 
its worship : he does good also to his neigh- 
bor, but with a view to receive recompense, 
404. It may be compared to a mist or a 
cloud, which intercepts the rays of the sun, 
or to new wine, before it has undergone fer- 
mentation, which is pleasant to the taste, but 
prejudicial to the stomach, 404. Those who 
are influenced by the love of the world, de- 
sire to possess all that it contains, and are 
full of sorrow and envy if any of its treasures 
are hid and retained by others, 662. 

Luther, having now renounced his errors 
respecting justification by a faith in three 
divine persons from eternity, is translated 
into the societies of the blessed in the new 
heaven, 137. On his entrance into the spir 
itual world, he became a bitter asserter and 
defender of his own tenets ; yet, as the doc- 
trine of justification by faith alone was not 
rooted in his internal spiritual man, in con- 
sequence of his having been imbued with the 
doctrine of charity in his youthful days, he 
finally received the faith of the new heaven, 
796. 

Mahomedans, the, in the spiritual world 
appear behind the Roman Catholics in the 
west, and form a kind of circle around them, 
828. Mahomed, is not at this day among 
them in the spiritual world ; he was at first 
appointed to preside over them, but being 
desirous to rule overall the concerns of their 
religion as a god, he was removed, 830. 
Their hostility against the Christians has 
arisen chiefly in consequence of the belief 
in three divine persons, and the consequent 
worship of three gods as so many creators ; 
and additionally against the Roman Catholics, 
in consequence of their bending the knee to 
images, 831. Like all other Gentiles who ac- 
knowledge one God and love righteousness, 
and do good from a principle of religion, 
they have their own heaven, but beyond the 
limits of the Christian heaven, 832. Their 
religion was raised up of the Divine Provi- 
dence, and accommodated to the genius and 
temper of the eastern nations, for the purpose 
of extirpating the idolatries that were then 
prevalent, and for communicating some 
knowledge of the Lord and ol the Word, 
before they came after death into the spirit- 
ual world, 833. This could not possibly have 
been effected unless polygamy had been al- 
lowed amongst them, 833, 834. 

Man, in his earthly state, may be com 
pared to a worm, and in his heavenly state 
to a butterfly, 12, 449, 571. Man, with 
respect to his internal, is an inhabitant of the 
spiritual world, and with respect to his ex 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


ternal, of the natural world, 14, 401. An- 
gels and men are substanees and forms by 
derivation from Him who is substance and 
form itself, 20. Man is led of the Lord to 
acknowledge the Divine Esse by the acquisi- 
tion of knowledges, 24. The soul in man 
is not life, but the recipient of life, 25, 34, 
461, 470 — 474, 692. See Space and Time . 
Man with respect to the Infinite is nothing* 
but because he thinks finitely, the Infinite 
appears to him as nothing, 29. The Divine 
Infinite is in man as in its images, 33, 34. 
Man is truly an image of God when the 
celestial degree of his mind is open to the 
Divine influx, 34. His life dwells in the 
understanding, and such as it is, such is the 
quality of his wisdom, 39. God is contin- 
ually operating to effect the conjunction of 
love and wisdom in man, but man, unless he 
looks up to God and believes on Him, is con- 
tinually operating to effect their division, 41. 
He is a receptacle of God, thus of love and 
wisdom, and in proportion to his reception 
of these, he becomes an image of God, 48, 
692. He is also a likeness of God, by virtue 
of a sensation in himself that sueh things are 
his own, 48. He is born into no knowledge 
that he may come into all, and advance to 
understanding and wisdom, and into no love, 
that he may arrive at all love, 48. See 
Faculty, Life. He is created a form of 
Divine Order, 65, 66. Unless man ap- 
proach the Omnipotent God, he can make 
no resistance against the power of hell, 68. 
He derives his wisdom also from the Divine 
Omniscience ; and is in God, by virtue of 
the Divine Omnipresence in proportion as 
he lives according to divine order, 68 — 70. 
So long as he lives upon earth, he walks in 
a midway between heaven and hell, 69, 455. 
God is in every man, in the evil as well as 
the good ; but man is not in God unless he 
lives according to order, 70, 74. When 
man looks upwards to God for wisdom, he is, 
as to his spirit, actually in consort with angels 
in heaven ; but when downwards to himself, 
with devils in hell, 69. God can no more 
be absent from man, than the heat and light 
of the sun from the earth, 70. The body 
of man in the spiritual world is substantial, 
and he sees himself and his companions 
about him just as a material man, 79. In 
the natural world man’s speech is twofold, 
because his thought is twofold, both external 
and internal ; but in the spiritual world his 
speech is single, because he must there speak 
as he thinks, 111. If angels and spirits 
were removed from man he would instantly 
fall down dead like a stock or stone, 118. 
Every man is a subject of hereditary evil, 
and also of good from the Lord ; these acting 
m and upon him, not by and through him, 

922 


by which means he has freedom of choice. 
154, 383. A man’s spirit is his mind which 
lives after death in a complete human form, 
and is then called a spirit, 156. Man oi 
himself is not willing to understand any thing, 
but what comes from the selfhood of his 
will, 273. In proportion as any one indulges 
in the lusts of the flesh, he becomes a brute 
and a wild beast, but in proportion as he 
delights in the desires of the spirit he becomes 
a man and an angel, 329. Being born into 
evils of every kind and thereby inclined to 
hell, he cannot be admitted into heaven unless 
he be born again, that is, regenerated, 329, 
572 — 575. See Regeneration. He is a mere 
organ of life, 362, 461, 504. Whatever he 
wills and whatever he understands, enters by 
influx from without; the goods of love and 
charity and the truths of wisdom and faith 
from the Lord, but whatever is contrary to 
them from hell, 362, 461. For the sake oi 
conjunction with God, as an end, every man 
is created a native of heaven, and therefore 
spiritual, and at the same time a native of 
this world, and therefore natural, 369. If he 
becomes spiritual-rational, and at the same 
time spiritual-moral, he is conjoined with 
God; but if he is only natural-rational, and 
also natural-moral, God has conjunction 
with him, but he has no conjunction with 
God, and consequently is spiritually dead, 
369. The mind of man is the affection of 
his love and the principle of thought thence 
derived, these form his nature, and, in gen- 
eral, his life, 373. In proportion as a man’s 
thinking faculty is elevated above sensual 
things, so far he is a man ; but no one is ca- 
pable of such elevation of the thought unless 
he acknowledge a God, and live according 
to his commandments, 402. Man is not 
man from having a human face and body, 
but from the wisdom of his understanding 
and the goodness of his will, 417. At his 
birth he is more imperfect than any animal, 
and becomes a man by means of instructions, 
which, as they are received, form his mind, 
417. Man can by no means of himself act 
from a principle of spiritual righteousness 
and fidelity, for every one derives from his 
parents an hereditary disposition to do what 
is good and just, for the sake of himself and 
the world, 423. With the wicked, the in- 
ternal man is in conjunction with devils in 
hell, and with the good in conjunction with 
angels in heaven, 455, 607, 61*0. To deny 
that man is a form receptive of love and 
wisdom from God, would be to deny the 
doctrine of influx and consequently that all 
good is from God; in which case conjunction 
with God must also be denied ; so that it 
would be absurd to talk of a man’s being 
the habitation and temple of God, 47 & 


INDEX TO T11E WORK. 


There id a certain order lor which man was! 
created, which is, that his blessedness or mis- 
ery should depend on his freedom of deter- 
mination in spiritual things, 5Q2. The faculty 
of reciprocal conjunction with God is what 
makes man a man and not a beast, and is the 
true cause of his living after death, 504, 621. 
lie possesses the power of shutting and open- 
ing the door between his thoughts and words, 
and between his intentions and actions ac- 
cording to the direction of prudence or cun- 
ning ; this door however is opened in every 
person alter death, when his true nature and 
quality appears, 566. As a man is a man 
according to the quality of his love, so is he 
a man also according to the quality of his 
delight, 570. See Delight. The conjunc- 
tion of men with angels and spirits is so 
close, that, were they plucked asunder, men 
would instantly fall into a swoon and expire, 
607. Man while in the world is not by re- 
generation rendered spiritual as an angel, 
but spiritual-natural ; in other words, there 
is a spiritual principle within his natural, 
607. See Body. Man is born, as to the in- 
teriors of his mind, a spiritual being, and of 
consequence is born for heaven ; yet his nat- 
ural or external man is a miniature of hell, 
612. The three universals of man are, the 
soul, which is the receptacle of the Lord; 
the will, which is the receptacle of love; and 
the understanding, which is the receptacle of 
wisdom, 712. As man by creation is the 
smallest effigy, image, and type of the great 
heaven, and hence is in the human form, 
every man after death comes into that society 
of heaven of whose general form he is an in- 
dividual effigy, 739. Those who are in evils, 
and thence falses, form in themselves the 
effigy of hell, 739. After death man is ele- 
vated into heaven by the Lord himself, 
where, though he may have died an old man, 
he is restored to the morning of his life, and 
continues to eternity to grow in that wisdom 
which was implanted in the natural world, 
766. 

Man, the natural, is unable to perceive 
any thing of God, but only of the world, 11. 
Me ascribes all things to nature, and thus 
thinks sensually and materially, 12, 402. He 
can discover nothing of the Divine Being by 
his own reason, 22. Whoever persuades him- 
self that he lives from himself, or that his 
wisdom, his faith, his love, his perception ot 
truth, his good will, or his good deeds, are 
from himself, in the same proportion sinks 
his mind from heaven towards earth, and 
from spiritual, becomes natural, sensual, and 
corporeal, 40. The natural man continually 
acts against the spiritual, and thus regards 
spiritual things a3 visionary lantasies, 133, 
276 381, 474. The natural man cannot be 

923 


persuaded to believe that the Word is Divine 
truth itself, for he judges by its style, in 
which no such thing appears, 191, 200, 401. 
The merely natural man forms all his con- 
ceptions of Divine truths from mundane 
objects only, thus from the fallacies of the 
senses, 296, 402, 470. The doctrine of his 
faith may be compared to pottage made of 
chaff, on which he feeds as a dainty, 296. 
Those in whom the internal spiritual man is 
closed, and who are thus only in natural 
light, imagine nature to be self-existent and 
not from God, 401. A sensual man is in the 
lowest degree a natural man, 402. See Man, 
the Sensual. A merely natural man can see 
what is evil and good in others and can also 
reprove them, but, having never looked into 
and examined himself, he *does not see any 
evil in himself, and if any is pointed out to 
him, he masks it over by means of his rational 
faculty, 564, 568. The natural man with its 
lusts ought to be conquered, subdued, and 
inverted, for otherwise man cannot stir a 
step towards heaven, 474. The natural man is 
divided into internal and external, by which 
the will and the thoughts are separated from 
the words and deeds, 592, 593. Ileal truth, 
which in itself is truth, cannot be known and 
acknowledged by the merely natural man, 
for falling into an inverted receptacle it is 
changed into the false, 754. 

Man, the sensual. The sensual and cor- 
poreal man is nothing more considered in 
himself than an animal, and differs from brute 
animals only in being able to speak and rea- 
son, 296, 328, 566. He is sensual who judges 
of all things from his bodily senses, and whc* 
believes nothing but what he can see with 
his eyes and feel with his hands, 402, 565. 
The interiors of the mind, which see by the 
light of heaven, are closed in the sensual 
man ; and he is interiorly opposed to all 
things which belong to heaven and the 
church, 402, 565. Sensual men can reason 
with keenness and dexterity, because their 
thought is so near their speech as to be al- 
most in it, and because they make all intelli- 
gence to consist in speaking from the memory 
only, 402, 565. The interiors of their minds 
are vile and filthy, because they communicate 
with the hells, 402, 565. Men of learning 
and erudition, who have deeply confirmed 
themselves in falses, especially those who 
have confirmed themselves against the truths 
of the Word, are more sensual than others, 
402, 565. All those are sensual men who 
give pre-eminence to the love of self, 405. 

Man, the spiritual, sees spiritual things in 
the objects of the natural world, but the nat- 
ural man only such as are natural, 12, 793. 
The natural man is invisible to the spiritual 
•nan and the spiritual to the natural, nob 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


withstanding they are both in a perfect human 
form, 280, 793. The finite things of which 
the spirit is created, are spiritual substances, 
which are in the spiritual world, and which 
are also collated into our earth and therein 
lie concealed* 470. The difference between 
a man in the natural world and a man in the 
spiritual world is, that the latter is clothed 
with a substantial body, but the former with 
a material body, within which is his sub- 
stantial body, 793. 

Manger, a, signifies spiritual nourishment 
for the understanding, 277. 

Marriage, the, of the Lord and the church, 
and thence the marriage of good and truth, 
is in every part of the Word, 248 — 253. 
See Good and Truth. The Lord is therefore 
called the bridegroom, and the church is the 
bride, 252, 307, 398, 748, 783. The spir- 
itual offspring which are the fruits of this 
marriage, are the goods of charity and the 
truths of faith, 307, 380. See Adulterers. 
Those who are principled in these from the 
Lord are called the children of God, and 
born of God, 307. Infants and angels in 
heaven know of no other father or mother, 
than the Lord and the church, 306. Hus- 
band and father, signify the good of charity ; 
and wife and mother, the trilth of faith, 377. 
The conjunction of good and truth is in 
heaven called the heavenly marriage, 398. 
From this marriage the angels in heaven de- 
rive all their intelligence and wisdom, 398. 
The conjunction of evil and the false, inte- 
riorly considered, is not a marriage but adul- 
tery, 398. Nuptials in heaven represent the 
marriage of the Lord with the church, 748. 
The bridegroom represents the Lord, and the 
bride the church; but, after marriage, hus- 
band and wife together represent the church, 
748. Consent is the essential of marriage, 
and all succeeding ceremonies are its formal- 
ities, the confirmation of which by a priest 
consecrates the consent of the parties, 748. 
True conjugial love is a heavenly love in 
which there is no dominion, 805. See Con- 
jugial Love. 

Mary, the mother. The Holy Spirit, or 
the Divine Truth, proceeding from Jehovah 
the Father, was the power of the Highest 
which overshadowed her, 82, 140. The Lord 
was really born of her, but He put off all the 
Humanity that he had from her, and became 
wholly Divine, 98, 102, 827. She appeared 
on a certain occasion in the spiritual world, 
clothed in white raiment; she said that she 
had been the mother of the Lord, but that 
she now worships Him as her God, and is 
unwilling that any should acknowledge Him 
as her Son, 102, 827. 

Matt eh. See Substance. That which is 
material cannot enter into that which is 

924 


spiritual, but the spiritua. enters into the 
material, 623. 

Mediation, signifies that the Humanity is 
the medium by which a man may come to 
God the Father, and God the Father to him, 
and thus be his teacher and guide unto sal- 
vation, 135. 

Melancthon, on first entering the spiritual 
world continued to write in confirmation of 
the doctrine of justification by faith alone, 
but after the new heaven was begun to be 
established by the Lord, he began to think, 
under the influence of light from that heav- 
en, and finally acknowledged that the Word 
throughout is full of love to God, and love 
towards our neighbor, 797. 

Memory. Every man thinks from the 
things which are treasured in his memory ; 
for it is like the ruminatory stomach of birds 
and beasts, where the food is stored up and 
from which it is drawn forth as required, and 
remitted into the true stomach, to which the 
understanding answers, 173. Whatever is 
not received by the understanding has not 
any abiding place in the memory, as to the 
thing itself, but only as to the words, 621. 

Mercy. God is mercy and clemency itself, 
because He is love itself and goodness itself, 
132. 

Merit. See Works. To ascribe merit to 
works which are done for the sake of salva- 
tion is hurtful, many evils being concealed in 
such a belief, of which the doer of the works 
is entirely ignorant, 439. These evils are, a 
denial of the influx and operation of God in 
man; a faith and dependence on ourselves ; 
in particular, a derogating from the merit and 
righteousness of the Lord God the Saviour ; 
and a continual looking to reward, or recom- 
pense, which is then the first and last end 
regarded, 439. Meritorious ideas are readily 
removed by the Lord from those who are im- 
bued with charity, by a just and faithful dis- 
charge of all their duties ; but it is difficult 
to remove such ideas from those who believe 
charity to consist in giving alms, and assisting 
the indigent, 442. See Delights. The merit 
of our Lord the Saviour is redemption, which 
was a work purely divine, 640. This can no 
more be applied, ascribed, or imputed to any 
man than the creation and preservation of 
the universe, 640. 

Messiah, or Christ, signifies the divine 
truth, 85. In Christ all the fulness of the 
Godhead dwells bodily, 188. The Jews 
wanted a Messiah who should exalt them 
above all other nations of the world, and 
therefore did not acknowledge the Lord, al- 
though all the prophets had announced Him, 
205, 246. 

Michael. See Gabriel. 

Mind, Human, the, however analytical 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


And elevated is still finite, 28. It is organized 
according to three degrees, the celestial, the 
spiritual, and the natural, 84, 42, 69, 147, 
851, 395, 603, 846. It consists of will and 
understanding, 37, 151. It consists of spir- 
itual substances within, of natural substances 
without, and lastly of material substances, 
38, 280. See Form. The three degrees of 
which it consists are similar to those of love 
and wisdom ; the highest, which is also the 
inmost, being called celestial, the middle spir- 
itual, and the lowest natural, 42, 147, 603. 
The first degree is opened by knowledges 
during childhood ; the second by reflections 
thence derived during youth; and the high- 
est during youth and manhood by percep- 
tions of truths, 42. The minds of all men 
who deny the holiness of the Word have the 
sphere of their thoughts confined to the low- 
est region, 147, 148. The mind grows in 
wisdom as the body grows in stature, and this 
in proportion as it is stored with truths to 
which good is conjoined, 152. It lives after 
death in a complete human form, 156, 157. 
Things relating to theology in those who love 
truth for truth’s sake, emerge even to the high- 
est region of the mind, and they enjoy there 
the same light as do the angels. Those in 
whom spiritual, moral, political, and scien- 
tific things are in due subordination, have 
all their thoughts and actions influenced by 
justice and judgment; because the light of 
truth, which is also the light of heaven, from 
the highest region illumines what is below, 
186. The human mind is nothing but a form 
of divine truth and divine good spiritually 
and naturally organized, 224. The interiors 
belonging to'the mind are what constitute the 
human form, 280. See Series. It is a spir- 
itual organism bounded or closed by a nat- 
ural organism, in and according to which 
the mind produces its ideas, or thinks, 351. 
In consequence of the human mind being di- 
vided into internal and external, man lias 
the power to feign, to flatter, and to play the 
hypocrite, 240. It is provided that goods 
with their respective truths after generation 
should be collected into the higher region of 
the mind, that they may dwell secure and re- 
pel the assaults of their enemies, 604. 

Miracles. Divine miracles are effected 
according to Divine order, but then it is ac- 
cording to the order of the influx of the spir- 
itual world into the natural, 91. The Lord 
was in states of glorification, or union with 
the Father, when he wrought miracles, 104. 
Miracles are not wrought at this day, because 
man is now in a capacity of becoming spirit- 
ual, which capacity would be destroyed if 
his faith were influenced by miracles, 501. 
They were wrought to the time before the 
Lord’s advent, because the members of the 

925 


church at that time were merely natural men, 
to whom spiritual things could not have been 
opened without profanation, 501. Those who 
will not believe the Word of the Lord, will 
not be convinced by miracles, 849. 

Moab, signifies the adulteration of good, 

200 . 

Money, signifies knowledges of truth, 277 

Morality. A merely moral life, is not 
spiritual but natural, and morality and ra- 
tionality merely natural are in themselves 
dead, 384. In genuine moral good, spir- 
itual and natural good are conjoined, 398. 
In the first period of a man’s existence moral 
life is a life of charity in its externals, 443. 
There is no possibility of deciding on the 
morality of the internal man from the ap- 
parent morality of the external, 443. A 
moral life, if it is at the same time spiritual, 
is a life of charity, because the exercises of a 
moral life and those of charity are the same, 

444. Considered in its essence, it is a life 
agreeable to both human and divine laws, 

445. Every man rightly educated is rational 
and moral, but there are two ways which 
lead to rationality, one from the world, the 
other from heaven, 564, 621. Men are out- 
wardly intelligent and moral with a view to 
self and the world, 662. 

Motion. In all motion, and consequently 
in all action, there is an active and a pas- 
sive; that is, a something which acts like an 
agent, and a something, which, being pas- 
sive, acts from the agent, 576. The natural 
considered in itself is passive, or a dead 
power, but the spiritual is active, or a living 
power, 607. 

Name." The Lord’s name is hallowed when 
the Father is acknowledged in the Human- 
ity, 112. See Lord's Prayer. The Divine 
Humanity is the Father’s name, 113. God is 
present in the whole of religion, and when He 
is rightly invoked by His name, He is pres- 
ent and hears, 297. The name Jehovah God, 
and also the name Jesus, is in itself holy, 
297. See Jesus Christ. The Word, and thence 
the church, thus the whole of worship, is the 
name of God, 298. The angels are named 
according to their moral and spiritual life, 
300. See Commandments. In the natural 
world likewise the term name does not mean, 
name alone, but also the quality and nature 
of the person to whom it belongs, because 
these are annexed to his name, 300. The Lord 
calling his sheep by name, signifies by their 
quality as Christians, 682. 

Nations and People. In the Word, those 
who are in good, are signified by nations, 
and those who are in truth by people : and 
in the opposite. sense, those who are in evils 
and falses. For this reason those who are ol 
the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are called peo- 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


pie, and those who are of his celestial king- 
dom are called nations, 251. 

Natural Sense of tiie Word. See Literal 
Sense. 

Nature. Those who acknowledged nature 
instead of God close up the interiors of their 
reason, 9. Nature of herself can do noth- 
ing, hut God is the sole operator through na- 
ture, 12. Those who avert their thoughts 
from God cannot think rationally, much less 
spiritually, of nature, 12. They divest them- 
selves of the nature of men and acquire the 
nature of beasts, 13. Nature is separate 
from God and yet God is omnipresent there- 
in, 30. Nature is the means by which love 
and wisdom operate their effects and uses, 
and therefore a receptacle of life, 35. In it- 
self it is dead, and has no power of action, 
but is acted upon by the life which is from 
God, 77. If nature is believed to be the cre- 
atrix of the universe, then the universe is 
called God; and nature his essence, 178. All 
things in nature, both in general and in par- 
ticular, correspond to things spiritual, 201,205. 
Nature in all time is in time, and in all space 
is in space, and with her time and space must 
of necessity have had a beginning, but not so 
God, who is without time and space, therefore 
nature is from God, not from eternity, 280. See 
Series. The spiritual world operates within 
nature, as the human mind operates and acts 
upon the senses and motions of the body, 695. 
All the parts of nature are but as coats, 
sheaths, and clothing which encompass spir- 
'tual things, and proximately produce effects 
corresponding to the end intended by God 
the Creator, 695. 

Nazarites. See Head. 

Neighbor, Neighborly Love. Every indi- 
vidual man is the neighbor whom we ought 
to love, but each one is to be loved accord- 
ing to the quality of his good, 406 — 411. To 
love our neighbor is not only to will and do 
good to a relation, a friend, and a good man, 
but also to a stranger, and an enemy, and 
a bad man, 407. This charity or neighborly 
love is expressed towards a relation and 
a friend by direct acts of kindness, but to- 
wards an enemy and a wicked person, by 
indirect acts of kindness, as by exhorta- 
tion, correction, and punishment, for their 
amendment, 407. See War, Punishment. 
Since the Lord ought to be loved above 
all things, it follows that the degrees of 
love towards our neighbor, ought to be 
regulated by love towards the Lord ; that 
is, in proportion to our knowledge of the 
degree in which every particular man re- 
ceives good from the Lord, 410. A society 
is the neighbor which we are to love, in a 
more eminent sense than a single man, and 
our country more than a single society, 412 

926 


— 414. Every man is bound to love his 
country, not as he loves himself, but in pre- 
ference to himself, 414. Those who love 
their country, and render it good services 
from a principle of good will, after death love 
the Lord’s kingdom, which then is their 
country, 414. The church is our neighbor 
to be loved in a higher degree, and the 
Lord’s kingdom is our neighbor to be loved 
in the highest, 415, 416. Love towards the 
Lord’s kingdom is love towards our neighbor 
in all its fulness, for those who love His 
kingdom not only love the Lord above all 
things but also love their neighbor as them- 
selves, 416. To love our neighbor, considered 
in itself, is not to love his person but the 
good which is in it, 417 — 419. See Good. 
Those who are naturally of a tender, com- 
passionate disposition, and do not make their 
natural disposition spiritual, by regulating 
its workings according to genuine charity, 
often assist the wicked in their disposition to 
do wickedly, 428. The conjunction of love 
to God and the love of our neighbor is an ef- 
fect of the influx of the love of God towards 
mankind, the reception of which by man, and 
his co-operation, is love towards the neigh- 
bor, 457, 458. See Influx. The evil of sin is 
evil against a man’s neighbor and evil 
against the neighbor is also sin against 
God, 525. 

New Church. The Lord has foretold that 
He would come and establish a New Church, 
which is the New Jerusalem, 779. See Ad- 
vent, Second. A new heaven is at this day 
forming by the Lord, of such Christians as 
acknowledged Him in the world, and were 
able after their departure out of the w r orld 
to acknowledge him to be the God of heaven 
and earth, 781. It is agreeable to Divine 
Order that a new heaven be formed before a 
new church on earth, for the church is both 
internal and external, and the internal church 
forms one with the church in heaven, 784. 
In proportion as this new heaven, which con- 
stitutes the internal of the church in man, 
increases, in the same proportion the New 
Jerusalem, that is, the New Church, conies 
down from that heaven, so that this cannot 
be effected in a moment, but in proportion 
as the falses of the former church are re- 
moved, 784. This New Church is to be the 
crown of all the churches which have been 
until this time on the terrestrial globe, 786 — 
790. That it will be the crown of all the 
churches, is, because it will worship one vis- 
ible God, in whom is the invisible God, as 
the soul is in the body: for thus, and no 
otherwise, can conjunction be effected be- 
tween God and man, 7 87. All who have lived 
a life of charity, and particularly if they have 
loved the truth for its own sake, suffer them 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


selves to be instructed in the spiritual world, 
and receive the doctrines of the New Church, 
799. 

New Jerusalem, the, signifies a new church 
which is to be established by the Lord, 197, 
781 — 784. A new church is meant by the 
New Jerusalem coming down from God out 
ot heaven, because Jerusalem was the me- 
tropolis of the land, of Canaan, where the rep- 
resentative church was instituted ; and be- 
cause the Lord was in Jerusalem and taught 
in its temple, and afterwards glorified llis 
Humanity there, 782. That Jerusalem signi- 
fies the church, appears clearly from the 
prophetical parts of the Old Testament, when 
speaking of the New Church that was to be 
instituted by the Lord, 782. 

Nice, the council of, introduced the doc- 
trine of three divine persons from eternity, 
136, 489, 632, 634. A trinity of gods was 
the only trinity thought of by those who 
composed this council, 172, 177, 632. It 
was convened with a view to stop the pro- 
gress of the Arian heresy, 174, 632, 636, 637. 
The light of the Word was extinguished, and 
the Lord removed from his church, both by 
the heretics who lived before the Council of 
Nice, and by those who derived their hereti- 
cal opinions from it, 177. The faith of jus- 
tification, in which three gods are approached, 
sprang from its decrees and determinations, 
and prevented the revelation of the spiritual 
sense of the Word, 206. Likewise the be- 
lief that God is the cause of evil, the faith 
imputative of the merit and righteousness of 
the Lord God the Saviour, and the denial of 
man’s freedom of determination in spiritual 
things, 489, 632, 634. Since that time spir- 
itual temptation has been unknown, 597. 
The convocation of this council was of the 
Lord’s Divine Providence, since if the Lord’s 
Divinity be denied the Christian church ex- 
pires, 636. Not knowing that God Himself 
became the Redeemer, they attempted to 
vindicate and re-establish the Lord’s Divinity, 
by inventing the fiction of a Son of God from 
eternity, who descended and assumed the 
Humanity, 637. The Christian church has 
had two epochs, one extending from the time 
of the Lord to the Council of Nice, and the 
other from that Council till the present time, 
76° 

Night, signifies the last time of the church, 
761. 

Numbers, The number ten tvgnifies all, 
199. The number three in the Word sig- 
nifies whatis complete and perfect, 211, 387. 
Six, signifies all, and what is complete, 748. 
Twelve, the all of truth derived from good, 
217. 

Oak, an, in the Word, signifies sensual 
good and truth of the church, 200. 

927 


Oath. To swear by God an l His Holiness, 
or by the Word and the Gospel, in the case 
of appointment to any place of trust, is not 
to take the name of God in vain, unless he 
who swears afterwards makes light of his en- 
gagements, 297. 

Olive-tree, signifies celestial good and truth 
of the church, 200 ; a man of the celestial 
church, 468 ; celestial good, 609. 

Omnipotence and omnipresence are predi- 
cable of the Divine Love and Divine Wis- 
dom, 21, 25. See Place. Although God 
is omnipresent, time and space cannot be 
predicated of Him, 30. Omnipotence, om- 
niscience, and omnipresence, appertain to 
the Divine Essence, 49. They proceed from 
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, as the 
power and presence of the sun in this world 
from its heat and light, 49. See God. The 
omnipotence of God proceeds and operates 
in all things according to order, 56, 70 — 74, 
90, 500 — 502. It cannot go out of itself, 
or in the least promote evil, 56. It cannot 
by an act of absolute authority convert evil 
into good, 57, 58, 500 — 502. See Power. 
By His omnipresence God perceives all 
things, by His omniscience He provides all, 
and by His omnipotence He operates all, 63. 
It is no contradiction to act omnipotently ac- 
cording to the laws of justice with judgment, 
or of love from wisdom ; but it is a contra- 
diction to suppose that God can act contrary 
to the laws of His own justice and love, 74. 
Omnipotence could alone effect redemption, 
124, 125. To sit on the right hand of God, 
signifies the omnipotence of God by means ol 
the Humanity, 136. God cannot possibly act 
contrary to His own Divine Order, because 
that would be to act contrary to Himself, 
500. See Order. A man who becomes merely 
natural by imbibing false notions respecting 
spiritual things, conceives of the Divine Om- 
nipotence as being above order, thus without 
order, and necessarily falls into many vain 
and futile fancies, 502, 693, 770- 

Omnipresence. See Omnipotence , God. The 
omnipresence of God is effected by means 
of the heat and light of the sun of the 
spiritual world, 63. The Divine Omnipres- 
ence may be illustrated by the marvellous 
presence of angels and spirits in the spir- 
itual world, 64. Where there is contrariety 
to the Divine Order in which God is 
omnipresent, He is yet omuipresent by a 
continual struggle and endeavor to restore 
order, 70. 

Omniscience. See Omnipotence , God. God 
is omniscient because He is wisdom itself and 
light itself, 59. 

Opposites, arise from the cessation of ex 
istence in some one thing, and the rising up 
of another at that time, with a contrar, 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


tendency, G2. All things in hell are oppo- 
sites of those which are in heaven, 78. To 
will evil, and to do good, are in their nature 
opposite, 435. Qualities are produced and 
perfected by the differences in relation to 
what is more or less opposite, 763. 

Order. The perfection of order is pro- 
duced by wisdom operating from love, 52. 
It is the quality of the disposition, and of 
the determination and activity of the parts 
in a substance, 52. God is order because 
He is substance and form itself, 53. See 
Universe. The laws of order are as many 
and various as the truths contained in the 
Word, 55. See Omnipotence. It exists and 
subsists by the Divine Love and the Divine 
Wisdom, 65. See Heaven. So far as man 
is in spiritual heat and at the same time in 
spiritual light so far he is in order, 70. 
There is an order in and according to which 
all and every thing in both worlds (see 
World) are created, 75, 502. See Miracles. 
Those who think of Divine Omnipotence 
unconnected with laws of order, are liable to 
many groundless and contradictory imagina- 
tions, . 90, '502. To live according to order 
is to live according to the precepts of God. 
96. Both in heaven and the world there are 
two kinds of order, successive and simul- 
taneous ; in successive order one thing suc- 
ceeds and follows another, from what is 
highest to what is lowest ; but in simulta- 
neous order one thing is next to another, from 
what is innermost to what is outermost, 214. 
In ultimates, the highest of successive order 
becomes the inmost of simultaneous order, 
and the lowest becomes the outermost, 214. 
Without order there could be no creation, 
500. It is the same thing to speak of acting 
contrary to order, or contrary to God, 500. 
In the spiritual world, by which is meant 
both heaven and hell, all things are most 
distinctly arranged in the whole and in every 
part, and on this distinct arrangement the 
conservation of the universe depends, 678. 
The primary rite of every religion is a sign 
by which individuals are orderly arranged in 
the spiritual world according to their faith, 
678. See Baptism. 

Papists, the, in the spiritual world appear 
round about and beneath the Protestants, 
817. All those who have done works of 
charity from simplicity of heart, and thought 
more about God than about the Pope, are 
easily led to renounce the superstitions of. 
their religion, 821. Those who, during their 
life on earth, affect the character of saints, 
with a view to be invoked as saints after 
death, become a prey to the delirium arising 
from the lust of domineering over all, 823. 
The worship of saints is such an abomi- 
nation in heaven, that the bare mention 

928 


of it excites horror, since in proportion a? 
worship is paid to any man, it is derogated 
from the Lord, 824. 

Particulars adapt themselves to their com 
mon whole, and the common whole gives to 
particulars their orderly arrangement, 47. 

Peace. Celestial peace consists in security 
against the hells, and the prevention of as- 
saults from evils and false,s thence arising ; 
on this account the Lord is called the Prince 
of Peace, 303, 304. Eternal peace or rest is 
not inactivity, but it causes a man truly to 
live, 694. See Use. 

Perception, the, of opposites, differs from 
the perception of relatives, 62- If the doc- 
trines which form the mind are true, percep- 
tion is rendered clear by the light of illustra- 
tion ; but where they are false, there is only 
an appearance of clearness, arising from the 
reasons and arguments which have been used 
for their confirmation, 155. See Clergy. 
Perception comes from affection, and thought 
from perception, and thence arises acknowl- 
edgement, which is called faith, 231. See 
Delights. Perception of what is spiritual, 
and consequently reception, is not granted to 
man except in his natural principle, 339. 
The first seat of vision is perception, the last 
is the eye, 504. Interior thought is called 
perception, and it looks into the inferior 
which is called thought, 603. 

Perfection, the, of life does not consist in 
thought, but in the perception of truth from 
the light of truth, 42. The number three, in 
the Word, denotes a work finished and per- 
fect, 211. See End. 

Permission. From the pei mission of evil 
it is evident that man has free-determin- 
ation in spiritual things, 479. The laws of 
permission are laws of Divii s Providence, 
479. 

Philistines, the, signify faith without char 
ity, 200. Philistea, the church separate from 
charity, 487. 

Place., The Divine Esse is not in place, 
but with and in those who are in place, ac- 
cording to its reception, 25. Neither place, 
nor progression from one place to another, is 
predicable of love and wisdom, or of good and 
truth, or of life derived thence : this is the 
foundation of the Divine Omnipresence, 25 
See God 

Poor, the, signify those who have no knowf 
edge of truth and good, 427. 

Poplar, a, in the Word, signifies natural 
good and truth of the church, 200. 

Power. There is no power in God to do 
evil, 57, 58. See Omnipotence. God can- 
not by absolute power change evil spirits 
into angels of light, because it would be con- 
trary to the laws of order established in the 
universe, 58. Were the power of God thutf 


INDEX TO TIIE WORK. 


Absolute, He would have saved the whole 
human race without exception, 58. Man has 
power from the Divine Omnipotence against 
evil and the false, 68. Evil has no power to 
act, against itself, 68. The power of God is 
in Divine truth from Divine good, 86. A 
single angel being principled in truth from 
the Lord can put to flight a whole troop of 
infernal spirits, 87. Men on earth who are 
similarly principled have a like power over 
evils and falses, 87. The power of the Lord 
is from Divine good itself, 124. The power 
of the Lord by virtue of the Word is infinite, 
209, 224. The power of the Word in ulti- 
mates was represented by the Nazarites, 223. 
See Head. The power of Divine truth or the 
Word is in its literal sense, because the Word 
in that sense is in its fulness, and the angels 
of both the Lord’s kingdoms, together with 
men on earth, are united in that sense, 223, 
234, 235. No one is able of his own power 
and strength to purify himself from evils, 
and yet such purification cannot be effected 
without the power and strength of a man as 
if it were his own, 438. Without this no 
one would be able to fight against the flesh 
and its lusts, which nevertheless is required 
of all, 438. The power to act as of him- 
self is continually given to man by the Lord, 
621. 

Predestination. God cannot predestinate 
the soul of any person to eternal death, or 
even turn away his face from any one, or re- 
gard him with the least severity of counte- 
nance, 56, 72. A more pernicious doctrine 
cculd not have been devised, or a more cruel 
notion in regard to God have been conceived, 
than that any of the human race are damned 
by a positive predetermined decree ; the 
faith of the New Church abhors it as mon- 
strous, 486. Certain members of the Synod 
of Dort, by which the doctrine of predesti na- 
tion was confirmed and promulgated, were 
influenced by many opinions regarding God, 
the Word, and religion, which they did not 
dare to disclose, 487. 

Precious Stones signify the literal sense of 
the Word, 217, 843. Also the truths of the 
doctrine of the New Church, 217. Truths 
*»*nsparent from good, 218, 219, 253. Precious 
atones in general signify the knowledges of 
good and truth, 467. 

Priesthood, the, of Aaron, was representa- 
tive of the Lord with respect to Divine Good 
and the work of salvation ; the garments of 
the priesthood, of Divine truths from the 
Lord; the ephod, of Divine Truth in its 
ultimate, and consequently of the Word in 
its literal sense, 218. See Urim and Ihum- 
r/iim. 

Priest and King. The Lord, from His 
priestlv office, is called Jesus, and from His 

929 


regal office, Christ j in the Old Testament Jit 
is called from the former Jehovah and Lord, 
and from the latter, God, and the Holy One 
of Israel, 114. These two offices are distinct 
from each other, like love and wisdom, oi 
good and truth, 114. 

Proceeding, Divine. See Holy Spirit, 
Sphere . 

Prophet. The Lord was willing to be 
tempted even to His suffering on the cross, 
because He was the Grand Prophet, and 
prophets formerly signified the doctrines of 
the church derived from the Word, and 
thence represented the church according to 
its nature and quality by various emblems, 
126, 129, 130. The Lord as the Prophet rep- 
resented the state of the Jewish church with 
respect to the Word, as is evident, from the 
particulars of His sufferings, 130. By the 
spirit of prophecy is understood the truth of 
doctrine derived from the Word ; and to 
prophesy signifies to teach doctrine, 149. 
The prophets had a sight of such objects as 
exist in the spiritual world when they were 
in the spirit, by which is meant, a state of 
mind separate from the body, 157. See 
Author. 

Propitiation, signifies the operation of cle- 
mency and grace to prevent a man falling 
into damnation by sin, and at the same time 
to guard against the profanation of holiness,. 
135. 

Proprium. See Selfhood. 

Punishment. The evil nature which is 
contracted in the world cannot afterwards be 
changed or expelled by punishment, except 
during short intervals, 79. When punishment 
proceeds from charity, it has for its end the 
reclaiming and amendment of the criminal, 
407. A father expresses his love towards 
his children by correcting them when they 
do amiss ; if he does not correct them when 
they deserve it, he loves their vices, and such, 
love cannot be called charity, 407, 459. Tire 
punishments which are inflicted upon the 
devils in hell when they do evil, are per? 
mitted by the Lord for the sake of their 
amendment, 459. Punishments are inflicted 
on the evil after death, until through fear 
they commit evil no longer, although even 
then they can never be reduced to do good 
from the love of good, 631. 

Purgatory, is a fable invented by the Cath- 
olics, 475. See World of Spirits. 

Reason. Sound reason acknowledges the 
being and unity of God, 9, 10. It may per- 
ceive and conclude this, if it will, from many 
things in the visible world, 12. Those who 
destroy the idea of God’a unity, and thus 
every just apprehension, of the Godhead, 
banish all the spirituality of reason from the 
mind, 23. The Infinity of God may be dis- 

ooo 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


covered from many objeqfs in the created 
universe by enlightened reason, 32. See 
Perception. Reason, with a man who does 
not look to the Lord for guidance, is like a 
bird of darkness in relation to things that are 
in spiritual light, such as are the essentials of 
the church, 165. When reason is laid asleep, 
the words of the mouth are but lifeless and 
inanimate souhds, 169. See Trinity. That 
the faith of the church at this day is a faith 
in three gods, cannot be seen by those who 
have barred up the door of that faith and 
its offspring by the persuasion that it is not 
allowable for reason to look into its mys- 
teries, 178. A doctrine derived from the 
light of reason alone, must of necessity estab- 
lish the worship of self, as was the case in 
former ages, and is still the ease with many 
who are yet instructed by the Word that 
God alone is to be worshipped, 274. To 
reason only whether a thing be or not, is 
like reasoning about a cap or a shoe whether 
they fit or not, without ever putting them 
on, 333. No man could be in possession of 
the analytical faculty of reason, unless there 
were an orderly arrangement of substances 
and truths in the human mind according to 
their series, 351. See Series. Such arrange- 
ment is effected according to the use of rea- 
son in a state of freedom, 351. The under- 
standing sees rational things analytically in 
the light of the sun of heaven, as the bodily 
eye sees natural things symmetrically, 365. 
See Heat and Light. 

Reciprocation. There are two kinds of 
reciprocation by which conjunction is effect- 
ed, the one alternate, like that between the 
heart and lungs, the other mutual, like that 
between the soul and body, 371. The recip- 
rocal conjunction of the Lord and man is not 
effected by action and reaction, thus not 
alternately, but by co-operation, 371, 576. 
Man’s action, when concordant with that of 
the Lord, is meant by co-operation, 576. See 
Influx. God alone acts, and man suffers him- 
self to be acted upon, and co-operates in all 
appearance as of himself, although interiorly 
from God, 688. 

Redemption, was effected by the assumption 
of the Humanity, 3, 81, 82, 124, 125, 579. 
For which purpose Jehovah God Himself 
descended, 81, 82. Redemption consisted in 
reducing the hells into subjection, and bring- 
ing the heavens into an orderly arrangement, 
and afterwards renewing the church on earth, 
84, 86, 115, 134, 224. This could only be 
effected by Divine truth derived from Divine 
good, 86. See Righteousness. Redemption 
has reference to the double office of the 
Lord as Priest and King, 114. The Lord 
at this day is accomplishing a redemption 
which was begin in the year 1757, when 

930 


also the last judgment took place, 115. 
Unless the Lord by redemption had separated 
the good from the evil, it would have been 
impossible for the former to have dwelt in 
safety, 117. See Hell. In like manner no 
man could have been saved, nor any angel 
preserved in a state of integrity, 118, 121, 
579. Redemption first takes effect , in the 
spiritual world, 118. It is a work purely 
divine, 123, 640. It could only be effected 
by God Incarnate, 124, 125. See Cross. In 
the combats or temptations of individual 
men, the Lord works out a particular redemp- 
tion, as he wrought a general one during his 
abode in the w r orld, 599. Redemption was 
a kind of creation of the angelic heaven 
anew, and also of the church, 640. The Lord, 
with the whole of His redemption, is entirely 
present in the Holy Supper, 716 — 718. See 
Holy Supper. 

Red Sea, the, in which the Egyptians per- 
ished, signifies hell, 635. 

Reformation, according to the laws of 
order must precede regeneration, 106, 302, 
571. Reformation has reference to the un 
derstanding, 302, 587. The internal man 
is first reformed, and by this the external, 
302. In the state of reformation man looks 
from his natural state towards the spiritual, 
with a great desire to attain it, 571. This 
state is formed by truths which belong to 
faith, by which man looks towards charity, 
o71. Unless man enters on this state during 
his abode in the world, he cannot become 
regenerate after death, 571. See Regenera- 
tion. So long as man sees and acknowledges 
in his mind that evil is evil, and good is 
good, and thinks that good ought to be 
chosen, so long that state is called reforma 
tion, 587. None are reformed by the mere 
knowledges of truths, for every man is able 
to apprehend truths, and also to speak and 
teach them, but he is a reformed person who 
is in the affection of truth for truth’s sake, 
589. The internal (natural) man is first to 
be reformed, and by it the external, and 
thus the man is regenerated, 591 — 595. 
Every man is able, as of himself, to reform 
and regenerate himself, only he must ac- 
knowledge in heart that the ability is from 
the Lord, 621. 

Regeneration. Man is to become reformed 
and regenerate by acquiring the truths of 
faith, and by doing good works, 71. God 
cannot spiritually regenerate any man, but 
in proportion as man, agreeably to his laws, 
naturally regenerates himself, 73. God is 
in the perpetual endeavor to regenerate and 
to save mankind, 73, 577. By His Divine 
power, he opposes and subdues hell, which 
rises up with all its diabolical fury against 
• every person who is advancing iD regenera- 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


tiori, 123. Reformation and regeneration 
are operated by the Holy Spirit, 143. See 
Holy Spirit. The Lord regenerates man 
by faith and charity, 144, 575, 686. The 
work of regeneration is successive, answer- 
ing in its several stages to man’s concep- 
tion, his formation in the womb, his birth, 
and his education, 302, 583 — 586, 611. It 
has reference to the will, and to the under- 
standing in subordination to the will, 302, 
602. See Will and Under standing. Every 
one becomes regenerate in proportion as he 
abstains from the evils of sin and shuns them, 
510. Regeneration is a new birth from the 
Lord, 521, 572—574. The state of regen- 
eration is formed by the goods of charity, 
from which man enters into the truths of 
faith, 571. Reformation is a state of thought 
from the understanding, and regeneration a 
state of love from the will, 571. See Refor- 
mation. Uidess a man be born again, and, 
ns it were created anew, he cannot enter the 
kingdom of God, 572 — 575. The new birth 
or creation is effected by the Lord alone, 
through the medium of charity and faith, 
during man*3 co-operation, 576 — 578. It 
is the vanity of vanities to suppose that re- 
generation follows as a necessary consequence 
of the faith now prevalent in the church, 
which excludes man’s co-operation, 677. 
Since all are redeemed, all have a capacity 
to be regenerated, every one according to his 
state, 579 — 582. Regeneration is effected 
in a different manner, and by different pro- 
cesses, according to the difference of persons 
and circumstances, and this variety is infinite 
like the faces and dispositions of mankind, 
580. All are arranged in heaven according 
to their advancement in regeneration ; and 
in hell, according to their rejection of re- 
generation, 582. There is a correspondence 
between the regeneration of man and all the 
productions of the vegetable kingdom, on 
which account it is, that, in the Word, man 
is frequently described by a tree, his truth 
by seed, and his goodness by fruit, 584. 
A man cannot be regenerated except by suc- 
cessive degrees, 586, 610. The first act of 
the new birth is an act of the understanding, 
the second is an act of the will, and thence 
of the understanding, 587 — 590. When man 
actually wills to flee from evil and do good, 
then commences the state of regeneration, 
687. The unregenerate are called dead, and 
the regenerate alive, for spiritual life is in 
the latter, and spiritual death in the former, 
594. The Lord through heaven rules all 
that belongs to the world in the regenerate 
man, 598, 604. The regenerate man has a 
new will and a new understanding, 601 — 606. 
A regenerate man is in communion with the 
angels of hea\ eu, and an .unregenerate man 

931 


in communion with spirits of hell, 607 — 610. 
In proportion as regeneration is perfected in 
man, he does not attribute any thing of good 
and truth, that is of charity and faith, to 
himself, but to the Lord, 610. In propor- 
tion as a man is regenerated, his sins are 
removed, and this removal is what is meant 
by the remission of sins, 611 — 614. Regen- 
eration cannot be effected without freedom 
of determination in spiritual concerns, 615 
— 617. It is not attainable without truths 
by which faith is formed, and with which 
charity conjoins itself, 618, 620. It is 
effected by these three efficients, the Lord, 
faith, and charity, 618, 723. See Charity 
and Faith. It is represented by the sacra- 
ment of baptism, 684 — 687. The whole world 
from first to last is full of representations and 
types of regeneration, 687. While man is re- 
generating, the Lord is ever present with 
him, and preparing Him by His Divine oper 
ation for heaven, 728. 

Relatives, have respect to the disposition 
of a variety and multiplicity of things in suit- 
able and agreeable order, 62. 

Religion, alone renews and regenerates 
man, for it occupies the supreme seat in his 
mind, and sees beneath it those civil duties 
which belong to the world, 601. 

Remission. See Sins. 

Repentance. Sins can only be wiped away 
by repentance, 409. No one can become 
regenerate before those more grievous evils, 
which render a man detestable in the sight 
of God are removed, and this can only be 
effected by repentance, 509. There are sev- 
eral things which, in the first stages of life, 
prepare a man for the church, and introduce 
him into it, but acts of repentance alone 
effect the formation of the church in him, 
510. Repentance consists in ceasing to will, 
and thus ceasing to practice evils, which 
are sins against God, 510. The mere lip- 
confession of being a sinner is not repent- 
ance, 516 — 519, 529. See Confession . Every 
man is born with a propensity to evils of all 
kinds (see Hereditary Evil), and unless he 
remove them in part by repentance, he re- 
mains in them, and cannot be saved, 520 
— 524. It is said that man must remove 
them, because the Lord does not effect such 
removal immediately without his co-opera- 
tion, 522. Those who are unwilling to hear 
any thing about repentance, naturally fall 
into a purposed and deliberate sinfulness, 
523. As man removes particular evils, as 
sins, he is kept in the purpose of abstaining 
from other sins, by the Lord, 523. So that 
sins from ignorance, or the prevalence of some 
particular lust, are not imputed, because not 
purposed or confirmed, 523. The knowl- 
edge of sin, and the discovery of some par 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


iicular ein in a man’s self is the beginning of 
repentance, 525 — 527. Actual repentance 
consists in a man’s examining himself, know- 
ing and acknowledging his sins, supplicating 
the Lord, and beginning a new life, 528 — 
531, 585, 661, 567, 621. If actual repentance 
be performed at certain recurring times, es- 
pecially when a man prepares himself to par- 
take of the Holy Supper, and if he afterwards 
abstains from such sin or sins as he then 
discovers in himself, it is sufficient to initi- 
ate him into the actual practice, 530, 567. 
True repentance consists in a man’s examin- 
ing not only the actions of his life, but also 
the intentions of his will, 532 — 534. Those 
who determine after such examination not 
to cherish evils in thought or will, because 
they are sins, perform true and interior re- 
pentance, 632. A less difficult kind of 
repentance is performed by those who do 
not examine themselves, but still shun evils 
as sins, and perform works of charity from 
a religious motive, 635 — 537. Actual re- 
pentance is an easy duty to those who have 
occasionally practised it, but meets with vio- 
lent opposition from those who never prac- 
tised it, 561 — 563. Repentance is repugnant 
to the Reformed part of the Christian world, 
chiefly because they believe that repentance 
and charity contribute nothing to salvation, 
661, 562. He who never did the work of 
repentance, and never looked into and ex-1 
amined himself, comes at last not to know 
the nature of either damnatory evil or saving 
good, 564 — 566. Such a one has no religion 
to lead him to that knowledge, 564. Refor- 
mation and regeneration follow repentance 
and are promoted by it, 571. See Reforma- 
tion, Regeneration. 

Representatives, are such earthly exist- 
ences as correspond with heavenly ones and 
are consequently significative of them, 275. 
The intelligence and wisdom which the an- 
gels receive from the Lord, form themselves 
into representations around them, and this 
takes place from correspondence, 467. Je- 
hovah God appeared to the Israelites under 
a human form which he put on by means of 
an angel, which human form was represen- 
tative of the Lord who was to come, and this 
being representative, therefore all and every 
thing in the Israelitish church was made repre- 
sentative also, 786. This representative wor- 
ship was abrogated at the Lord’s coming, 786. 

Revelation. See Knowledge. By the help 
of Revelation man is able to approach God 
and thereby from natural to become spiritual, 
11 , 22. A revelation was published and 
made universal in the earliest ages of the 
World, but was afterwards perverted, 11. 
Without a revelation man could have no I 
knowledge of God, or of a life after death, 274. 

932 


Righteousness. The Lord by acts of re- 
demption made Himself righteousness, for 
righteousness is Divine Order itself, 95, 640. 
Righteousness is acquired by man so far as 
he lives in its exercise, or so far as he is in- 
fluenced by justice and truth, 96. It dwells 
in the real good, or the real use which a man 
does, 96. See ~Co 7 nnianaments [seventh). 

Rock, signifies truth, and likewise the 
Lord with respect to Divine truth, 224, 342, 
379, 788. 

Ruby, signifies celestial good, 609. 

Ruling Love, the, determines the quality 
of a man ; the various subordinate loves are 
its derivations, and with it constitute one 
kingdom, 399. Its object is continually pres- 
ent in his thoughts, because it is in his will, 
and constitutes the veriest essence of his life, 
399. It is this which distinguishes one man 
from another, and according to this his heav- 
en is formed if he be a good man, and his 
hell if he be a bad man, 399, 447. It cannot 
be changed after death because it is the man 
himself, 399. See Death. 

Sabbath, in the original tongue, signifies 
rest, 301. It was among the Children of 
Israel the sanctity of sanctities, because it 
represented the Lord, the six days being sig- 
nificative of His labors and combats with the 
hells, and the seventh of His victory over 
them, 301. When the Lord came into the 
world it was made a day of instruction in 
divine subjects, of mediation concerning sal- 
vation and eternal life, and also of the exer- 
cise of love towards the neighbor, 301. See 
Commandments. In the highest sense, Sab- 
bath signifies peace, 308. 

Salvation, is from conjunction with the 
Lord by faith, 2, 369. See Faith. Jehovah, 
the Creator of the universe, descended and 
assumed the Humanity for the purpose of 
redeeming and saving mankind, 82 — 84, 188. 
It is a fixed and unchangeable law, that 
in proportion as a man draws nigh to the 
Lord, the Lord draws nigK to him, hence is 
salvation, 99. Those who are unacquainted 
with the Lord, if they believe in one God, 
and live agreeably to the precepts which 
their religion enjoins, are saved by virtue of 
such faith and life, 107, 729. The salvation 
of mankind ever was and ever will be the 
end which the Lord proposes, 142, 152. This 
is effected by Divine truth from Divine good, 
142. Since the Lord is salvation and eternal 
life, it follows that he is all by which they are 
obtained ; consequently he is the all of refor- 
mation, regeneration, renovation, vivifica- 
tion, sanctification, justification, purification 
from evils, and finally salvation, 150. He 
strives to introduce these virtues into every 
I man, and when the man accommodates and 
j prepares himself for their reception, he then 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


does introduce them, 150. Unless a new 
Heaven and a new church be established by 
the Lord no flesh can be saved, 182. See 
Redemption. Because so long as the dragon 
with his crew continues in the world of spirits 
into which he was cast, so long it is impossible 
for any Divine truth united with Divine good 
to pass through unto men on earth, but it is 
either perverted, or falsified, or destroyed, 
182. See Dragon . The Lord is the God 
of heaven and earth and without him there 
is no salvation, 267, 795. A faith which is 
merely natural, or which is deprived of its 
spiritual essence, has nothing in it of a saving 
nature, 339. The means of salvation are 
manifold, and yet they all and every one of 
them have relation to living well and believ- 
ing aright, consequently to charity and faith, 
340. God cannot do otherwise than save 
those who live according to his command- 
ments and have faith in Him, 341, 393. The 
two essentials of salvation are charity and 
faith, 357. Salvation and eternal life are 
the end, intention, and purpose of man as a 
temple of God, 374. Those who put recom- 
pense for works in the first place and salva- 
tion in the second, and thus respect the latter 
for the sake of the former, invert all order 
and immerse the interior desires of their 
minds in their own selfhood, 439. The Lord, 
charity, and faith are the three essentials of 
salvation, 450. Without the reciprocal con- 
junction of man with the Lord, and of the 
Lord with man there can be no reformation 
and regeneration, and, consequently no sal- 
vation, 485. Man’s salvation depends on 
actual repentance, 528. Ail are able to be 
regenerated and saved because the Lord with 
his Divine good and truth is present with 
every man, from which presence man derives 
the faculty of understanding and willing, to- 
gether with free-determination in spiritual 
concerns, 580. The salvation of mankind is 
a continuation of creation, 773. 

Satans, are those who have confirmed 
themselves in favor of nature to the denial 
of God, 35, 80. Consequently, they are 
those who are in falses and thence in evils, 
281. The whole host of satans cannot en- 
dure to hear an} T truth from the Word, or 
even the name Jesus to be pronounced, 380. 
See Devils. 

Sapphire, signifies spiritual good, 609. 

Scripture. The Holy Scriptures through- 
out teach that there is a God, and that He is 
One, 6. See Word. The light of Scripture 
is not perceived by those who do not in heart 
acknowledge one God, 7. It is the Word 
or the Divine truth itself, 189, 243. The 
whole Scripture throughout prophesied con- 
cerning the Lord and foretold His coming, i 
205. The law and the Scripture were ful- 1 

. 933 


filled, and all things were accomplished, by 
the Lord, 262. The Sacred Scripture, which 
was dictated by the Lord, is, in general and 
in particular, a marriage of good and truth, 
624. 

Seed, signifies truth ; a field, doctrine ; 
and a garden, wisdom, 350. In a seed there 
lies hid, as it were, an end, intention, and 
purpose of producing fruits, in which respect 
the seed corresponds with man’s will, 374. 
Spiritual seed is the truth of the church de- 
rived from the Word, 421. 

Self-Examination. The knowledge of sin 
is of no avail unless a man examine the 
actions of his life, 525, 530. Nor is this 
self-examination of any avail unless he ac- 
knowledge and confess his sins before the 
Lord, and pray for divine aid and thus begin 
a new life, 530. A man examines the inten- 
tions of his will at the time he examines his 
thoughts ; for the intentions manifest them 
selves in the thoughts, 532. When the in- 
tentions of the will are searched out, the 
man is elevated out of the natural will, which 
is possessed by hereditary and actual evils, 
into a spiritual will, by which the Lord re- 
forms and regenerates the natural, 533. 
There are two duties incumbent on man 
after examination — supplication, and confes- 
sion, 539. 

Selfhood. A man’s will is his selfhood, 
which is evil from his birth, and in conse- 
quence of this his understanding is full of 
falses, 273. A man, of himself, is not 
willing to understand any thing but what 
comes from the selfhood' of his will, where- 
fore unless there were some other source of 
knowledge he would not be desirous of under- 
standing any thing but what regarded himself 
and the world, 273. Whatever proceeds from 
the love of the internal will, is the delight of 
man’s life, and as the same is the esse of his 
life, it is also his selfhood, 493. The true 
reason that whatever is received from the 
freedom of the will remains, is, because it 
adds itself to the selfhood, 493. The evil 
selfhood of man, which he derives from his 
first birth, becomes good by a second birth, 
658. See Regeneration. Every man is his 
<twn love and his own intelligence, and what- 
ever proceeds from him takes its essence 
from these two essentials of his life, 778. 

Self-Love, is the very opposite of Divine 
love, and is indeed called love, but when 
considered in its true nature, is hatred, for 
it loves none out of or besides itself, and it 
desires to be conjoined with others, not for 
their benefit but only for its own, 45. See 
Love of ffexven. Those who study the Word 
from self-love with a view to acquire rank 
and distinction in the church, or from worldly 
love with a view to gain, do not possess genu- 


TRUE- CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


ine truth, but only what may be called truth 
falsified ; for when self and the world are the 
ends, the mind in reading the Word abides in 
self and in the world, 233. When a man’s 
chief and governing love is centred in himself 
or the world, then self or the world is his god, 
and he is in conjunction with his like in hell, 
293. When in right subordination, the love 
of heaven constitutes the head, the love of 
the world the breast and belly, and the love 
of self, the feet and soles of the feet, 395, 
403, 405, 507. Man is in the love of self 
when, in his thoughts and actions, he has no 
regard to his neighbor, thus none to the 
public, and still less to the Lord, but only to 
himself and his own connections, 400, 662. 
The love of self is of such a nature, that, 
when external restraints are removed it rages 
with such unlimited lust as to grasp at uni- 
versal dominion, not only over this world, 
but over heaven and over God Himself, it 
knows neither bound nor end, 400, 598, 
661, 822. See Dominion. The evils which 
prevail in those who are in the love of self, 
are, in general, contempt of others, envy, 
enmity against such as do not favor their 
designs, hostility on that account, hatred of 
various kinds, revenge, cunning, deceit, un- 
mercifulness, and cruelty ; and where these 
evils are cherished there is also a contempt 
of God and Divine things, 400 — 405. All 
who are enslaved by the love of ruling and 
the love of possessing wealth, regard them-! 
selves alone as the central point, in and for 
which all other things and persons were cre- 
ated, 498. Considered as to these loves, an 
evil man is more savage, fierce, and vile than 
any beast, 498. A man under the influence 
of self-love will regard himself as God, the 
world as heaven, and will pervert every 
truth of the church, 754. 

Senses. The sight of the eye is com- 
paratively gross, 12. Falses cohere with the 
fallacies of the senses, 186. See Teeth. 
There is a reciprocal conjunction between 
the sen es and their organs, 371. Sensual 
things are the objects of the bodily senses 
by which man has communication with the 
world, 402. There are sensual things which 
minister subordinately to the understanding, 
which are natural objects ; and there are sen- 
sual things which minister subordinately to 
the will, which are the delights of the senses 
and of the body, 402, 565. Where sensual 
things are in the last place, a way is opened 
by their means for the understanding, and 
truths are eliminated in the way of extrac- 
tion ; but where sensual things are put in the 
first place, that way is closed by them, and 
man sees truths only as objects in a mist, or 
in the night, 402, 565. The sensual prin- 
ciple is the last and lowest sphere of the life 

934 


of the human r.iind, adhering to, and co- 
hering with the bodily senses, 565. 

Series. The organization of the brain 
consists in the arrangement of the whole into 
series, as into fascicles or bundles, and the 
truths of faith have such an arrangement in 
the human mind, 351. The cortical sub- 
stance of the brain, which is glandular, is 
arranged into bunches or clusters, like grapes 
on a vine, which bunches and clusters are its 
series, 351. The medullary substance con- 
sists of perpetual confasciculations of small 
fibres proceeding from the little glands of the 
cortical substance, which confasciculations are 
its series, 351. All the viscera and organs 
of the body possess their properties from the 
correspondence which they bear with the 
series into which the organism of the mind 
is arranged, 351. There is not in all nature 
a single existence which is not in some series, 
.351. The universal cause of the series, is, 
that Divine truths have such a conformation, 
351. In a multiplied series cohering together 
in unity one particular strengthens and con- 
firms another, 352. 

Serpent, by the, in the garden of Eden is 
signified the devil as to the love of self and 
self intelligence, 48. See Tree of Knowledge 
of Good and Evil, Cocalrice. Serpents sig- 
nify the prudence and cunning of the sensual 
man, 205. 

Sheep, in the Word, signify charity, 200 

Silver, signifies spiritual good, 609. 

Similitude and Comparisons. The Lord 
spoke His words in the natural sense, 214. 
He spoke by similitudes and comparisons, 
which are at the same time correspondences, 
21-5. 

Sins. The remission of sins consists in 
purification effected by reformation and re- 
generation, 142, 611 — 614. The command- 
ments were promulgated in a miraculous 
manner as a token that they are Divine laws, 
and that to act contrary to them is to sin 
against God, 282. See Will and Under- 
standing, Adulteries, Chastity. The Lord for- 
gives every man his sins and never punishes 
them, he does not even impute them, for He 
is love itself and good itself ; but sins are not 
on this account wiped away ; that can only 
be effected by repentance, 409. The sin ol 
Adam consisted solely in his wishing to be- 
come as God, which inclination -was infused 
into him by the serpent, 498. See Serpent, 
Garden of Eden. In proportion as man 
pract ses repentance, his sins are removed, 
and ts they are removed, they are forgiven 
or remitted, 510, 611 — 614. See Repen- 
tance. Sins of ignorance, and sins which are 
not confirmed from a settled purpose, are 
not imputed, provided only particular evils 
are removed by repentance, 523. 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


bMBLLis.9, in the Word, signifies perception, 

169. 

bociETY, a, of angels, consisting of many 
thousands, appears as a single man, 65, 854, 
412, 608. See Attraction. A society is like 
a single man, and the individuals that com- 
pose it lorm as it were one body, and are 
distinguished one from another like the mem- 
bers in one body, 412. See Neighbor. Uses 
are the bonds of society, and these are as 
many in number as there are good uses, which 
are infinite, 746. 

Socinians AND Arians. Arius, and his ad- 
herents, denied the divinity of the Lord’s 
Humanity, 137, 632, 637, and thus violated 
the church, 174. The faith of Arius was 
merely natural, having an appearance of faith 
in its externals ; but with nothing in it of a 
saving nature, being destitute of any spiritual 
principle in its internals : such also is the 
Socinian faith, 339. Every one who appro- 
priates to himself those ideas concerning the 
Lord by which His divinity is denied joins 
himself in society with those Arians and 
Socinians, whose abode in the spiritual world 
is in hell, 380. 

Son of God, the, is Jehovah God in His 
Humanity, 92 — 94, 135. The confession of 
the truth that the Lord is the Son of God is 
the first requisite of a faith in Jesus Christ, 
consequently faith in its origin, 342, 379. 

Son of Man, the, is the Lord as to the 
Word, 92, 271. By the sign of the Son of 
Man in heaven is meant the appearance of 
Divine truth in the Word, 198. 

Son of- Mary, the, is the merely human 
principle assumed by the Lord, 92. From 
the common mode of speaking of the Lord, 
as the Son of Mary, several monstrous opin- 
ions have been propagated throughout the 
church, in which all notion of His Divinity 
is lost, and with it is lost all that is said in 
the Word concerning Him as the Son of God, 
94. That He was the Son of Mary is true, 
but that He is so still is not true, 98. He 
that believes the Lord is only the Son ot 
Mary implants in his mind various ideas 
which are destructive of salvation, 342. See 
Mary , Mother. 

Soul. The soul of man is not life, but the 
recipient of life, 25, 697. Every child receives 
its soul and life from its father, and the body 
is derived from the soul, 82, 92, 103. See 
Generation. The soul is the real man and is 
spiritual in its origin, hence therefore the 
image of the father continually endeavors to 
present itself in the dispositions of the off- 
spring from one generation to another, 103. 
See Body. The soul is the very essence of 
a man, and the body is its form, 111, 697. 
It is in the whole and in every part ot man, 
112. It acts in and upon the body, but 

935 


not by or through it, for the body acts ol 
itself from the soul, 154. It is a form of 
all tilings belonging to love and of all things 
belonging to wisdom, 697. These are the 
essentials of the human form, and hence are 
in the soul, and from the soul in the body, 
697. The soul is the real man because it 
is the inmost man, on which account 'it is a 
human form in all its fulness and perfection, 
697. 

Space and Time had their origin with the 
world from immensity and eternity, 27, 81. 
They were introduced into the world that 
things might be distinguished the one from 
the other, 29. See Spiritual World. They 
limit all things in general and in particular, 
and hence man is finite as to his soul as well 
as to his body: likewise angels and spirits, 
29. There is nothing of space and time in 
immensity and. eternity, 31. The spiritual 
world is not in space and time as the natural 
world is, but only in their appearances, 280. 
See Nature. 

Speech of Angels. See Language. 

Sphere, the, which emanates from the 
Divine love, pervades the universe, and 
affects every one according to his state: it 
extends even to animals and plants, and is 
also represented in various objects of the 
mineral kingdom, 44, 365. The sphere of the 
extension of good, which is infinite, fills the 
universe from its inmost centre and all and 
every thing therein, 56. See Divine. There 
is continually proceeding from the Lord a 
divine sphere of celestial love towards all 
who embrace the doctrines of His church 
and who like children obey Him, apply 
themselves to Him, and desire to be nour- 
ished, that is, to be instructed by Him, 308. 
From this celestial sphere originates a nat 
ural sphere, which is that of love towards 
infants and children, and which is most 
universal, 308. In the spiritual world there 
exhales from every one the sphere of his par- 
ticular love, which diffuses itself, and gives 
forth its influences all around, causing sym- 
pathies and antipathies; by means of such 
spheres the good are separated from the 
evil, 331, 569. See Attraction. The sphere 
exhaling from infernal spirits conjoins itself 
with the sensual principles of man from 
behind, 402, 564, 565. The spiritual sphere 
formed by the affections of the will and the 
thoughts of the understanding thence de- 
rived, in this world is absorbed by the mate- 
rial body, and incloses itself in the natural 
sphere which proceeds from man in his pres- 
ent state, 410. Every metal or stone, whether 
precious or common, freely imbibes the ether, 
and breathes forth its native essence ; hence 
there is a magnetic sphere about the magnet, 
a ferreous sphere about iron, <fcc., 499. There 


TKUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


are also various spheres exhaling from the i 
very dust of the earth, by which the inmost 
parts of every seed are impregnated, and its 
prolific principle caused to vegetate, 499, 
785. If the sphere of life, which exhales j 
from the native disposition of every one, 
could be perceived by sensation (in this 
World), the hereditary similitude of disposi- 
tions and minds would be as evident as that 
of the countenance and body, 521. When 
the material body is put off, the delights of 
love and the pleasures of thought are ren- 
dered fully sensible and perceptible, and 
sometimes affect the senses like sweet odors, 
669. The nature of the spheres from the 
Christian part of the spiritual world affords 
sensible evidence of the gross darkness which 
prevails concerning the Lord, the truths of 
regeneration, and the conjunction of faith 
and charity, 619. There actually exists a 
sphere, elevating all towards heaven, which 
proceeds continually from the Lord, and fills 
the whole spiritual and natural worlds : 
those who believe in the Lord and keep His 
commandments enter into that sphere ; but 
those who do not, remove themselves to the 
sides, and are carried away by the 6tream 
which leads to hell, 652. 

Spirits. The spirits of persons who were 
still living on earth were frequently seen by 
the author, in the spiritual societies, to 
which they belonged, 15. Spirits are asso- 
ciated with men like to them in the natural 
world, 137. See Angels. A man on his first 
entrance into the world of spirits is led 
about and translated into various societies, 
both good and bad, thus he is examined 
whether he is affected with goods and truths 
or with evils and falses, 281. If the former, 
he is withdrawn from evil, and finally ele- 
vated to heaven ; but if the latter, he is with- 
drawn from the good and at last betakes 
himself to the societies of infernals, 281. In 
the spiritual Avorld, no man retains that name 
which he received at his baptism and derived 
from his father and progenitors, but every 
one is named according to his characteristic 
quality, 300. Every man is attended by an 
associate spirit, either good or evil according 
to his faith and life, without which he would 
be incapable of thinking, 380, 454. The mind 
of man is his spirit which lives after death, 
and his spirit is continually in consort with 
its like in the world of spirits, while by means 
of the natural body with which it is clothed, 
it is in consort with men in the natural world, 
175. The reason man is not conscious that 
his mind is in the midst of spirits, is tln\t 
those with whom he is in consort think and 
speak spiritually, whereas his spirit during 
its residence in a material body, thinks and 
speaks naturally, 475, 607. See Language. 

936 


The spirit or internal man, after the death ol 
the body, thinks that which it wills, and 
wills that which it loves, and this is the 
delight of its life, 568. Men lately deceased 
are called novitiate spirits, 570. The life of a 
spirit is the affection of love and the thought 
thence proceeding, 622. Every spirit fanciee 
himself to be actually such a person as the 
garment he has on represents him to be, be- 
cause, in the spiritual world, the understand- 
ing clothes every one, 663. 

Spiritual Sense of the Word. See Word. 
The spiritual sense is contained in the Word 
as the soul in the body, or as precious 
jewels in a casket, 191 — 194. The existence 
of the spiritual sense and in what it consists, 
has hitherto remained unknown, 193, 201. 
It cannot possibly be known but from the 
science of correspondences, 19'6. The qual- 
ity of the Word in that sense is known only 
to the Lord and those to whom He reveals 
it, 196. It is owing to the spiritual sense 
that the Word is divinely inspired, and 
holy in every syllable, 200, 846. It has 
pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual 
sense, lest from doubts concerning its holi- 
ness it should be rejected as a common 
trivial writing, and thereby the Lord’s con 
junction with man should be cut off, 200, 271 
The science of correspondences is the key to 
the spiritual sense of the Word, 206, 207, 702. 
See Correspondence. Hereafter the spiritual 
sense of the Word will be made known only 
to those who are in genuine truths from the 
Lord, 208, 230. If, therefore, any one wishes 
to open that sense by virtue of his own 
power, and not of the Lord’s, heaven is 
closed against him, in which case he either 
loses sight of all truth or falls into spiritual 
i.vsanity, 208. The naked truths themselves, 
which, in the literal sense of the Word, are 
included, contained, attired, and compre- 
hended, are in the spiritual sense of the 
Word, and the naked goods in its celestial 
sense, 215. The Lord guards the spiritual 
sense of the Word as He does the angelic 
heaven, which indeed is included in it, 230. 
The spiritual and celestial senses of the Word 
are evolved or unfolded from the literal sense 
while it is read by a person who accounts the 
Word holy, 234 — 238. The particulars of 
the spiritual sense appear only to those who 
love truths for the sake of truths, and do 
good for the sake of good, 244. In the spir- 
itual sense Divine truth is in its light, and 
in the celestial sense Divine good is in its 
heat, 289. See Word. Without a knowl- 
edge of the spiritual sense of the Word no 
one can know what the two sacraments, bap- 
tism and the holy supper, involve and effect, 
667 — 669, 698. See Baptism , Holy Supptr. 
The spiritual sense is at this day discovered foi 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


•he New Church on account of its use in the 
worship of the Lord, 669. It was not dis- 
covered at an earlier period, because hitherto 
Christianity existed only in name, and at 
best only as a kind of shadow in certain in- 
dividuals, 700. The spiritual sense of the 
\\ ord is signified by the power and glory in 
which the Lord, should come, 776, 777. In 
that sense the Lord is continually present, 
780. It is the medium of conjunction be- 
tween mankind and the Lord, and also of 
consociation with angels, and in it the holi- 
ness of the Word resides, 846. 

Spiritual World, the Divine Being 
through the, operates all things in nature, 

12. In that world men appear, at a distance, 
in the shape of such beasts as they have ac- 
tually made themselves like in disposition, 

13. See Language. In that world there is 
a sun, which is pure love, from Jehovah God, 
who is in its centre, 24. See Sun of Heaven. 
Out of this sun He not only produced the 
spiritual world and all its spiritual contents, 
which are innumerable and substantial, but 
also the natural world with all its natural 
contents, which are likewise innumerable but 
material, 24. In the spiritual world there are 
no material spaces, nor corresponding times, 
29. Spaces and times there have a conformity 
to the affections and thoughts of its inhabit- 
ants, 29, 185. See Appearances. The sun 
there appears stationary in the east in a mid- 
dle altitude between the zenith and the hori- 
zon, 29. See Sun of Heaven. In one extrem- 
ity there appear two statues in a monstrous 
human form, the result of certain phantasies, 
31. There is no space there, but only an ap- 
pearance of space, 64, 475. See Correspond- 
ence. In the spiritual world the power of 
truth is particularly conspicuous, 87. See 
Power. Such is the connection between the 
spiritual world and the natural that the one 
cannot subsist without the other, 118. At 
the Lord’s first advent the spiritual world 
was crowded with idolaters, magicians, and 
falsifiers of the Word: but at the second 
advent with Christians so called, both such 
as are immersed in naturalism and such as 
have falsified the Word by their fabulous 
faith concerning three Divine persons from 
eternity, and concerning the Lord’s passion 
as constituting the whole of redemption, 121. 
In the spiritual world all are suffered for 
some time to remain in their externals, but 
are finally let into their internals, 148, 160. 
In the spiritual world there are climates and 
zones as in the natural world, there being 
nothing in the latter world which does not 
also exist in the former, although the origin 
of their existence is different, 185. In the 
spiritual world there are precious stones just 
as in the natural world, and they derive their 

937 


spiritual origin from the truths which are in 
the literal sense of the Word, 209, 217, 
794. Food in the spiritual world is like the 
various kinds of food in our world, but from 
a spiritual origin ; and is given from heaven 
by the Lord to every one, according to the 
uses which lie performs, 281, 735. All there, 
appear, at a distance, according to corre- 
spondences, 388. The spiritual world in- 
cludes both heaven and hell, between which 
there is an interstice or great gulf, in the 
midst of which man is while in the world, 
454, 455. All such as excel in wisdom are 
translated to the south in the spiritual world, 
461. Gardens and paradises appear where 
dwell the angels who excel in intelligence and 
wisdom, 467, 794. Animals seen in the spir- 
itual world are correspondences of the affec- 
tions and of the thoughts flowing from thence 
of those who are on the spot, 606. There 
are places of instruction in the spiritual 
world, to which all who die in their infancy 
are sent, where they are educated for heaven, 
and in like manner all on their first arrival 
from the natural world who have a desire to 
be informed respecting heaven and hell, 661. 
All things there are substantial, and thus are 
in all fulness : hence it is that all things con- 
tained in the natural world are contained 
there also in perfection, 694, 794. There are 
clouds in the spiritual world just as in the 
natural world, but from another origin ; over 
the angelic heavens they are bright, but over 
the hells hang dusky clouds, 776. The quar- 
ters in the spiritual world are not like the 
quarters in the natural world, and an allot- 
ment of habitations according to such quar- 
ters is according to the reception of faith and 
love; those who excel in love are in the east, 
and those who excel in intelligence are in the 
south, 800. See World of Spirits. 

Stars, represent knowledges of truth and 
good, 198. 

State, has relation to love, to life, to wis- 
dom, to the affections, to joys, and, in general, 
to good and truth, 30. 

Substance. God Himself is the verimost 
substance and form, 20, 28, 37, 53, 76. 
Substance without form is nothing, 20, 21, 
53, 367. See Atmosphere. Substantial ex- 
istences are the primitives whence material 
existences are derived, 79, 280, 694. The 
inhabitants of the spiritual world are sub- 
stantial beings and not material, 280. Mat- 
ter is but a gathering together of substances, 
280. Unless spiritual substances were pres- 
ent within material forms, it would be im- 
possible for any seed to be impregnated from 
its inmost parts, and thus to germinate, 
neither could any insects be procreated out 
of the effluvia arising from the earth, or 
from the exhalations of vegetables with 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


which the atmospheres are impregnated, 
470 . 

Sun, tiie Natural, is pure fire derived 
from the sun of heaven, ■which is Divine 
love, 35, 41. See Sun of Heaven. Pleat 
and light proceeding from the sun are the 
two essentials and universals by which all 
things upon earth exist and subsist, 87, 308. 
Whatever exists by means of the natural sun 
i : s material, 75. For the purpose of opera- 
ting on the inanimate parts of creation, as He 
operates on the spiritual parts, the Lord 
formed the sun, 308. The sun is like a 
common father and the earth like a general 
mother, from whose marriage union all the 
vegetables which adorn the face of the globe 
are brought forth into being, 308. The heat 
and light of the natural sun have in them- 
selves nothing of life, but serve the heat and 
light of the spiritual sun as receptacles, just 
as instrumental causes serve their principals, 
360. It flows with all its essence into every 
tree, fruit, flower, or other object, and each 
one draws what it requires from the common 
influx, 364. The sun of this world consists 
of created substances, the activity of which 
produces fire, 472. If the sun with its heat 
and light were to be removed, the universe 
would become a chaos, 472. 

Sun of Heaven, the, is the proximate 
sphere of Divine love and wisdom proceeding 
from the Lord, 25, 35, 365, 641. See Spir- 
itual World. God first bounded His in- 
finity by the substances emitted from Him- 
self, whence exists the proximate sphere of 
His glory which constitutes the sun of the 
spiritual world, 83. Afterwards by the in- 
strumentality of that sun He perfected other 
ambient spheres, even to the last, 33, 76. 
See Sun, the Natural. The sun of heaven 
is the centre of life, 35. See Expanse. 
From this sun proceeds heat, which in its 
essence is love ; and light, which in its essence ' 
is wisdom, which enter by influx into every 
created subject, 39, 63, *75, 360, 641, 66i. 
It illuminates the understandings of all angels 
and all men, 59, 774, 846. All things which 
roceed from it have some resemblance to the 
uman form, 66. Whatever exists in the 
spiritual world by means of its 6un is sub- 
stantial, 75. There is one God, who is a 
man, and whose habitation is in that sun, 
135, 865, 366. The heat and light of the 
spiritual sun have life in themselves, 360. 
These enter by a common influx into every 
form, each recipient taking what it needs, 
364, 641, 661. See Heat and Light. This 
sun is distant from the angels as the sun of 
the natural world is from men, in order to 
prevent its touching them with its immediate 
rays, for in such case they would be con- 
sumed, 641, 691 

938 


Sword. By the flaming sword which 
turned every way is represented Divine truth 
in ultimates, like the Word in its literal 
sense, 260. 

Tabernacle, the, which Moses built in 
the wilderness represented heaven and the 
church, therefore the pattern of it was shown 
to Moses by Jehovah on Mount Sinai, 220. 
Its holiness was derived from the law which 
was in the ark, 283. 

Teeth. The collision or jarring of falses 
one against another, and also of the false 
against truth, is signified in the Word by the 
gnashing of teeth, 402. Reasonings from the 
fallacies of the senses correspond with the 
teeth, 402. 

Temple, the, at Jerusalem, in its highest 
sense signified the Divine Humanity of the 
Lord, 221. 

Temptation. The Lord suffered His Hu- 
manity to be assaulted by temptations, in 
order that it might be glorified, and that He 
might subjugate the hells and reduce them 
to order, 2, 126. See Cross. During tempta 
tion, man, to all appearance, is left to him- 
self, but in reality God is then most present 
with him, 126. From the disagreement be 
tween the evil will into which man is born, 
and the new will consequent on reformation, 
a combat arises which* is called spiritual 
temptation, 596. This temptation or com- 
bat is not between goods and evils, but be- 
tween the truths of good and the falses of 
evil, for goods or evils of themselves cannot 
fight, 596. Man ought to fight in tempta- 
tions as of himself, since he enjoys freedom 
of determination to act either in favor of the 
Lord by abiding in truths from good, or in 
favor of hell by abiding in falses from evil, 
596. No person has been admitted into any 
spiritual temptation since the introduction of 
the faith of three gods; for had he been ad- 
mitted, man would instantly have fallen un- 
der it, 597. After man has passed through 
temptations, he is conjoined with heaven, 
598. The regeneration of the internal with- 
out the external avails nothing, 600. See 
Conscience. 

Thought. An idea of spiritual thought 
derives its all from state, and nothing what- 
ever from space, for it is superior to it, and 
looks down upon the ideas of space as heaven 
looks down upon earth, 30. On account 
of their supe. eminence, spiritual ideas or 
thoughts, in respect to natural, are ideas of 
ideas, thoughts of thoughts, and thus express 
qualities of qualities, and affections of affec- 
tions ; consequently spiritual thoughts are the 
beginnings and origins of natural thoughts, 
280. To think spiritually is to think ab 
stractedly from space and time, and to think 
naturally is to think in conjunction with 


LNDKX TO THE VVOKK. 


spa/*.' ard vioie, 280. See Idea, Percep- 
tion, I'ismciy. Those who never think 
affirmatively, Lui only skeptically, cannot 
posuib.y form any ration*! conceptions of 
any subject, 335. Thought increases from 
u state of nothingness by instruction, there- 
fore men have ideas, not connate, but ac- 
quired and formed, 335. See Infants. 
Thought is so much and in such sort the 
man, in proportion to tho quantity and qual- 
ity of will joined to it, 347. See Love. 
It is in consequence of his communication 
with spirits that a man enjoys the faculty of 
perception, and the power of thinking ana- 
lytically on all subjects: if this communica- 
tion -were removed, he would be incapable of 
any more, or other kind of thought than a 
beast: and if it were intercepted entirely, he 
would instantly die, 475. There cannot be 
the least excitement of thought in the under- 
standing, but in consequence of the influent 
delight of the will, 670. He who thinks 
about God only from the consideration of 
person, and not from that of essence, thinks 
materially; likewise he who thinks of his 
neighbor only from his external form, and 
not from a regard to his quality ; and he who 
thinks of heaven only from the consideration 
of place, and not from that of love and wis- 
dom, 623. Thought is a kind of purifying 
alembic or excretory gland, in which here- 
ditary evils and their defilements are sepa- 
rated ; if, therefore, the evils which enter a 
man’s thought were to be imputed to him, 
reformation and regeneration would be im- 
practicable, 659. Man has two states of 
thought, external and internal ; these two 
form one with the good, but not with the 
wicked, 806. 

Time. See Space and Time. Time, in 
the spiritual world, is not distinguished into 
days, weeks, <fcc., because the sun there 
never appears to rise and set, nor to have 
any progressive motion, 29. 

Trade. The love of trade is spiritual, on 
account of its use, for it administers to the 
general good ; but where money is the final 
love, and trade the mediate subservient love, 
then that love is merely natural, 801. 

Tree, a, in respect to its seed corresponds 
to the will ; in respect to its branches, buds, 
and leaves, to the understanding; in respect 
to its fruits, to goad works, 374. A tree in 
general signifies man, 468. See Vegetable 
Kingdom. 

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, 
the, signifies man believing that he lives 
from himself, 48, 520. Those who speak 
falses from deceit, and utter them in a tone 
of voice which seems to proceed from spir- 
itual affection, particularly if they mix them 
with truths taken from the Word, are called 

939 


serpents of the treo of knowledge of good 
and evil, 324. Those also who reason from 
sensual things only, against the genuine 
truths of the Word, and thence of tho 
church, 402, 565. Man, not in the Lord, 
but in his selfhood, 466. To eat of this tree 
signifies the appropriation of evil, 466. The 
belief that intelligence and wisdom were 
from man, 663. 

Tree of Life, the, signifies man, and its 
fruit the good of life, 48. The way of the 
tree of life, signifies admission to the Lord, 
which men have by means of the truths con- 
tained in the spiritual sense of the Word, 
260, 520. The tree of life signifies the Lord 
in man, and man in the Lord, 466. Thus in- 
telligence and wisdom from God, 663. 

Trinity, the Divine, is in the Lord God 
the Saviour Jesus Christ, 3, 139, 170, 623, 
751. The confession of a trinity of persons 
is destructive of all rational thought con- 
cerning God, 4, 23, 110, 141, 173. Those 
who, in heart, acknowledge three gods, do 
not perceive the light contained in the in- 
most of the Word, 7. No one can abide in 
heaven with the idea of a trinity of persons, 

15. The tri-personal doctrine of God, which 
supposes the three to form a council oi 
government, is sensual and material, 15 

16, 136. A trinity of persons necessarily 
involves the idea of three gods, 17, 168, 
170, 171, 173, 184. The Divine Trinity 
is in the Lord: the Father in him is the 
all originating Divinity, the Son, the Di- 
vine Human, and the Holy Spirit, the Di- 
vine Proceeding, 92. Henceforth no one 
in the Christian world who believes in a 
trinity of persons can enter heaven, 108. 
The idea of a trinity of persons in the God- 
head occasions a distraction in men’s minds, 
133. The three essentials, called Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, in the Lord, are one, 
139, 166. The Divine Trinity of Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, can only be under- 
stood aright by looking to the Lord God the 
Saviour, and reading the Word under his 
influence, 165. The Divine Trinity is sim- 
ilar to that of soul, body, and operation in 
man, 166 — 168, 172. At this day, with 
respect to the Divine Trinity, human reason 
is bound, like a man handcuffed and fettered 
in prison, and may be compared 1o a vestal 
virgin buried alive for letting out the sacred 
fire; when nevertheless the Divine Trinity 
ought to shine like a lamp in the mind of 
every member of the church, since God in 
His trinity and in His unity is the all in all 
of the sanctities of heaven and the church, 
169. Before the creation of the world, the 
trinity did not exist, but it was provided and 
made when Gcd became incarnate, and then 
centred in the Lord God, the Redeemer and 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


Saviour, Jesus Christ, 170. The idea of a 
trinity of divine persons from eternity, 
being a trinity of gods cannot be expelled 
by the oral confession of one God, 172, 173. 
It leads to the denial of God, and conse- 
quently is the true source and origin of the 
naturalism which so much prevails at this 
day, 173. See Apostolic Church. It has 
extinguished the light of the Word, and re- 
moved the Lord from His church, and thus 
plunged its morning into midnight darkness, 
177. Thence also is that abomination of 
desolation and affliction spoken of by Daniel 
and the Evangelists, and predicted in the 
Apocalypse, 179 — 181. Such notions are 
the delusions of a mind in a state of deli- 
rium concerning God, and if they should be 
raised from the memory into the higher 
region of the understanding, would occasion 
madness, 183. The Divine Trinity never- 
theless is like a pearl of the highest price, 
184. Those who confirm themselves in the 
belief of three divine persons actually exist- 
ing from eternity, become more and more 
natural and corporeal, in which case they 
have no capacity inwardly to comprehend 
any divine truth, 296. 

Truth. See Word. Jehovah God de- 
scended as the Divine Truth, which is the 
Word, 85, 86. See Redemption. Truths 
applied to the confirmation of false doctrine 
become falses, 162. There is not a single 
saving truth but what derives its quality 
from the bosom of goodness, 163. It is 
generally supposed that truth is nothing 
more than a word spoken by some person in 
authority, which on that account ought to 
be attended to and obeyed ; whereas truth 
and good ar£ the constituent principles of all 
things, both in the spiritual and natural 
worlds, and are the essences by which the 
universe was created and is preserved, 224. 
When the church, or any member of it, is 
principled in truths, then the Lord flows in 
by good into those truths, and communicates 
life to them, 249. When a man learns 
truths from the Word, he enters into com- 
munion and consociation with angels, 347. 
All the Lord’s words are truths, 347, 349. 
Truths form the essentials of faith, 347. 
Every one, if he is so disposed, may collect 
truths from the Word, and the Lord enters 
by influx into every man, and in whomso- 
ever He finds such truths collected, He en- 
lightens those truths so that they become 
constituents of faith, 349. Divine truth has 
the capacity inherent in it of being multiplied 
to infinity, 350. Those who look to the 
Lord and worship Him alone, are in a capa- 
city of knowing all truths, 354. Truth in 
heaven is lucent, and is faith in its essence, 
353. Truth without good is not truth in 

940 


spirit, and good without truth is not good in 
spirit, thus one forms and constitutes the 
other, 460. See Faith. Light is emitted by 
truths, because the sun from which it flows is 
the Lord in the spiritual world, 620. Those 
whose minds are eminently enlightened with 
the truths of faith, and who enjoy a clearer 
perception, may have a more perfect con- 
science than others, 666. See Wisdom. 

Tyre and Zidon, signify the knowledge of 
goodness and truth, 200, 219, 260, 467. The 
king of Tyre, the Word in its ultimates where 
those knowledges are, 260. 

Ulcers or Sores, signify interior evils and 
falses destructive of good and truth in the 
church, 635. 

Understanding, the, receives faith by a 
prior way, and knowledges by a posterior 
way, and in the midway where these influ- 
ences meet, natural faith is made spiritual ; 
thus the human understanding is, as it were, 
the refining vessel in which this change is 
wrought, 11. See Will and Understanding. 

Union. See Conjunction. 

Unity. See God. Unless the unity of 
God were acknowledged in heaven and the 
church, they would become inanimate, 10. 
The unity of God is evident from the uni- 
formity and coherence of the created uni- 
verse, 13. It is most intimately inscribed on 
the minds of men, and is the centre of all 
influxes from God into the human soul, 28. 
The true faith is broken in pieces by a divis- 
ion of the unity of God, 379. 

Universal. Singulars considered col- 
lectively are termed a universal, as particu 
lars considered collectively are termed a 
whole, 60. See Particulars. Whoever is 
acquainted with universals may afterwards 
comprehend singulars, 661. The universals 
of hell are these three loves: 1st. love of rule, 
originating in the love of self ; 2nd. love of 
possessing the property of others, originating 
in the love of the world; 3d. scortatory love, 
661. The opposite universals of heaven are, 
1st. love of rule, originating in the love 
of uses: 2nd. love of possessing worldly 
emoluments, originating in the love of per- 
forming uses by them ; 3d. true conjugial 
love, 661. All things in general and partic- 
ular depend for their consistence on univer- 
sals of order, and these again on one which 
is most universal: thus all on God, 679, 
714, 775. It is necessary that the singulars 
should, in a certain image re-present their 
universals, 714. It is this relation which is 
the cause of the conservation of all things in 
the universe, 714. 

Universe, the, is as a theatre on which 
the evidences of the existence of a God and 
His unity are continually exhibited, 12. It 
could not be created or preserved unless God 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


were One, 18. It is the workmanship of 
God, and the habitation of His love and 
wisdom, 13. See Creation. The universe 
consists of perpetual uses produced by wis- 
dom and originated by love ; it is therefore a 
consistent and coherent work from first to 
last, 47, 67. God from Himself introduced 
order into the universe, 53. All things in 
the universe are conjoined, according to the 
laws of order in which they were respectively 
created, and thus make" one, 54. It was 
created by God for the existence of uses, 
and hence it may be called a theatre of uses, 
67. The universe, which includes both the 
spiritual and the natural world, was created 
from the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom, 
76. All the laws of order by which it is 
preserved are truths, 87. It was created by 
Divine Truth, 224. All things in the uni- 
verse which are in Divine order, have rela- 
tion to good and truth, 397, 398. 

Ukim and Thummim, signify the brilliancy 
of Divine Truth derived from Divine Good 
in its ultimates, for urim signifies a shining 
fire, and thummim, brilliancy, in the angelic 
tongue, and integrity in the Hebrew tongue, 
218 . 

Use. There is not a single thing existing 
in the world but that contains some use, 
more or less remote, for the service of man, 
since Infinite wisdom cannot produce any 
thing but uses, 13. See Universe. By use, 
love and wisdom acquire a real existence, 
67, 387. Those, in the spiritual world, who 
have confirmed themselves in falses of faith, 
cannot perform works of real utility, but 
onty such as are mischievous and evil, 281. 
Man is directed and determined to the per- 
formance of uses according to the doctrines 
which he has imbibed as means, 374. See 
Love of Heaven. When man, from a prin- 
ciple of spiritual love, desires to perform 
uses, the natural man produces them by the 
wealth and other goods of fortune which it 
possesses, and the sensual man lends assist- 
ance in its office or employment, and finds 
its honor in such production, 403. See 
Wealth. To perform uses is to do good, and 
according to the quantity and quality of 
use in the good which is done, is the quan- 
tity and quality of the good itself, 419. 
Goodness and use are one, 646. Heaven is 
a continent of use from first to last, for use 
is the love of the neighbour brought into 
act, 661, 694, 736. The evil perform uses 
for the sake of themselves, but the good 
perform them for the sake of uses, and 
under the influence of the love of them, 661. 
The delight attending the^ exercise of use, 
bears the angeH along as a favorable current 
does a ship, causing them to be in eternal 
peace and its rest, 694. Every angel is an 

941 


angel in proportion to his use 694. The 
love of use, and the consequent application 
of it, keep together the powers of the mind, 
secure it from wandering about at random, 
and imbibing the lusts of the senses, 744. 
There are spiritual uses, such as belong to 
love towards God and our neighbor; moral 
and civil uses, such as belong to the love of 
the society and state in which a man lives; 
natural uses, which belong to the love of the 
world and its necessities ; and corporeal uses, 
such as belong to the love of self-preserva 
tion, 746. 

Yastation. See Consummation of the Age. 

Vegetable Kingdom. • The growth of 
seeds is a proof of the wisdom of God, who 
is the sole operator by and through nature, 
12. The essence of every vegetable is innate 
in its fruit or seed, 145. See Substance. 
In trees and all other subjects of the vege- 
table kingdom, there are not two sexes as 
is generally supposed, but each is a male, 
the earth alone being their common mother, 
and thus as it were a female, 585. The 
root answers to the heart ; the leaves are 
in the place of lungs ; the flowers which 
precede the fruit are the means of purify 
ing the juice (which answers to the blood) ; 
and the fruit may be compared to the tes 
tes, in which the seeds are perfected, 585. 
The vegetative soul which reigns intimately 
in the inmost of every particle of the juice, 
or in its prolific essence, is derived purely 
from the heat of the spiritual world, and 
hence has a perpetual tendency to genera- 
tion : this prolific essence is drawn forth 
and diffused by the subtile effluvium which 
exhales from every grain of mould, 585. See 
Sphere. 

Vine signifies spiritual good and truth of 
the church, 200, 609. 

Virgins signify the affections of truth, 
205, 277. The wise and the foolish virgins 
in the parable signify the regenerate and the 
unregenerate, 606. Virgins also signify the 
affections of sciences, 694. In general, the 
church, 748. 

Virtue. The Divine virtue and opera 
tion is understood by the Holy Spirit, 
146. 

Vital Heat. The heat of the blood, or 
the vital heat, both of man and animals, is 
the heat of love, to which natural heat cor 
responds, 35, 496. 

War. When a person resists the assaults 
of an enemy, and at the same time retains 
such a disposition of mind as to be willing to 
become his friend, he acts from a principle 
of charity ; so also wars which have for 
their end the protection of our country and 
the church, are not inconsistent with char- 
ity ; the end for which they are undertaken 


I 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


shews whether they are attended with chari- 
ty or not, 407. 

Water, signifies truth in the natural or 
external man, 144, 572. By living water 
is signified the truth of the Word, 190. 
Drinking water from a fountain means to be 
instructed in truths, 493. 

Wealth. No man of sound reason can 
condemn riches or wealth, because in the 
body politic they are like blood in the animal 
body ; nor can he condemn the honors an- 
nexed to particular stations and functions, 
provided the natural and sensual loves of 
those who enjoy them are in subordination 
to spiritual love, 403. 

Widows, signify those who are without 
truths, and yet desire them, 427. 

Will and Understanding. The will is 
the recipient and habitation of love, and the 
understanding of wisdom, 37, 224, 263, 
362, 397, 658, 712, 778. See Mind, Hu- 
man. During the state of reformation, the] 
understanding is first and the will second, 
but in the state of regeneration the will is 
first and the understanding second, 105. 
See Internal and External. It is the part 
of the understanding to think, and of the 
will to do and practice, 151, 273. The love of 
the will has its residence in the cerebellum, 
and the thought of the understanding in the 
cerebrum, 160. All things in man have re- 
lation to the understanding and the will, 
224, 397, 658. The will and understanding 
are united, when a man forms his under- 
standing of genuine truths, which is done to 
all appearance as of himself, and when his 
will is replenished with the good of love, 
which is effected by the Lord, 249. The 
will is the real man, 255, 347, 507, 658 — 
660. The understanding only teaches and 
shews, what, from the will, is to be done, 
273, 658, 659. The will of man is his self- 
hood, and this is evil from birth, and thence 
falses are in his understanding, 273, 593, 
612, 658, 659. The regenerate man has a 
new will and a new understanding, 302, 601 
— 606, 659. When lust is in the will it ac- 
quires the nature of an act, for the under- 
standing is only respective of the allurements 
of sin, but the will is receptive of the inten- 
tion, 313, 658. The state of the will is 
formed to receive the influx of love and char- 
ity, and the understanding to receive the 
influx of wisdom and faith, thus to receive 
God, 366, 377. The understanding is no- 
thing without the will, and the will is soon 
reduced to nothing without the understand- 
ing, 367, 377. There is an infinite diver- 
sity between the good-will of different per- 
sons, arising from the end. intention, and 
consequent purpose by which each is influ- 
enced, and which lie concealed in the will of 

942 


doing good, and stamp on each person's will 
a peculiar quality, 374. The will seeks out 
in the understanding the means and methods 
of attaining its ends, and thus in the under- 
standing it betakes itself to the light, 374, 
395, 493, 658. Production and fruitfulness 
are effected by both together, 377. The 
will and understanding, when united, are 
called the mind ; there is also a marriage 
between them like that between good and 
truth, 397. The will is the esse of man’s 
life, and the understanding the existere 
thence derived, 397, 658. These two facul- 
ties constitute the spirit of man, for his wis- 
dom and intelligence, his love and charity, 
and likewise his life in general, reside therein, 
397. Whatever man does from liberty of 
will, according to conviction of the under- 
standing, remains with him, 461 : see also 
493—496. The human will is twofold, in- 
terior and exterior, that is, of the internal 
and external man, 493. The interior will is 
the man himself, since it is there that both 
the esse and the essence of his life reside, 
493. Freedom of determination resides in 
the will and understanding, 497. The will 
easily draws over the understanding, and 
makes a slave of it, 507. The understand- 
ing in every one is capable of being elevated 
according to the knowledges he possesses, 
but the will can only be elevated by a life in 
conformity to the truths of the church and 
of reason, 507, 589, 602. The intentions 
of the will ought to be explored by self- 
examination, because the love resides in the 
will, 533. See Self-examination. Since the 
will of man is by birth evil, and since the 
understanding teaches what is good, it fol- 
lows that he must be reformed by means of 
the understanding, 587. Unless the will be 
restrained by the understanding, a man left 
to its free guidance would rush headlong into 
all wickedness, 588. Unless the understand- 
ing could be perfected separately from the 
will, and the will perfected by its means, a 
man would not be a man but a beast, 588. 
The will by means of its delight or satisfac- 
tion enters into the understanding, and pro- 
duces consent, 658. The will is the essential, 
and thought the formal, hence the former 
and not the latter is the subject of imputa- 
tion, 660. See Imputation. 

Wine signifies the same as blood, namely, 
spiritual truth, 708. The juice of the vine 
which should be drank new in the kingdom of 
heaven, signifies the truth of the new heaven 
and the new church, 708. See Holy Supper. 

Wisdom. Infinite wisdom is the source 
of all intelligence, 12. It is an essential 
attribute of God, and one with His Divine 
Love, 37, 39, 41. Wisdom is the complex 
of all truths, 38. Light, life, and wisdom 


INDEX TO THE WORK. 


are one, and are not creatable, 40. See Form. 
The continual endeavor of the Divine Wis- 
dom is to effect the purposes of Divine Love, 
43. The angels enjoy a brightness of light 
in proportion as they ^are perfected in wis- 
dom, and hence wisdom is signified by light 
in the Word, 59. Man, from the Divine 
Omniscience, has wisdom concerning good 
and truth, 68. In proportion as the human 
mind is elevated to the higher degrees, it is 
exalted to wisdom, because it has a propor- 
tionable admission into the light of heaven, 
69, 565. It is produced also by a true faith, 
177. The wisdom of the angels of the celes- 
tial heaven exceeds the wisdom of the spir- 
itual angels, as much as that of the latter 
exceeds the wisdom of men, 242, 280. Spir- 
itual wisdom is wisdom of wisdom, and thus 
inexpressible to any wise man in the natural 
world, 280. The angels derive all their wis- 
dom, which increases in them to eternity, 
from the Word; and in proportion as they 
grow wiser, they see clearly that no limits can 
be set to wisdom, and that they themselves 
are but in its outer court, 290, 350. Wisdom 
is derived solely from divine truths analiti- 
cally arranged into forms by the influx of 
light from the Lord, 350. Genuine wisdom 
consists in a man’s seeing by the light of 
heaven that the knowledge, intelligence, and 
wisdom which he has, is so little in com- 
parison with what he has not, that it is but 
like a drop of water compared with the whole 
body of the ocean, 387. Man makes small 
advance in wisdom unless his thinking fac- 
ulty be elevated above things sensual, 402, 
565. No one is wise in spirit but from the 
Lord, in proportion as he is born again and 
created anew by Him, 607, 718. Perpetual 
fructification of good and thence of love, 
also a perpetual multiplication of truth and 
thence of wisdom, are granted to angels and 
men, 718. Man at his creation was endued 
with wisdom and the love of it, not for the 
sake of himself, but for the sake of its com- 
munication with others from himself, 746. 

Word, the, in its inmost is God, 6. In 
its literal sense it is as a mirror, in which 
men see God, every one according to his own 
state, for God Himself as He exists in the 
inmost cannot be seen by any creature, 6. 
The Word is the crown of revelation, 11. 
The Word is pure Divine truth, having been 
dictated by Jehovah Himself, 85, 189, 190. 
Having passed through all the heavens until 
it reached the lower world, it is accommo- 
dated to angels in heaven and also to men on 
earth, 85, 193, 195. Wherefore it possesses 
a spiritual sense in which Divine truth is in 
light, and a natural sense in which it is in 
shade, 85. God speaks in His Word ac- 
cording to appearances, 135. See Appear- 

943 


ances. The Word or Divine truth is the 
only medium by which man can approach 
the Lord, 142. The man who reads the 
Word, not under the Lord’s auspices but 
under those of his own understanding, fan- 
cies himself as quicksighted as a lynx, and 
to have more eyes than Argus, when yet, 
interiorly, he discerns no single truth, but 
only what is false, 165. From the nature of 
the faith may be seen in what manner the 
Word is understood in the church, 177. 
Although the Word* is commonly attributed 
to the Lord, it is not known in what its di- 
vinity consists, 189, 193. See Scripture. 
It is the sanctuary and tabernacle in which 
the Lord dwells with man, 190. The style 
of the Word is such as to contain what is 
holy in every word, and in some cases in 
every letter, 191, 241. See Natural Man , 
Spiritual Sense of the Word. Hence the 
Word conjoins man to the Lord and opens 
heaven, 191. The Word is like the heavens, 
namely, in natural, spiritual, and celestial 
order, and divine throughout, 195, 212, £89, 
777 , 779 . The spiritual sense is in the whole 
and in every part, 1 96, 289. It is owing to the 
spiritual sense that the Word is divinely in- 
spired and holy in every syllable, 200, 846. 
It is possible for a man to violate the spiritual 
sense of the Word by means of the science 
of correspondences, if he is desirous thereby 
to explore that sense under the influence of 
his self-derived intelligence alone, 208, 230. 
The Word kept in the sacred recesses of the 
temples in the spiritual world, shines in the 
sight of angels like a great star, and some- 
times like a sun ; and also from the bright 
ness which surrounds it, there is an appear- 
ance as of beautiful rainbows, 209. If, 
however, any person w T ho is in falses looks 
upon it, there arises a thick darkness before 
h^s eyes, in consequence of which the Word 
appears black, and sometimes as if it were 
covered with soot, 209. The Word without 
its literal sense would be like a palace with- 
out a foundation, or the human brain with- 
out its integuments and last covering, Ac., 
213. The Word in its inmost from its celes- 
tial sense is like a gentle burning flame'; in 
its middle, from its spiritual sense, like an 
illustrating light, 216, 289 ; in its ultimate, 
from its natural sense, it is like a transparent 
object recipient both of flame and light, 
216. It was represented in its glory by the 
transfiguration of the Lord, when His face 
which shone as the sun represented the Di- 
vine gv od of His Divine love, and his raiment, 
which was as the light, the Divine truth of 
His Divine wisdom, 222, 261. See Power. 
The historical Word was represented by 
Moses, and the prophetical by Elias, during 
the transfiguration, 222, 261. The Word 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 


cannot be understood, without doctrine, 226 
— 228. See Doctrine. By t he literal sense 
of the Word man has conjunction with 
the Lord, and consociation with the angels, 
because in that sense is contained the spir- 
itual and celestial senses, 234 — 239, 267, 
268, 272, 846. See Conjunction. The Word 
is in all the heavens and the wisdom of the 
angels is thence derived, 240. It is there writ- 
ten in a style which differs altogether from the 
natural style (see Language), but 3 T et, as to 
its literal sense, is altogether similar to, and 
makes one with our Word by correspond- 
ence, 241. The Word in heaven, like that 
in our world, is so written, that the simple 
understand it in simplicity and the wise in 
wisdom, although in a different way, 241. 
The truths of faith and the goods of charity 
are the two universals of the Word, from 
which the church derives its quality, 244. 
See Church. The reason why the marriage 
of the Lord and the church, and thence the 
marriage of good and truth, is in every part 
of the Word, is, that the spiritual sense has 
more particular relation to the church, and 
the celestial sense to the Lord ; and that the 
. one relates to Divine Truth, the other to 
Divine Good, 248 — 253. The Word is like 
a garden which may be called a heavenly 
paradise, 259. By means of the Word light 
is communicated to those who are out of the 
pale of the church, and not in possession of 
the Word, 267 — 270. Although the church 
which is in possession of the Word consist 
of very few persons, in respect to the whole 
race of mankind, still by means of the Word 
so possessed, the Lord is present in every 
country on the face of the earth, 267. When 
the Word was entirely falsified and adul- 
terated by the Jewish nation, and rendered 
in a manner null, it pleased the Lord imme- 
diatety to descend from heaven, and to come 
as the Word, and to fulfil it and thus to 
renew and restore it, 270. For a similar 
reason it has pleased the Lord now to reveal 
the spiritual sense of the Word, 271. Every 
particular sentence in the Word communi- 
cates when it is read with some particular 
society in heaven, and thus the whole Word 
communicates with the universal heaven; 
whence it appears that as the Lord is the 
Word, so also heaven is the Word, 272. 
Without the Word no one would have any 
knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, or 
of a life after death, 273 — 276. It could not 
be written otherwise than by representatives, 
275. See Representatives. There is an in- 
finity in every part of the Word, each part 
containing innumerable things which the 
angels tnemselves cannot exhaust, 290, 350. 
All truths condusive to salvation are con- 
tained in the Word, 347. There is in every 

944 : 


j part a conjunction of charity and faith, 37 2. 
I The Word in the letter makes mention oi 
such things only as are external, even the 
extreme parts of worship, and they signify 
spiritual things which are internal, 427. 
From this time it is allowable to enter into 
the mysteries of the Word, for all its truths 
are so many mirrors of the Lord, 508. The 
natural sense of the Word is changed into 
the spiritual by correspondences in heaven, 
698. The Word is the real and very cove- 
nant which the Lord makes with man, and 
man with the Lord ; for the Lord came down 
as the Word, that is, as the Divine Truth, 
730. His presence in the Word is by means 
of the spiritual sense, through the light ol 
which He passes into the shade, in which is 
the sense of the letter, 780. 

Works. Evil actions are to be shunned 
and good actions are to be done. 3. See 
Conjunction. Good works are means of in- 
troduction to charity, 71. By the works of 
the law (Rom. iii. 28) are meant the injunc- 
tions of the Mosaic law and not of the deca- 
logue ; and by faith, faith in the Lord God 
the Saviour Jesus Christ, not in three divine 
persons from eternity, 338, 506. The whole 
man according to liis measure and quality, 
with regard to his mind or essential quality, 
is in every work which proceeds from him, 

373. Charity, having relation to the internal 
man, consists in willing what is good; and 
good works, having relation to the external 
man, consist in doing good from and under 
the influence of a good will, 374, 420, 421. 
Works, in respect to their essence, are ol 
the will ; in respect to form are of the under- 
standing; and in respect to act are of the 
body, 374. Thus, also, in regard to their 
essence they are of the end ; in regard to 
their form, they are of the doctrines of the 
church ; and in regard to act are of uses, 

374. Chai'ity alone does not produce good 
works, still less faith alone, but charity and 
faith together, 377. Those who perform 
genuine works of charity, place no merit in 
their works, for they never think of their 
merit but only of their duty, which as good 
Christians they are bound to perform, 423. 
They do not regard recompense as an end 
and motive in their works, 425. By alms 
giving and similar good works children and 
servants, and, in general, all persons of sim- 
ple character and condition, are initiated into 
charity, 426. See Charity. In performing 
the exercises of charity, a man does not 
ascribe merit to works, so long as he believes 
that all good is from the Lord, 439 — 442, 
504. For men to think that they shall go to 
heaven, and that therefore they must do 
good, is not to regard recompense as an end 
and to ascribe merit to works, 440. Suet 


INDEX TO TIIE WORK. 


persons are not influenced by a confidence 
in the reward to which merit entitles them, 
but by a belief in the promise made of grace, 
440. See Merit. If a man does not em- 
ploy the powers with which he is endowed 
in doing good and believing in the Lord, he 
is but a wilderness and a desert, 484. It is 
granted to man to do good of himself from 
God and in like manner to believe, 503. All 
who do good from a religious motive, whether 
they be Christians or Pagans, are accepted 
by the Lord and adopted after death, 536. 
Such as do good from the mere impulse of 
natural goodness, and not at the same time 
from a religious motive, are not accepted ; 
natural goodness being of the flesh alone, 
received by birth from a man’s parents, 537. 
Natural good is made spiritual by a true 
faith, 654. 

World. There are two things peculiar to 
the natural world, by which all its contents 
are fixed and bounded, namely, space and 
time, 27. There are two worlds, the one 
natural and the other spiritual, 75. There 
are likewise two suns, the one pure love and 
therefore living (see Sun of Heaven), the 
other pure fire and therefore dead (see Sun, 
natural), 75. The spiritual and natural 
worlds are inseparably connected, 118. 

World of Spirits, the, is in the middle 
between heaven and hell, and is the world 
into which all men enter immediately after 
death, 160, 281, 475, 570, 622. The"lower 
earth in the spiritual world is immediately 
over hell, 332. The societies in the spiritual 
world, which are innumerable, are arranged 
in wonderful order according to natural affec- 
tions, both good and evil ; the good societies 
communicating with heaven, and the evil 
societies with hell, 281. The world of spirits 
appears to those who dwell there like a com- 
plete globe or world, 475. It is the great 
gulf or interstice spoken of in Scripture, 475 
— 478. There arises in it a most copious ex- 
halation of evil out of hell ; and, on the other 
hand, there descends into it continually as 
copious an influx of good from heaven, 475. 
Every man as to his spirit is in this world, 
and his situation there changes from infancy 
bo old age, 475, 476. In the east are those 
who are in good from the Lord ; in the 
north, those who are in ignorance ; in the 
Bouth, those who a-re in intelligence ; and in 
the west, those who are in evil, 476. All who 
are in this world, are, as to their interiors, 

945 


either in conjunction with the angels of hea 
ven, or the devils of hell, 477. 

Worship, before the coming of the Lord, 
consisted in types and figures which were re- 
presentative* of true worship, 109, 188, 201, 
670, 674. Then, also, Jehovah God made 
Himself visible in a human form by means 
of an angel, which form was representative 
of the Lord who was about to come into the 
world, 188. The representative rites of 
worship were in process of time changed 
into idolatry, 204, 275. Before washing or 
purification from evil, prayer to God is not 
heard, 329. Every true worshipper of the 
Lord, as soon as he hears any truth of faith, 
with which he was before unacquainted, in- 
stantly sees, acknowledges, and receives it, 
because the Lord is in him, and he is in the 
Lord, consequently the light of truth is in 
him, and he is in the light of truth, 354, 
361. Worship from freedom is true wor- 
ship, 495. The most holy solemnities of 
worship are baptism, and the holy supper, 
667. See Heaven. To glorify God is not 
only to offer worship at stated times, but 
also to bring forth the fruits of love, that is, 
to discharge all the duties of our callings 
with faithfulness, sincerity, and diligence, 
738. 

Wrath. See Predestination. God is love 
itself, mercy itself, and goodness itself, and 
being these, He cannot be angry, wrathful, 
or revengeful, 256, 650, 651. Such passions 
are attributed to Him in the Word because 
it is written by appearances and correspon 
dences, 650. 

Writing in Heaven. See Language. 

Zeal, in its true nature, is a violent 
heating of the natural man ; if the love of 
truth kindles it, it is then like the sacred fire 
which came down upon the apostles ; but if 
the love of the false lies concealed within it, , 
it is then like fire imprisoned in wood, which 
bursts out and burns the house, 146. An 
ardent zeal is often enkindled in the breasts 
of enthusiasts, and of those who maintain 
doctrines the most false, 146. The five 
bursting out of smoke, which signifies falses, 
is the heat of zeal kindled in favor of those 
falses, 159. The zeal of those who are with- 
out charity is anger and hatred, for their in- 
ternal man is on fire with those evil passions, 
408. See Charity. 

Zion, signifies the church, 467. 


PPP 


THE AUTHOR’S INDEX 


TO 

THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


I. Certain new -comers in the spiritual 
world discoursed among themselves in my 
hearing as to three divine persons from eter- 
nity, and afterwards, one of them who in the 
world had been a primate, opened his mind 
concerning this mystery, saying, that his 
opinion had been, and still was, that the three 
persons of the godhead sit upon high thrones 
in heaven. God the Father upon a throne 
of the finest gold with a sceptre in his hand ; 
God the Sou, on his right, upon a throne of 
the purest silver, with a crown upon his 
head ; and God the Holy Spirit upon a throne 
>f shining crystal ; holding a dove in his hand 
iccording to the appearance when Christ 
was baptized, and that round about them in 
triple order are pendant lamps glittering with 
precious stones, and that innumerable angels 
stand in a circle at a distance adoring and 
glorifying. He spoke, furthermore, of the 
Holy Spirit — how it operates faith, purifies, 
and justifies. He added, that many of his 
order favored these ideas of his, and thought 
that I, as one of the laity, had possibly the 
same faith. But I replied at considerable 
length, saying that from my boyhood I had 
cherished the idea that God is one; and then 
I explained to him what is involved in the 
Trinity, and what is signified by the throne, 
the sceptre, and the crown, where these in 
the Word are predicated of God. To which 
I added, that all who believe in three divine 
persons from eternity, must necessarily be- 
lieve in three gods ; and furthermore, that 
the Divine Essence is not capable of division, 
u. 16. 

II. A discourse of the angels concerning 
God, — that his Divine Esse is divine in itself, 
not from itself ; and that it is One, immu- 
tably THE SAME, THE ESSENTIAL SELF, AND 
the Indivisible. Also that God is not in 
place, but with those who are in place, 
and that his Divine Love appears to the 

946 


angels as a sun, the heat proceeding from 
which in its essence is love, and the light 
wisdom, n. 25. 

Further, that the proceeding Divine attri- 
butes, which are creation, redemption, and 
regeneration, are attributes of one God, not 
of three, n. 20. 

III. Perceiving on a certain occasion that 
a vast multitude of men are in the persua 
sion that all things are of nature, and con 
sequently that nature is the creatrix of the 
universe, I presently spake with an inge 
nious person of this class in a certain gym 
nasium concerning these three points, 1st. 
Whether nature is of life, or life is of nature. 
2d. Whether the centre is of the expanse, 
or the expanse is of the centre. 3d. Con- 
cerning the centre and expanse of nature and 
of life — that the centre of nature is the sun 
of the natural werld, and that its expanse is 
that world itself. That the centre of life is 
the sun of the spiritual world, and that world 
likewise is its expanse. These propositions 
were mutually discussed, and, lastly, the 
truth was shown, n. 35. 

IV. Of my being conducted to a theatre 
of "wisdom, where angelic spirits from the 
four quarters were congregated with an in- 
junction from'heaven to discuss three arcana. 
1st. What is the image of God, and what the 
likeness of God. 2d. Why men are not 
born into the science of any love, when yet 
beasts and birds are born into the science of 
all their loves. 3d. What is signified by the 
tree of life, and by the tree of knowledge of 
good and evil. They were also enjoined to 
connect these three points in one decision, 
and refer it to the angels of heaven. Which 
done, the decision was recorded, and accepted 
by the angels, n. 48. 

V. A noise like that of the sea was heard pro- 
ceeding from the evil spirits immediately over 
hell, which arose from a tumult occasioned By 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


their hearing it said above them that the 
omnipotent God had bound Himself to order. 
A certain one ascending thence addressed 
me sharply on the matter, saying that inas- 
much as God is omnipotent, He is not re- 
stricted to any order. He also interrogated 
me concerning order, and I replied, 1st. That 
God is order itself. ‘2nd. That he created 
man from order, in order, and to order. 
3d. That He created His rational mind ac- 
cording to the order of the spiritual world, 
and his body according to the order of the 
natural world. 4th. That therefore it is a 
law of order that man from his micro-uranos 
or little spiritual world, should govern his 
microcosm, or little natural world, as God 
from his maero-uranos, or spiritual world, 
governs his macrocosm or natural world. 
6th. That hence are derived many laws of 
order, which also as to part are recited, and 
lastly what happened to those spirits is de- 
scribed, n. 71. 

VI. Concerning a dispute between certain 
Hollanders and Englishmen in the spiritual 
world on the subject of imputation and pre- 
destination. On the one part, why God, 
inasmuch as He is omnipotent, does not im- 
pute the justice of His Son to all, and thus 
number them among the redeemed, when 
yet, inasmuch as He is omnipotent, He is 
able to transform the Satans of hell into 
angels of heaven; yea, if it be his good 
pleasure, to transform Lucifer, the dragon, 
and all the goats into archangels, for there 
is need of nothing but a little word to effect 
this. On the other part, that God is order 
itself, and is unable to do any thing contrary 
to His laws of order, because this would be 
to act contrary to Himself. With much be- 
sides which was advanced in the discussion, 
n. 72. 

VII. Afterwards I was speaking with 
others, who were in the faith of predestina- 
tion, which they deduced from the absolute 
power or omnipotence of God ; because 
otherwise God would have less power than 
the rulers of kingdoms in the world, who 
turn the laws of justice at pleasure and act 
absolutely, as Octavius Augustus, and Nero. 
To which it is replied, that God created the 
world, and all it contains in general and par- 
ticular, from Himself as order, and thus 
impressed order upon it, and that the laws 
of His order are as many as the verities in 
His Word. Some of the laws of order are 
then recited, both those and the quality of 
them which are of God’s part, and those 
which belong to the part of man. These 
can never change, because God is Order 
itself, and man is created in the image of His 
order, n. 73. 

VIII. That I spake with a concourse of 

947 


the clergy and laity concerning Divine 
Omnipotence. They said that omnipotence 
is unlimited, and that a limited omnipotence 
is a contradiction ; to which reply was made, 
that no contradiction is implied in. acting 
omnipotently according to laws of justice with 
judgment. It is said in David, that justice 
j and judgment are the habitation of God’s 
throne (Ps. Ixxxix. 14), and that no contra* 
diction is implied in acting omnipotently 
from wisdom according to laws of love. But 
that it is a contradiction to suppose that God 
is able to act contrary to the laws of justice 
and of love, which would be to act from no 
judgment, and wisdom ; and that such a con- 
tradiction is at this day involved in the faith 
of the church, that God is able to justify the 
unrighteous, and distinguish the impious 
with all the gifts of salvation and rewards of 
life. With much more concerning this faith 
and omnipotence, n. 74. 

IX. While I was once meditating on the 
creation of the universe by God, I was led in 
the spirit to certain wise ones who first com* 
plained of the ideas prevailing among them- 
selves, which they had acquired in the world, 
concerning the creation of the universe from 
chaos, and concerning its creation from noth- 
ing; because those ideas obscure, degrade, 
and pervert their meditation concerning the 
creation of the universe by God. Wherefore, 
being questioned as to my opinion, I replied 
that it would be in vain to form any but a 
speculative conclusion concerning the crea- 
tion of the universe, unless it is known that 
there are two worlds, the spiritual and the 
natural, and that in each of these there is a 
sun ; aiso that the sun of the spiritual world, 
in the midst of which is God, is pure love, 
and that from it are all things spiritual, which 
in themselves are substantial. Likewise that 
the sun of the natural world is pure fire, and 
from it are all things natural, which in them- 
selves are material. But when these truths 
are known, it may be concluded that the 
universe was created by God. Which also 
is briefly described, n. 76. 

X. Of some satans in hell who desired a 
conference with the angels of heaven, for the 
purpose of convincing them that all things 
are derived from nature, and that God is 
nothing but a word unless nature be meant. 
They were permitted to ascend, and then 
certain angels descended from heaven into 
the world of spirits that they might hear 
them. When the satans perceived them, 
they ran furiously towards them, saying, You 
are called angels because you believe that 
there is a God, and that nature is respec- 
tively nothing, and yet you believe this in 
contradiction to every sense ; for which of 
your five senses, sensates any thing but ntv 


THE AUTHOR’S INDEX TO 


ture f this, and much besides, they said bit- 
terly. The angels recalled to their minds 
that they were now living after death, and 
that formerly indeed they had not believed 
in this life. They then caused them to see 
the fair and splendid objects of heaven, and 
informed them that such objects are in hea- 
ven because all there believe in God. After- 
wards they made them behold the filthy and 
deformed objects of hell, saying that such 
things are there because the inhabitants be- 
lieve in nature. From observing these things 
the satans were first convinced that there is 
a God, and that He created nature; but as 
they descended, the love of evil returned and 
closed their understanding from above, when 
they again believed as before, that all things 
are of nature and nothing of God, n. 7*7. 

XI. A type of the creation of the uni- 
verse shown to me, to the life, by angels. 
Being conducted into heaven, where I saw 
all tilings of the animal kingdom, all things 
of the vegetable kingdom, and all things of 
the mineral kingdom, similar in all respects 
to the objects of these three kingdoms in the 
natural world. All those things, they said, 
are created in heaven in a moment by God, 
and that they subsist so long as the angels 
are interiorly in the [corresponding] state of 
love and faith as to thought; and that that 
instantaneous creation evidently testifies a 
like creation even in the natural world, with 
this difference only, that the natural invests 
the spiritual, and that this investing is pro- 
vided by God for the sake of the generation 
of one from another, by which creation is 
perpetuated : consequently that the creation 
of the universe was effected in a similar man- 
ner to those instantaneous creations in hea- 
ven. Except indeed that all noxious and 
hideous things in the three kingdoms of na- 
ture, some of which are enumerated, were not 
created by God, but originated together with 
hell, n. 18. 

XII. Conversing concerning the creation 
of the universe, with some, who, when in the 
world had been celebrated for their erudi- 
tion, and who now spake from the ideas they 
had formerly cherished, one said that nature 
created herself; another that nature con- 
glomerated her elements into vortices, and 
from their collision formed the earth : a third, 
that it sprung from a chaos, which equalled 
in magnitude a large part of the universe, 
the purest substances first breaking forth 
formed the sun and stars, afterwards the less 
pure formed the atmospheres, and lastly the 
grosser matters composed the terraqueous 
globe. To the question, whence proceeded 
human souls, they answered that the ether 
formed itself into separate little spheres, and 
these, infusing themselves about the time of 

948 


birth, form the soul, and that after death they 
fly to their former associates in the ether, 
whence they return to animate other forms, 
according to the ancient doctrine of Me- 
tempsychosis. After this a certain priest, by 
solid arguments in favor of the creation of 
the universe by God, shewed the folly of all 
they had been uttering and put them to 
shame, still they relapsed into their former 
insanities, n. 1 9. 

XIII. Of a certain satanic spirit, who, 
knowing no otherwise than -that he was still 
in the former world, spake with me concern- 
ing God, the angelic heaven, and religion, 
and said that God is the universe, that the 
angelic heaven is the atmospheric firmament, 
and that religion is a charm of the vulgar; 
with much folly besides. But on restoring 
the memory of the past, and shewing him 
that he now lived that life after death which 
he had formerly disbelieved, he for the mo- 
ment confessed that he had talked insanely, 
but at once, on turning himself and retiring, 
he spake insanely as before, n. 80. 

XIV. I observed at night a fiery meteor, 
sometimes called a dragon, falling to the 
earth, and, noting the place where it fell, 
saw there a sulphurous earth mixed with iron 
dust. Looking there in the morning, I saw 
two tents, and immediately afterwards a spirit 
falling from heaven, whom I approached and 
questioned as to the reason of his fall. He 
replied that he was cast down by the angels 
of Michael because he had said that God the 
Father and His Son are two and not one ; he 
added that all in the angelic heaven believe 
that God the Father and His Son are one as 
soul and body, and that they confirm this by 
many arguments from the Word, as well as 
from reason, urging that the soul of the 
son can be only from the father, and that in 
it and thence in the body is the likeness of 
the father. He had indeed confessed in hea- 
ven, as he had formerly done on earth, that 
God is one, but inasmuch as the confession 
of his lips and the thoughts of his mind 
w r ere not in agreement, they told him that he 
believed in no God, for that the one was dis- 
sipated by the other, and this he said was 
the reason that he was cast down. The next 
day, returning to the same place, I saw two 
statues formed of the dust, which was a mix- 
ture of sulphur and iron, in the place of 
the two tents, one of which represented the 
faith of the church at this day, and the other 
its charity: both were fairly clothed, but 
their garments were the effects of phantasy; 
and because they were formed of that dust, 
and a rain descended from heaven, they both 
began to ferment or bubble up and were con- 
sumed, n. 110. 

XV. That in the spiritual world no one ia 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


allowed to speak contrary to his thought, or 
if he so speak, his hypocrisy is manifest to 
the ear ; and in hell therefore no one is able to 
name Jesus, because Jesus signifies salvation. 
Hereby an experimental proof was afforded 
as to how many in the Christian world at 
this day believe that Christ, even as to His 
Humanity, is God. Many of the clergy and 
laity being congregated, it was proposed to 
them that they should pronounce the words 
“ Divine Human but hardly any were able 
to draw these two words conjointly from 
their thoughts, and thus give them utterance. 
It was confirmed before them by many pas- 
sages from the Word, (as Matt, xxviii. 18 ; 
John i. 1, 2, 14 ; and xvii. 2 ; Colos. ii. 9 ; 1 
John v. 20; and others); still they were not 
able to pronounce the words “ Divine Hu- 
man,” — not even the Evangelical Protestants, 
although their orthodoxy teaches that “ in 
Christ God is man, and man God ;” nor yet 
the monks, who nevertheless pay holy ado- 
ration to the body of Christ in the Eucha- 
rist From this it appears that Christians at 
this day are for the most part either Arians 
or Socinians, and that these, if they adore 
Christ as God, are hypocrites, n. 111. 

XVI. An altercation took place concerning 
a little book, entitled “A Brief Exposition of 
the Doctrine of the New Church ,” published 
by me at Amsterdam ; and especially con- 
cerning this point, that not God the Father, 
but the Lord God the Redeemer is to be ador- 
ed and worshipped. It was urged that it is 
said in the Lord’s Prayer, “ Our Father which 
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name : Thy 
kingdom come ;” consequently that God the 
Father ought to be worshipped. I was sent 
for to end the strife, and, addressing myself 
to them, I showed that God the Father in 
His Divine Esse cannot be approached, but 
only in His Humanity ; and inasmuch as the 
Divine and the Human are in Him one per- 
son, that the Lord is the Father. I confirmed 
this from the Word, both from the Old Tes- 
tament, where the Son of God is called the 
Father of Eternity, Jehovah our Justice, and 
the God of Israel ; and from many passages 
in the New Testament ; thus, when the Lord 
God the Redeemer is approached, the Father 
is approached, and then His name is hallow- 
ed. and His kingdom comes. — With much be- 
sides, n. 112. 

XVII. I saw an army mounted on red and 
black horses, with the faces of the riders 
turned to the horses’ tails, and the hinder 
part of their heads to the heads of the 
horses: they were crying out to fight against 
another army riding upon white horses. The 
army which presented so strange an appear- 
ance was from a place called Armageddon 
(Rev. xvi. 16), and consisted of those who 

949 


had been imbued in theii youth with the 
dogma of justification by faith alone, and who 
afterwards, on being promoted to eminent 
employments, had rejected every thing be- 
longing to faith and religion from the internal 
of their minds to the external of their bodies, 
where in fine it had perished. The quality 
of those who appear in Armageddon is also 
described, and their desire to meet and con- 
tend with the angels of Michael, which was 
permitted, but at a certain distance from 
thence. The subject of strife was the man- 
ner m which these words in the Lord’s Prayer 
should be understood, “ Our Father who art 
in heaven, hallowed be thy name : Thy king- 
dom come.” The angels of Michael said, 
that the Lord, the Redeemer and Saviour, is 
the Father of all in heaven ; and He Him- 
self teaches that the Father and He are 
One; that the Father is in Him and He in 
the Father ; that whoso seeth Him seeth the 
Father ; that all that the Father hath are 
His ; that the will of the Father is, that they 
should believe in the Son, and whoso be- 
lieveth not in the Son shall not see life, but 
the wrath of God abideth upon him ; that 
He also has all power in heaven and in 
earth ; and that no one hath seen, or can see, 
God the Father, but the Son, who is in the 
bosom of the Father: with much to the 
same purpose. At the conclusion of this 
contest, the vanquished Armageddons were 
in part cast into the abyss (Rev. ix.), and 
part driven forth into a desert, n. 113. 

XVIII. I was in a temple, in which there 
were no windows, but a large opening in 
the roof: the persons assembled there were 
conversing on Redemption, and agreed unan- 
imously that it was effected by the passion 
of the cross ; but while they were thus en- 
gaged, a black cloud covered the opening in 
the roof and occasioned darkness in tile 
temple. Shortly afterwards, however, the 
cloud was dispersed by angels who descended 
from heaven, and who then sent one of their 
number into the temple to instruct them con- 
cerning Redemption. He said that the pas- 
sion of the cross was not Redemption, but 
that it consisted in subjugating the hells, ar- 
ranging the heavens in order, and thus in the 
restoration of everything that had fallen into 
ruin both in the spiritual and natural worlds, 
without which no flesh could have been sav- 
ed. And, concerning the passion of the cross, 
he said, that by it was completed entire 
union with the Father; and when that is as- 
sumed to constitute Redemption, much that 
is unworthy of God, yea, that is wicked, must 
follow ; as, for example, that He had passed 
condemnation upon the whole human race; 
that the Son bore this in His own per 
son; that He thus propitiated the Father 


THE AUTHORS INDEX TO 


and by His intercession restores to the Di- 
vine Ti is own Essence, which is love and 
mercy ; besides much more, which it is scan- 
dalous to attribute to God, n. 184. 

XIX. The Sun of the spiritual world, in 
which is Jehovah God in His Human, was 
seen, and then this truth was heard from 
heaven, God is One. When however this 
descended into the world of spirits, it was 
changed according to the forms of the minds 
there, and at length into [a declaration of] 
three Gods, which also a spirit thus confirm- 
ed, arguing, that there is one who created all 
things, a second who redeemed all men, and 
a third who operates every thing ; also one 
who imputes, a second who mediates, and a 
third who inscribes, and thus implants faith 
in man, by which He justifies him. But in- 
asmuch as a faith in three Gods had per- 
verted the whole Christian church, I declared, 
from the perception granted to me, what is 
meant, in respect to the One God, by Media- 
tion, Intercession, Propitiation, and Expia- 
tion ; namely, that they are four attributes of 
the Human of Jehovah God; that because 
Jehovah God, without the Human, could not 
approach man, nor be approached by him, 
therefore Mediation signifies that the Human 
is the intermediate ; Intercession, that it me- 
diates perpetually ; Propitiation signifies that 
au approach is mercifully opened for every 
one to God ; Atonement, that it is even grant- 
ed to sinners ; and that all these are effected 
through the Human, n. 135. 

XX. I entered into a gymnasium, where 
they were discussing how it is to be under- 
stood that the Son of God is said to sit at 
the right hand of the Father. Various opin- 
ions were offered on this subject, yet all 
agree that the Son is actually thus seated, 
but differed as to why it was so. Some 
thought it to be on account of redemption ; 
some, from love ; some, that He might act 
as a counsellor ; some, that honor might be 
rendered to Him by the angels; some, that 
it was because it was given Him to reign in 
place of the Father ; some, that He might 
hear those on the right for whom He inter- 
cedes. They further discussed whether the 
Son of God from eternity was thus seated, 
or the Son of God born in the world. Hav- 
ing heard all this, I raised my hand, asking 
permission to say something in explanation 
of what is meant by sitting at the right hand 
of God ; and I said that the omnipotence of 
God is understood by the Human which He 
assumed, for hereby lie effected Redemption, 
that is, subjugated hell, created a new an- 
gelic heaven, and instituted a new church ; 
that this is meant by sitting at the right 
hand, I proved from the Word, in which by 
the right hand is signified power. This was 

950 


afterwards confirmed from heaven by the 
appearance of a right hand over them, the 
power of which and the terror it inspired, 
nearly deprived them all of animation, n. 
136. 

XXI. I was conducted in the spiritual 
world to a certain council, at which were 
assembled those celebrated persons who lived 
before the Council of Nice, and are called 
the Apostolic Fathers ; as well as those who 
have distinguished themselves since that time. 
I observed that some of the latter appeared to 
have bald chins, and had wigs on their heads 
made of women’s hair ; but all the former 
had beards, and wore their own hair. In 
the front stood a man who was a literary au- 
thority and critic of the present age, and he 
commenced a lamentation, saying, There has 
risen among the laity a man who has drawn 
out our faith from its sanctuary, when yet 
it is a shining star in our sight, night and 
day : and this he has done on account, of his 
blindness in regard to the mysteries of that 
faith, for he does not see in it the Righteous- 
ness of Christ, nor the wonders of Justifica- 
tion which it contains, although it is a faith 
in three divine persons, and thus in the whole 
Deity ; and inasmuch as he has transferred 
his faith to the second person, and not indeed 
to him, but to his Humanity, it necessarily 
gives birth to naturalism. This avowal was 
favored by those who lived subsequently to 
the Council of Nice, who said it was impos- 
sible for there to be any other faith, or that 
it could otherwise originate ; but the Apos- 
tolic Fathers who lived before that age in- 
dignantly related many things which (as may 
be seen), are said in heaven of the Nicene and 
Athanasian faith. But as the president of 
the council was consociated as to the spirit 
with a certain author in Leipsic, I addressed 
myself to him, and proved from the Word 
that Christ even as to His Human is God, as 
well as from the book containing the doc- 
trines of the Evangelicals, called the For- 
mula Concordia, that in Christ God is man, 
and man God ; as likewise the worship of Him 
according to the Augustan confession strong- 
ly confirms ; with much more to the same 
purpose. On hearing which, he was silent 
and turned away. Afterwards I spoke with 
a certain spirit who was consociated with an 
eminent man in Gottenburg, who had defiled 
the worship of the Lord still more scanda- 
lously. At length both scandals were de- 
clared to be subtle falsehoods, invented to 
prejudice men’s minds, and deter them from 
the holy worship of the Lord, n. 137. 

XXII. There appeared a smoke ascending 
from the lower earth, when it was said that 
[ fumi ] quantities of smoke are nothing but 
falses in the aggregate. Certain angels then 


THE MEJV&KABLE RELATIONS. 


approached, who wei'e desirous of exploring 
the quality of the falses which occasioned 
this appearance ; and they descended, and 
came upon four companies of spirits, whereof 
two were composed of the learned and un- 
learned of the clergy, and two of the learned 
and unlearned of the laity; who confirmed 
each other in the persuasion that an invisible 
God ought to be worshipped, and that such 
worship is holy, and is heard, but that it is 
otherwise if a visible God is worshipped. That 
worship addressed to an invisible God is holy 
and is heard, they confirmed by various ar- 
guments, and consequently acknowledged 
three invisible Gods from eternity. But it 
was shown that the worship of an invisible 
God, and a fortiori of three invisible Gods, 
is no worship; in confirmation of which, 
Socinus and Arius, together with some of 
their followers, who all had worshipped an 
invisible Deit} T , were raised from the lower 
parts of the earth. These, when they spoke 
from their natural or external minds, said 
that God exists, although He is invisible; 
but when the external of their minds was 
closed, and the internal opened, so that they 
were compelled to utter their internal con- 
viction concerning God, they exclaimed, 
What is God? We have neither seen His 
shape nor heard His voice. What is God 
therefore but an ens rationis, or nature ? 
But they were instructed, that it had pleased 
God to descend and to assume the Human, 
that men might see His form and hear His 
voice. This, however, was said to them in 
vain, n. 159. 

XXIII. Concerning the stars in the nat- 
ural world, and the probability that they 
are of the same number as angelic societies 
in heaven, since at times every society there 
shines like a star. Afterwards of my con- 
versation with angels concerning a certain 
way, which appears crowded with innumer- 
able spirits, and which is the way by which 
all, on leaving the natural world, pass into 
the spiritual. In company with the angels I 
approached this way, and calling twelve men 
out of the number, we questioned them as 
to their belief concerning heaven and hell, 
and concerning a life after death. As they 
were recently deceased and knew no other 
than that they were still in the natural world, 
they replied according to the ideas they had 
brought with them. The first: That those 
who live morally go to heaven, and as all 
live a moral life, no one goes to hell. The 
second: That God governs heaven, and the 
devil rules in hell, and inasmuch as they are 
opposite, the one calls good what the other 
calls evil : that man, having the art of dis- 
simulation, agrees with both, and can live 
equally well under the dominion 01 the one 

951 


or the other. The third. That there is no 
heaven and no hell; for who, he aske-d, ever 
came thence and gave an account of them ? 
The fourth : That no one could return, and 
give such intelligence; for when a man dies, 
he becomes a phantom, or wind. The fifth. 
That you must wait for the day of the last 
judgment, when all things will be made 
known to you; but while he said this, he 
laughed in his heart. The sixth, inquired, 
How can the soul of man, which is only 
wind, re-enter its body, when it is consumed 
by worms, and reelothe a skeleton which is 
either dried or fallen to dust. The seventh 
asserted, That men are no more able to live 
after death than beasts or birds, for are tliev 
not, he asked, equally rational? The eighth 
said, I believe there is a heaven, but not a 
hell; for God is omnipotent and is able to 
save all. The ninth said, That God, inas- 
much as he is merciful, cannot cast any into 
eternal fire. The tenth : That no one can 
possibly go to hell, because God sent His 
Son, who atoned for all, and bore the sins 
of all, and what can avail the devil against 
that? The eleventh, who was a priest, de- 
clared, That those alone are saved who ob- 
tain faith, and that election is according to 
the pleasure of the Omnipotent. The twelfth, 
who was a politician, said, I say nothing 
whatever concerning heaven and hell, but 
permit the priests to preach concerning them 
that the minds of the vulgar may be restrain 
ed by invisible bonids, and held in obedience 
to the laws and to their leaders. On hearing 
these replies the angels were astonished, but 
they aroused them by showing that they were 
now alive after death, and then introduced 
them into heaven ; but they did not remain 
there long, it being discovered that they were 
merely natural, and that in consequence the 
hinder parts of their heads were hollow ; con- 
cerning which hollowness and its causes, 
something is said in conclusion, n. 160. 

XXIV. I heard a sound like the noise of 
a mill, and following the sound I saw a 
dwelling full of chinks, which had a subter- 
ranean entrance, and in it was a man col- 
lecting from the Word and other books many 
documents concerning Justification by Faith 
alone : there were scribes at the side who 
wrote on paper the extracts he made. To 
my inquiry as to what he was now doing, 
he answered, that he was collecting passages 
to prove that God the Father fell away from 
His grace towards mankind, and therefore 
sent His Son to atone and propitiate; to 
which I replied, that it is contrary both to 
Scripture and reason, that God could fall 
away from His grace, for thus Fie would 
have fallen away from His essence and would 
not be God : when I had thoroughly demon 


THE AUTHO-Et’s itfDEX TO 


Birated this position, lie became wrathful, 
and ordered the scribes to turn me out, but 
as I walked out of my own accord, he cast at 
me the first book which came to hand, and 
that book was the Word, n. 161. 

XXV. There was a dispute among some 
spirits whether any one could apprehend any 
genuine truth in the Word, unless he imme- 
diately approached the Lord, who is the 
Word itself, but because some contradicted 
this, an experiment was made, and it was 
found that those who approached God the 
Father did not see any truth, while all who 
approached the Lord saw trut h. During this 
strife some spirits ascended from the abyss 
(concerning which see Rev. ix.) where the 
mysteries of justification by faith alone are 
the subjects of discussion. They declared 
that they approach God the Father, and they 
see their mysteries in clear light ; but they 
were told that they see them in the light of 
infatuation, and that they do not possess even 
a single truth: this excited their indignation, 
and they quoted many passages from the 
Word, which were truths, but it was told 
them, that although these were truths in 
themselves, in their minds they became falses. 
This was proved by conducting them to a 
house where there was a table, and into 
which there proceeded a direct influx of light 
from heaven, and they were directed to write 
the truths which they had adduced from the 
Word upon paper, and to put the paper upon 
the table ; when they did so, the paper upon 
which the truths were inscribed shone like a 
star, but when they xlrew nearer and intently 
regarded it, the paper appeared sooty black. 
They were then conducted to a similar table 
upon which lay the Word encompassed with 
a rainbow : and a certain distinguished advo- 
cate of Solafidianism touched it with his 
hand, when an explosion as of a gun suc- 
ceeded, which cast him into a corner of the 
chamber, where he remained like one dead 
for half an hour. These spirits were thus 
convinced that though all the truths which 
they derived from the Word were truths in 
themselves, they had in their minds become 
falses, n. 162. 

XXVI. In the spiritual world there are 
climates as in the natural world, consequently 
there are frigid zones where snow and ice 
prevail. Being once conducted thither in the 
spirit, I entered a temple which was covered 
with snow, and lighted within by lamps. 
Behind the altar I observed a tablet, upon 
which was written, The Divine Trinity, 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who 

ARE ONE IN ESSENCE. BUT THREE IN * PER- 
SON. I heard the minister preaching con- 
cerning the four mysteries of faith. (which 
see,) in respect to which the understanding 

952 


is to be kept under obedience to faith. After 
the discourse, the hearers expressed their 
thanks to the preacher both for the copious- 
ness and the wisdom of his remarks. On 
my inquiring whether they understood what 
they had been listening to, they replied, 
“We received it all with open ears; why do 
you ask whether we understood it ? Is not 
the understanding stupified in such things?” 
The priest was present and added, “Because 
ye have heard, and have not understood, 
blessed are ye, for thence is your salvation.’ 
And much besides, n. 185. 

XXVII. That the human mind is distin- 
guished into three regions, like the angelic 
heaven, and that theological subjects in those 
who love truths because they are truths, 
occupy the supreme region of the mind ; that 
beneath them in the middle region are moral 
subjects, and under these again, or in the 
last region, are political subjects, the va- 
rious sciences forming the door. That theo- 
logical subjects with those who do not love 
truths have their seat in the lowest region, 
and are there mingled with the things of 
man’s proprium, and thus with the fallacies 
of the senses; hence some persons have no 
ability to see any thing of a theological nature, 
n. 186. 

XXVIII. I was conducted to a place 
where were those who are signified by the 
false prophet in the Revelation, and I was 
invited by them to see their temple. I fol- 
lowed them accordingly, and saw it ; within 
it was the image of a woman clothed in a 
scarlet vest, holding in her right hand a 
golden coin, and in her left a chain of pearls ; 
but these appearances were induced by fan- 
tasy: and when the interiors of my mind 
were opened by the Lord, a house full of 
clefts was seen in place of the temple, and 
instead of a woman, a beast, like that 
described in Rev. xiii. 2; in place of the 
ground there was a bog, at the bottom of 
which the Word lay hidden: but immedi- 
ately an east wind blew, which carried away 
the temple, and drying up the bog, exposed 
the Word to view, and then, in light which 
shone from heaven, there appeared a taber- 
nacle, like Abraham’s when the three angels 
appeared to him and announced the birth of 
Isaac. Afterwards, light shone from the 
second heaven, when t here appeared in place 
of t he tabernacle, a temple, like that of Jeru- 
salem ; and after that, in the refulgent 
light beaming from the third heaven, "the 
temple also disappeared, and the Lord 
alone was seen, standing upon the founda- 
tion stone, where the Word was. But be- 
cause too great a degree of sanctity then filled 
the minds of those present, that light was 
withdrawn, and instead of it the light of the 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS 


second heaven was immitted, by which the 
previous appearance of the temple was re- 
stored, and within it was seen the tabernacle, 
n. 187. 

XXIX. A magnificent palace was seen, in 
which there was a temple, within which there 
were three rows of seats: here a council had 
been called together by the Lord, to delib- 
erate concerning Tiie Lord the Saviour 
and The Holy Spirit. When as many of 
the clergy had assembled as there were seats, 
the council commenced, and the doctrine of 
the Lord being the subject of deliberation, 
the first proposition was, Who assumed 
the Humanity in the Virgin Mary? An 
angel standing at the table read before them 
the words addressed to Mary by the angel 
Gabriel, “ The Holy Spirit shall come upon 
thee , and the power of the highest shall 
overshadow thee, and that holy thing that 
shall be born of thee shall be called .the Son 
of God ” (Luke i. 35; and also from Matt, 
i. 20, 25), adding many passages from the 
prophets, to the effect that Jehovah should 
come into the world, and that. Jehovah 
Himself is called the Saviour, Redeemer, 
and Righteousness, from which it was con- 
cluded that Jehovah assumed the Humanity 
Himself. The second subject of deliberation 
concerning the Lord was, whether, if such 
were the case, the Father and the Lord 
Jesus Christ are one, as the soul and 
the body are one? This was. confirmed 
from many passages in the Word as well as 
from the creed of faith acknowledged by the 
present church ; they therefore came to this 
conclusion, that the soul of the Lord was of 
God the Father, and therefore His Human 
is Divine, which Humanity is to be ap- 

roached in order to have access to the Father, 

ecause by it Jehovah God sent Himself into 
the world, and made Himself visible to the 
eyes of man, thus also accessible. To this 
succeeded a third deliberation, on the sub- 
ject of the Holy Spirit; and first, the idea of 
three divine persons from eternity was dis- 
cussed, and it was established from the Word 
that the Holy Divine proceeding, called the 
Holy Spirit, proceeds out of the Lord from 
the Father. At length this general conclu- 
sion was agreed to, That in the Lord the 
Saviour is a Divine Trinity, consisting of the 
all- originating Divinity called the Father, 
the Divine Humanity called the Son, and the 
Divine Proceeding called the Holy Spirit ; 
thus that there is one God in the church. 
At the conclusion of the council splendid 
raiment was given to those who had sat at it, 
and they were conducted to the new heaven, 
D. 188. 

XXX. I saw in a certain building large 
tacks of money, and youths near them as 

953 


guards: in a chamber close at hand were 
modest virgins together with a chaste wife, 
and in another chamber, also, two infants: 
furthermore, a harlot and dead horses. After 
which I was instructed in the signification of 
each particular, that by them were repre- 
sented and described the Word, such as it is 
in itself, and as it is [falsified] at the present 
time, n. 277 . 

XXXI. I saw the kind of writing used in 
the highest or third heaven, the letters of 
which were inflected with small bendings 
upwards. I was informed that the most an- 
cient Hebrew characters had some resem- 
blance to those letters, and were more in- 
flected than those in present use ; and also that 
the letter H added to the names Abram and 
Sara signifies the Infinite and the Eternal. 
The sense of certain words in Psalm xxx. 2, 
was also explained to me, from the letters or 
syllables alone, which is, That the Lord 
is merciful even to those who do evil, 
n. 278. 

XXXII. Concerning a Word which ex- 
isted before the Israelitish Word, the pro- 
phetic books of which are called The Enun- 
ciations, and the historical books, The 
Wars of Jehovah, besides which there 
was a book called Jasher, which are all 
three mentioned in our Word. That ancient 
Word was used in the land of Canaan, Syria, 
Mesopotamia, Arabia, Assyria, Chaldea, 
Egypt, Tyre, Zidon, and Nineveh. But 
inasmuch as this Word was full of such cor- 
respondences as remotely signify things ce- 
lestial and spiritual, which gave occasion to 
idolatry, it was withdrawn of the Divine 
Providence. I have heard that Moses copied 
from that Word the narrative of the creation, 
of Adam and Eve, and of Noah and his three 
sons, but nothing more. The same word is 
still preserved among the people in Great 
Tartary, who derive from it the precepts of 
their faith and life ; this was told me by an- 
gels in the spiritual world, who had come 
thence, n. 279. 

XXXIII. Some experimental evidence that 
those who are in the spiritual world cannot 
appear to those who are in the natural world, 
nor vice versa; thus spirits and angels cannot 
appear to men, nor men to angels and spirits, 
on account of the difference between spir- 
itual and natural , or what is the same, 
between substantial and material existences; 
on account of this difference, spirits and 
angels have an altogether different language 
and writings, and also think differently from 
man. This was made manifest by the spirits 
going alternately to their associates, and re- 
turning to me, and thus instituting a com- 
parison. Hence it was shown that there is 
not even one word of the spiritual language 


THE AUTHOR’S INDEX TO 


eioilar to that of the natural world ; and that 
their writings consist of syllables, every one 
of which involves an idea of something; and 
also that the ideas of their thoughts do not 
fall into ideas of natural thought ; the reason 
of this difference, is, because spirits and an 
gels are in principles, while men are in de- 
rivatives, or that spirits are in those prior 
things from which as causes proceed poste- 
rior things, and men are in those posterior 
things. I was told that there is a similar dif- 
ference between the language, writings, and 
thoughts of the angels of the third heaven, 
and those of the second, n. 280. 

XXXIV. Some observations concerning 
the state of man after death in general, and 
concerning the state of those in particular 
who confirm themselves in falses of doctrine. 
1st. That men, generally, are resuscitated 
the third day after death, and that they then 
have no other idea than that they are still 
living in the natural world. 2d. That all 
men pass into the world which is between 
heaven and hell, called the world of spirits. 
3d. That there they are transferred into 
various societies, and thus their quality is 
explored. 4th. That there the good and the 
faithful are prepared for heaven, but the evil 
and unfaithful for hell. 5th. That after pre- 
paration, which continues some years, a way 
is opened for the evil to hell, and for the 
good to some society in heaven where they 
live to eternity ; with much besides. After- 
wards the nature of hell is described ; those 
there who are confirmed in falses are called 
satans, and those who are confirmed in evils 
of life, devils, n. 281. 

XXXV. I heard the exclamations, “ 0 how 
just I” “0 how learned!” “0 how wise!” 
from the lower earth which is next above 
hell, and, wondering that there should be 
just, learned, and wise men there, I descend- 
ed, and first approached the place where they 
were crying, “ 0 how just !” There I saw as 
it were a tribunal, at which unjust judges 
presided, who had the ability to dexterously 
pervert the laws and turn their decisions to 
favor whosoever they would ; thus their de- 
cisions were only arbitrary ; and when their 
decisions were communicated to their clients, 
they continued exclaiming for some distance, 
“O how just!” The angels remarked that 
judges such as these were unable to see the 
smallest iota of justice. After a time these 
judges were cast into hell and their law 
books turned into playing cards, and instead 
of judging, their office was to prepare color 
for painting the faces of harlots, and thus 
turning them into beauties, n. 332. 

XXXVI. Afterwards I went to the place 
where I heard the cry, “ 0 how learned !” 
and I saw a company of such persons as 

954 


reason, Whether a thing be or be not 
not thinking that it is so; hence they go nc 
further than the first step in every thing, and 
only touch it from without, instead of enter- 
ing into it, thus in respect to God, whether 
lie exists or not. That I might know for 
certain if they were of this character, I pro- 
posed to them, “What must be the nature of 
that religion by which a man is saved 
They replied, 1st. That they must inquire 
whether religion is really any thing. 2d, 
Whether one religion is more effectual than 
another. 3d. Whether there is eternal life, 
and thus whether there is any salvation. 4th. 
Whether there are a heaven and a hell. Then 
they began to discuss the first point, whether 
religion is any thing, and they said it would 
require so much investigation that they could 
not come to a conclusion within a year ; one 
among them said, not within a hundred 
years: to which I returned that in the mean 
time they would be without religion ; still 
they discussed the first point so cunningly 
that the crowd of bystanders exclaimed, “ 0 
how learned !” The angels informed me that 
such men appear like graven images, and 
that they are afterwards sent into a desert 
where they give themselves up to idle and 
vain discourse, n. 333. 

XXXVII. I next approached the third 
company whence I heard the exclamation, 
“ 0 how wise !” and it was given to me to 
know that those who were there assembled 
were unable to discern whether truth be truth 
or not, but yet were able to make whatso- 
ever they pleased appear like truth, and were 
consequently called Confirmers. That such 
was their character appeared also from their 
various replies to the propositions submitted 
to them ; as, that they made it true that faith 
is the all of the church, and afterwards that 
charity is the all of the church, and further, 
that faith and charity together are the all of 
the church ; and they confirmed and colored 
wdiatever arguments they pleased with ap- 
pearances, so that they shone like truths, 
and the bystanders exclaimed, “O how 
wise!” Afterwards certain ludicrous pro- 
positions were submittted to them, that they 
might show them to be truths, for they said 
that truth is nothing but what a man makes 
true ; these were, that light is darkness and 
darkness light; that a crow, also, is white 
and not black ; both of which, as may be 
seen, they caused to appear altogether like 
truths. The angels observed to me that such 
persons as these do not indeed possess a grain 
of understanding; everything which is supe- 
rior to the rational principle with them being 
closed, and every thing inferior, open : and 
this [rational principle] can confirm what it 
pleases, but not discern any truth to be * 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


i.rutli. This is Lot intelligence ; but to be 
ible to discern that to be true which is true, 
and that to be false which is false, and to 
jonfirm it, is to be intelligent, n. 334. 

XXXVIII. I discoursed with certain spi- 
rits, who, in the natural world were cele- 
brated lor their learning, and were now at 
strife one with another concerning connate* 
ideas — whether men possess them in common 
with beasts. A certain angelic spirit pre- 
sented himself, and said, “Your dispute is 
mere trifling, since neither men nor beasts 
have any connate ideas.” This excited the 
\nger ol the whole assembly, but the angel 
having obtained permission to speak, com- 
menced by saying, that beasts have no con- 
nate ideas, inasmuch as they do not think, but 
only act from an instinct, which they derive 
from their natural love ; this love in them is 
analogous to will, and it flows immediately 
into their bodily senses, exciting whatever 
is favorable and agreeable to their love, 
while ideas can be predicated only of thought. 
That beasts have sensation only, not thought, 
he confirmed in various ways, especially by 
the wonderful actions of spiders, bees, and 
silkworms ; “ Does the spider,” he asked, 
“ think in liis little head, while he forms his 
web, that he must connect the threads to- 
gether for the sake of such and such a use ? 
or does the bee think in its little head, I will 
extract from these flowers honey and wax, 
and will construct a series of little cells, and 
store abundance of honey in them, and make 
orovision for the winter ? or does the silk- 
worm think in its little head, I must now 
prepare to spin silk, and when I have done 
spinning, I will take wing and sport with my 
companions, and provide for a future pro- 
geny ? Besides many similar instances in 
beasts and birds.” With respect to mankind, 
he said, “ that any mother, or nurse, or any 
father, is aware that there are no connate 
ideas in infants recently born, nor indeed any 
other ideas until they are led to think, when 
ideas first originate, and accord with the kind 
of thought and with the instruction received ; 
and that the reason is, that there is nothing 
connate with man but the faculty to know, 
to understand, and become wise, and an in- 
clination to love, not only self and the world, 
but the neighbor and God.” These argu- 
ments were heard at a distance by Leibnitz 
and Wolff; the former favored them, but 
not so the latter, n. 335. 

XXXIX. On a certain occasion the qual- 
ity of faith and charity, and the effect of 
their conjunction, was illustrated by an an- 
gelic spirit. This he illustrated by compar- 
ison with light and heat, which become a 
third by conjunction into one, because in 
heaven, light, in its essence, is the truth ol 

955 


faith, and heat there m its essence is tli€ 
good of charity ; therefore as light without 
heat, such as it is in the world in the time of 
winter, strips the trees of their leaves and 
fruits, so does faith without charity, and that 
as light conjoined with heat, as in the time 
of spring, vivifies all things, so also does 
faith conjoined with charity, n. 385. 

XL. Two angels descended, the one from 
the eastern heaven, whose inhabitants are 
principled in love, and the other from the 
southern heaven, where they are principled 
in wisdom. They discoursed concerning th( 
essence of heaven, whether it is love or wis 
dom. They agreed that it is love and thence 
wisdom, and therefore that God created the 
heavens by wisdom from love, n. 386. 

XLI. After that I entered a garden, where 
I was led about by a certain spirit, and at 
length conducted to a palace called the Tem- 
ple of Wisdom. It was quadrangular in 
form, the walls were of crystals, the roof of 
jasper, the basement of various precious 
stones, lie told me that no one could enter 
in who did not believe that the amount of 
his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, 
with respect to what he did not know and 
understand, was so small as to be hardly 
any thing; inasmuch as I believed this I was 
permitted to enter, and I saw that the whole 
structure was formed for the reception of 
light. In the temple I related what I had 
lately heard from the two angels concerning 
love and wisdom, and they inquired Avhether 
also they did not speak of a third, which is 
use? adding, that love and wisdom without 
use are nothing but ideal or imaginary things, 
but that in use they become real ; and that 
it is the same with charity, faith, and good 
works, n. 387. 

XLII. One of the draconic spirits invited 
me to witness the delights of their love, and 
he led me to a sort of amphitheatre, upon 
the branches of which were seated satyrs and 
harlots; he then said to me, “Now thou 
shalt see our sports,” and he opened a gate, 
and let in as it were bullocks, rams, kids, 
and lambs, and immediately by another gate, 
lions, panthers, tigers, and wolves, which 
rushed among the flock, ravening and killing 
them ; all that was seen, however, was in- 
duced by fantasies. After witnessing this 
I said to the dragon, “ Thou wilt presently 
see this theatre changed into a lake of fire 
and brimstone.” The sports being ended, 
the dragon departed accompanied by his 
satyrs and harlots, and he saw a flock ol 
sheep, from which lie concluded that one ol 
the cities of Jerusalem \Ex Hicrosolymitani * ] 
was near, and when he saw it was seized with 
the desire of taking it, and casting out the 
inhabitants; but as it was surrounded by a 


THE AUTHOR’S INDEX TO 


wall he proposed to take it by stratagem, 
and then sent one skilled in enchantment, 
who was dispatched to the city to discourse 
chiefly of faith and charity, especially as to 
which of them is primary, and whether char- 
ity contributes any thing to salvation ; but 
the dragon being enraged by the replies went 
out of the city, and collected a number of 
his companions to besiege it, but while he 
was preparing to accomplish his purpose, 
fire descended from heaven and consumed 
him, according to what is predicted in Reve- 
lation xx. 8, 9, n. 388. 

XLIII. A paper was once sent down from 
heaven, containing an exhortation to acknow- 
ledge the Lord the Saviour for the God of 
heaven and earth, according to His words in 
Matthew xxviii. 18. But two bishops who 
were present were consulted as to what should 
be done, and they told them to return it to 
heaven whence it had come ; when this was 
done that society sunk down, but not to a 
great depth : the next day some of them as- 
cended and related what had occurred to 
them ; they said that they had gone to the 
prelates, and talked to them on the subject of 
their advice, and had a long conversation on 
the state of the church at this day ; that they 
had denounced their doctrine of the trinity, 
of justifying faith, of charity, and other doc- 
trines of episcopal orthodoxy, and had in- 
treated them to abandon them because they 
were contrary to the Word, but in vain. And 
because they called their faith dead and devil- 
ish, according to the words of James in his 
epistle, one of the bishops took his mitre from 
off his head, and laid it on the table, saying 
he would not resume it until he was avenged 
upon the scoffing of his faith ; but there 
then appeared a monster ascending from be- 
low like the beast described in Revelation 
xiii. 1, 2, by which the mitre was taken up 
and carried away, n. 389. 

XLIY. I went to a certain house where an 
assembly were discussing whether the good 
which a man does in the state of justification 
by faith is the good of religion or not : they 
were agreed that by the good of religion is 
to be understood the good which contributes 
to salvation. But the sentiments of those 
prevailed who said that all the good which a 
man does contributes nothing to salvation, 
inasmuch as no good proceeding from man’s 
will can be conjoined with grace, for salva- 
tion is of grace : also that no good of man’s 
can be conjoined with the merit of Christ, 
upon which alone salvation depends; nor 
any operation of man’s with the operation of 
the Holy Spirit, who does all without the 
aid of man. From this it was concluded 
that good works also in the state of justifica- 
tion by faith contribute nothing to salvation, 

956 


but only faith. Two Gentiles, who stood 
near the door, having heard this, said to one 
another, “ These men have no religion ; who 
does not know that religion consists in doing 
good to the neighbor for the sake of God, 
thus from God and with God, n. 390. 

XLV. I heard angels lamenting that such 
is the miserable lack of spiritual knowledge 
at this day in the church that nothing L 
known except that there are three divine per- 
sons, and that faith alone saves, and nothing 
concerning the Lord but historical facts 
That the most profound ignorance prevail- 
as to what is said in the Word concerning 
the Lord, and His unity with the Father, 
and concerning His Divinity and power. 
They said that a certain angel was sent by 
them to ascertain whether such ignorance 
really prevailed among Christians at this day, 
and that he inquired of one respecting the 
principle of his religion, who replied that it 
was faith ; he also questioned him further on 
the subjects of redemption, regeneration, and 
salvation, and he replied that all these were 
of faith; that charity also consisted in faith, 
and no one could do any good from himself ; 
to this the angel rejoined, “You reply like 
one who plays a single note on a pipe ; I 
hear nothing but faith ; if this is all your 
knowledge, you know nothing.” He then 
led him away to his associates in a desert 
place where there was no grass. — With much 
besides, n. 391. 

XLYI. I saw five gymnasia surrounded 
with light of various colors, and, together 
with many others, I entered the first, which 
appeared as it were in flame-colored light ; 
many persons were assembled there, and the 
president proposed that they should offer 
their opinions on the subject of charity. 
After hearing his exordium ; the first speaker 
expressed his opinion that charity is morality 
inspired by faith. The second, that it is 
piety inspired by a sense of our miserable 
state. The third, that it consists in doing 
good to every one, to the wicked as well as 
the upright. The fourth, that it is charity 
to serve our relations and friends in everj 
way. The fifth, that it consists in giving 
alms to the poor and relieving the indigent. 
The sixth, that it consists in building houses 
for the sick and indigent, asylums for or- 
phans, <fec. The seventh, that it consists in 
endowing churches and conferring benefits 
on their ministers. The eighth, that the old 
Christian brotherhood is charity. The ninth, 
that it consists in forgiving every one his 
trespasses. All the speakers adduced ample 
corroborations of their opinions, which are 
too extendve to cite here, but may be seen 
in the ac* ount itself. Afterwards I mysell 
was permitted to express my sentiment^" and 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


[ said, “That charity consists in doing all 
things, and performing every duty from the 
love oi justice with judgment, influenced by 
a love derived solely from the Lord the 
Saviour.” To the demonstration of this I 
added also that all the sentiments which had 
been expressed by the nine eminent speakers 
were excellent evidences of charity, if only 
done from justice with judgment; and fur- 
ther, as justice and judgment are solely from 
the Lord the Saviour, if they are done by man 
from Him. This was approved by many in 
their internal man, but not so in their exter- 
nal, n. 459. 

XLV1I. I heard from a distance a noise 
like the gnashing of teeth mingled with a 
sort of knocking, and approaching the place 
whence the sound came I saw a small house 
built of rushes cemented together, and in- 
stead of the gnashing of teeth and sound of 
knocking, I heard within the house an alter- 
cation concerning faith and charity, as to 
which of them is to be regarded as the essen- 
tial of the church. Those who argued in 
favor of faith maintained that faith is spir- 
itual because it is from God, but charity is 
natural because it is of man. On the other 
hand, those who were in favor of charity 
maintained that charity is spiritual, and that 
faith unless it be conjoined with charity is 
natural. To these arguments a certain Syn- 
cratist, willing to end the dispute, added a 
few words, in confirmation that faith is spir- 
itual, and charity only natural; but it was 
rejoined that moral life is twofold, spiritual 
and natural; that in a man who lives that 
life, from the Lord it is spiritual-moral, but 
in him who does not, it is natural-moral, such 
as it is with the evil, and even with spirits in 
hell, n. 460. 

XLVIII. I was once conducted in the 
spirit to a certain garden in the southern 
quarter, and observed persons sitting under 
a laurel-tree and eating figs. I inquired of 
them how they understood the doctrine that 
man is to do good from God, and yet to do 
it as from himself. They answered that God 
operates good internally in man, but if man 
from his own will and understanding did that 
good, he would defile it so that it would be 
good no longer. To this I replied, that man 
is only an organ of life, and if he believes in 
che Lord he does good of himself from Him, 
but if he does not believe in the Lord, and 
still more if he does not believe in any God, 
he does good of himself from hell ; further- 
more, that the Lord imparts to man the 
freedom of choosing to act either from the oye 
or from the other. That this freedom of de- 
termination is given by the Lord, is evident 
from the Word, which commands man to 
love God and his neighbor, to bring forth 

957 


| the good works of charity as a tree bears its 
fruit, and to observe His precepts in order 
that he may be saved, for that every one is 
judged according to his deeds: these things 
would not be commanded if man was not 
able to do good of himself from the Lord. 
After these observations I presented them 
with twigs from a certain vine, and the twigs 
in their hands put forth grapes. — With other 
particulars, n. 461. 

XLIX. I saw a grand arsenal or dock 
containing large and small ships, and upon 
the decks were boys and girls who were in 
expectation of witnessing turtles rise from 
the sea. When they arose I observed that 
they had two heads, one of which they could 
retract within the shells of their bodies, the 
other appeared in form like the head of a 
man. With this head they spake to the boys 
and girls, who flattered them for their ele- 
gant discourse and presented them with rich 
gifts. The signification of these appearances 
was explained by an angel, who said, there 
are men in the world, and as many spirits 
after death, who say that in those who have 
acquired faith, God regards nothing that they 
think and do, but looks to their faith alone, 
which faith is concealed in the interiors of 
their minds. Yet the same persons preach 
the holy doctrines of the Word before their 
congregations in the same manner as others, 
but their discourses proceed from the larger 
head, which has the appearance of a man’s, 
and in which the little head is for the time con- 
cealed, or else withdrawn into their bodies. 
After this I observed the same persons in a 
ship, having seven sails and flying in the air: 
those in the ship wore laurels, and were 
clothed in purple garments, and they cried 
aloud that they were the chief of the learned 
among the clergy, but it was seen that these 
appearances were the fantastic images pro- 
ceeding from the ideas of their minds. When 
they alighted upon the ground I discoursed 
with them, first from reason, and afterwards 
from the Sacred Scriptures, and proved in 
various ways that their doctrines were the 
offspring of insanity, and being contrary to 
the Sacred Scriptures, were from hell. These 
arguments are too long to be cited here, but 
they may be seen in the account itself. I 
afterwards saw these persons in a sandy place 
in ragged clothing with fisher’s nets as it 
were girt about their loins, through which 
their nakedness appeared, and lastly, they 
sunk down to a society on the confines of the 
Machiavelists, n. 462. 

L. An assembly was convened, which held 
its sitting in a round temple, at the sides ol 
which there were altars, next which the 
members of the assembly took their seats; 
but there was no president, and consequently 


THE AUTHOR’S INDEX TO 


every one, as he pleased, rushed into the 
midale of the assembly and clamorously ex- 
pressed his opinions. They began with a 
discussion on free-will in regard to spiritual 
things, and the first, rudely advancing, ex- 
claimed, that man had no more freedom of 
choice in such things than Lot’s wife when 
she had become a pillar of salt. The second, 
that he had no more freedom than a beast or 
a dog. The third, that he had no more free- 
dom of action than a mole, or than an owl 
in daylight. The fourth asserted, that if 
man had freedom of choice in spiritual mat- 
ters, he would become a maniac, and believe 
himself to be as God, with ability to regener- 
ate and save himself. The sixth read from 
the book of the Evangelical Protestants, called 
the Formula Concordia:, that man has no 
more freedom in things spiritual than a stock 
or a stone, and that in such matters he is 
unable either to think, to will, or to do tire 
least thing, neither can he apply or accom- 
modate himself to receive them; besides 
much more, concerning which see above, 
n. 464. After this I was permitted to speak. 
I asked them whether a man would be any 
better than a mere brute without freedom of 
choice in spiritual things, and without such 
freedom to what purpose was all their the- 
ology? But they replied to this, If you rend 
our theology you will not discover any thing 
spiritual therein, since this is so interiorly 
concealed in it that not a trace of it can be 
seen. In what our theology teaches concern- 
ing justification, that is, concerning the re- 
mission of sins, regeneration, sanctification, 
and salvation, you will find nothing spiritual, 
inasmuch as these virtues flow, in by means 
of faith without any consciousness on the 
part of man. He removed charity and re- 
ewise from connection with what 
and as to redemption, he attribu- 
ted to God merely natural and human prop- 
erties; as that He had included the whole 
race of mankind under the curse; that the 
Son bore it in llis own person, and thus pro- 

E itiated the Father, “And what is there,” 
e asked, “ if a spiritual nature in the Son’s 
intercession and mediation with the Father? 
From this it is plain, that in ‘ our whole 
theology there i3 nothing spiritual, nor even 
rational, but only what is below them, or 
natural.” At that instant thunder was heard 
from heaven, and, the assembly breaking up 
in terror, every one fled to his own house, 
n. 503. 

LI. I once discoursed witli two spirits, 
one of whom loved the good and the true, 
and the other, the evil and the false, and I 
discovered that both had the faculty of think- 
ing rationally at their pleasure ; but when he 
who loved the evil and false was left to him- 

958 


pentance ill 
is spiritual, 


self, I saw smoke, as it were, ascend from 
hell, which extinguished the lucidity that 
was above his memory ; and when he who 
loved good and truth was left to himself, I 
observed as it were a bright flame, which 
descended from heaven and illuminated the 
region of his mind above the memory, and 
from thence all that was below it. After- 
wards I conversed with the spirit who loved 
evil and the false on the subject of man’s 
free choice in spiritual tilings, but he became 
enraged at the very mention of it, and de- 
clared that no one was able to move hand or 
foot to do any spiritual good, nor his tongue 
to utter any spiritual truth, nor to apply or 
accommodate himself to receive any thing 
spiritual; for is not man in such things dead 
and merely passive ? And how can what is 
merely passive or dead do good and speak 
truth of itself? Has not the church also 
thus decided ? But the other spirit who loved 
good and truth, declared in favor of man’s 
freedom of choice, for what would the whole 
Word avail without it? what would avail the 
church? or religion? or the worship of God ? 
consequently, of what use would be the 
ministry ? I know from the light of my un- 
derstanding that a man without that spiritual 
liberty would not be a man, but a beast, for 
he is a man and not a beast because he has 
liberty. He added, furthermore, that without 
freedom of choice in things spiritual, man 
could not live after death, thus not to eter 
nity, because he could linve no conjunction 
with God ; to deny this freedom, therefore, 
is a sign of insanity in things spiritual 
After this a serpent [jorester] w T as seen upon 
a tree, who offered the fruit to him who de 
nied man’s freedom of determination in spir- 
itual things. And when he had eaten it 
there appeared a smoke ascending from hell, 
which extinguished, as to its lucidity, the 
superior part of his rational mind, n. 604. 

LII. I once heard a noise resembling two 
millstones in collision, and approaching the 
place whence the sound proceeded, I saw a 
house, in which there were many small cells, 
where the learned of the present age sat and 
confirmed the doctrine of justification by 
faith alone; approaching one I inquired 
what at the present moment, occupied his 
mind : he replied, the act of justifica- 
tion, the chief of all the doctrines in our 
orthodox faith. I then asked whether the 
entrance of justifying faith was known by 
any sign, or whether it was so known when 
it had entered: and he answered that this 
took place, not actively, but passively ; at 
which I rejoined, that if activity in respect 
to this operation is not granted, the capacity 
of reception is taken away, and thus the act 
becomes purely ideal, or an enn rationis. 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


and resembles nothing but the statue of Lot’s 
wile, tinkling when it is touched with a 
6cribe s pen, or finger-nail, because it is com- 
posed of nothing but salt. Becoming wrath- 
ful, the man took up a candlestick to cast at 
me, but the light going -out, it struck his com- 
panion, n. 505. 

LIII. I saw two flocks, the one of goats, 
the other of sheep; but when I saw them 
from a nearer view, instead of goats and 
sheep there appeared men, and it was per- 
ceived that the flock of goats consisted of 
those who make faith alone saving, and the 
sheep of those who join charity with faith. 
To my interrogation, why they had assem- 
bled, those wild appeared like goats, replied 
that they constituted a council, for it had 
been represented to them that Paul’s saying, 
“ That a man is justified by faith without the 
works of the law” (Rom. iii. 28), was not 
rightly understood ; for that faith in that 
passage does not mean faith as it is now un- 
derstood, but faith in the Lord the Saviour ; 
and by the works of the law, are not meant 
those commanded in the decalogue, but the 
works of the Mosaic law, which were rituals 
(which is likewise proved). Their conclusion 
was, that faith produces good works, as a 
tree produces fruits. This conclusion was 
favored by those who constituted the flock of 
sheep, but at that moment an angel appeared 
between the two flocks, and cried to the flock 
of sheep, “Do not hearken to them, they 
have not receded from their former faith 
and he divided the sheep into two flocks, and 
6aid to those on the left, “ Go to the goats, 
but I forewarn you that a wolf will come, 
which will seize them and you along with 
them.” But they began to inquire, how it 
was understood that faith produces works as 
a tree produces fruits: and it became mani- 
fest that their perception of ihe conjunction 
of faith and charity was at complete disagree- 
ment with that comparison, and thus that 
the words were deceptive ; on discerning this 
the sheep reunited themselves into one flock 
as before, and some of th$ goats joined them, j 
acknowledging that charity is the essence of 
faith; thus that faith separate from it is only 
natural ; but conjoined to it becomes spirit- 
ual, n. 506. 

LIV. I discoursed with angels concerning 
three loves which are universal, and there- 
fore in every man, which are the love of 

THE NFTGHBOR, OR THE LOVE OF USE, 

which in itself is spiritual ; the love of 

THE WORLD, OR THE LOVE OF POSSESSING 

wealth, which in itself is material ; and 

THE LOVE OF SELF, OR THE LOVE OF DOMINION 

over others, which in itself is corporeal. 
When these loves are rightly subordinated in 
man, he is truly a man and they are prop- 

959 


! erly subordinate when the love of the neigh- 
bor constitutes the head ; the "love of the 
world, the body ; and the love of self, the 
feet. It is altogether different when these 
loves find their seat in man contrary to order 
and it was shown what his quality is when 
the love of the world constitutes the head, 
and what it is when the love of self, — that he 
is then an inverted man,— a wild beast as to 
the interiors of his mind, and as to his exte- 
riors and his body, a mere stage player. 
After this discourse a certain devil was seen 
ascending from the lower regions, having a 
dusky countenance and a white circle about 
his head, and he said that he was Lucifer 
(although he was not), and that in his in- 
ternal he was a devil, but in his external an 
angel of light. He added that when he is in 
externals he is moral among the moral, ra- 
tional among the rational, and even spiritual 
among the spiritual: and that when in the 
world he had been a preacher, and had de- 
claimed against evil doers of all kinds, and 
hence it was that he was called the son of the 
morning. He said further, it was a subject 
of wonder to him, that while he was in the 
pulpit he perceived no other than that what 
he spake was so, but the case was different 
when he was not in the temple; for that in 
the temple he was in his externals, and when 
this was the case he was in understanding 
alone, but when he was out of the temple, he 
was in his internal, and then he was in the 
will; thus that understanding raised him to 
heaven, but will drew him towards hell ; and 
the will prevails over the understanding be- 
cause it disposes it to favor and consent 
After this the devil counterfeiting Lucifer 
sunk down into hell, n. 507. 

LY. I saw a temple circular in form, the 
roof of which was like a crown, the walls 
continuous windows of crystal, and the gates 
of a pearl-like substance: within it there 
was a reading-desk, upon which lay the Word 
surrounded with a sphere of light. In the 
midst of the temple there was a sacred place 
I with a veil to conceal it, which at that time 
was removed, and within it stood a cherub 
with a sword vibrating in his hand. After 
seeing these things, their signification (as 
may be seen), was made known to me. Over 
the* gates these words were written, “Now 
it is allowable,” by which is signified that 
it is now allowable to enter intellectually 
into the mysterii s of faith, and I perceived 
that it would be highly dangerous to enter 
intellectually into the tenets of faith formed 
from man’s own intelligence, and conse- 
quently consisting of falses, and much more 
so to confirm this from the Word. It was 
on this account of the Divine Providence 
that the Word was taken from the Rcmai 


THE AUTHOR’S INDEX TO 


Catholics, apd that among the Protestants 
it was closed up by their dogma that the un- 
derstanding is to be kept under obedience to 
faith. But inasmuch as the tenets of the 
New Church are all from the Word, it is 
allowed to enter into them with the under- 
standing, for they form a chain of truths 
from the Word, which also shines before the 
intellectual sight. This was signified by the 
writing over the gates, “Now it is allow- 
able,” and by the veil withdrawn from the 
sacred place within which stood the cherub. 
After this a paper was brought to me by an 
infant, who was an angel of the third heaven, 
and on it was written, Fbom this time 
ENTER INTO THE MYSTERIES OF THE WORD, 
WHICH BEFORE WAS CLOSED UP | FOR ALL ITS 
TRUTHS ARE SO MANY MIRRORS OF THE LORD, 

d. 508. 

LYI. I was seized with a serious disease 
occasioned by a smoke from that Jerusalem 
which in the Revelation (xi. 8) is called 
Sodom and Egypt, and was seen by those 
who were in the city as one dead. They said 
one to another that I was not worthy of 
burial, as is said of the two witnesses in the 
same chapter of the Revelation. In the 
mean time I heard many blasphemies from 
the citizens on account of my having preached 
the doctrine of repentance and faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. But as the judgment 
upon them was at hand I saw the whole city 
fall down, and become inundated with water. 
Afterwards I saw the inhabitants wandering 
among the ruins, and lamenting that such a 
fate had befallen them, when yet they be- 
lieved according to the faith of their church 
that they were reborn and thus justified. 
But they were told that this was nevertheless 
theii lot, because they had never done any 
work of repentance, and henee they were not 
conscious in themselves of a single damning 
evil. They were afterwards told from heaven 
that faith in the Lord, and repentance, are 
the two means of regeneration and salvation, 
and that this, as may be seen in the relation 
itself, is well known from the Word, and 
moreover from the Decalogue, and from the 
sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper, 
n. 567. 

LVII. All who, after death, come into the 
spiritual world, are at first held in the ex- 
ternals in which they were while in the 
natural world, and as the greatest number 
while they are in externals live morally, fre- 
quent temples, and pray to God, they believe 
that they will assuredly go to heaven. They 
are instructed, however, that every man after 
death successively puts off the external man, 
and that the internal man is opened, and 
that his real quality then becomes known ; 
for a man is a man by virtue of will and un- 

960 


derstanding, and not from action and speech 
only; hence it is that a man may appear like 
a sheep in externals, and yet internally be 
like a wolf. In the internal itself he is like- 
wise of this quality unless he explore the 
evils of his will and thence of his intentions, 
and hence performs the work of repentance. 
With much besides, 668. 

LVTII. Every love exhales its delight, but 
these delights are hardly perceivable in the 
natural world ; in the spiritual world how- 
ever they become manifest, and are some- 
times changed into odors, and then the 
quality of the delights and of the love from 
which they originate are perceived. The 
delights of the love of good are perceived, 
according to their quality in heaven, like the 
fragrance of gardens and flowers, and on the 
other hand, the delights of the love of evil, 
according to their quality in hell, like reek- 
ing and fetid smells from stagnant waters 
and dunghills. On account of this opposi- 
tion the devils are tormented when they are 
sentient of any sweet odor of heaven, and 
the angels in like manner by the stenches of 
hell. This was confirmed by two examples. 
On this account the anointing oil was pre- 
pared from aromatics, and it is said that the 
odor of an offering is grateful to Jehovah; 
and on the other hand, that the children of 
Israel were commanded to carry unclean 
things out of their camp, and to bury their 
excrement, for their camp represented hea- 
ven, and the desert outside represented hell, 
n. 569. 

LIX. A certain novitiate spirit, who, 
in the world, had frequently meditated con- 
cerning heaven and hell, and had desired to 
know their respective quality, was directed 
from heaven to inquire what delight is, 
and he would know. He inquired, there- 
fore, but amongst spirits who were merely 
natural he inquired in vain. He was (hen 
conducted successively to three assemblies; 
— to one where they explored ends, and 
are therefore called spirits of wisdom ; to a 
second where they penetrated into causes, 
and are therefore called spirits of intelli- 
gence ; and to a third where they search out 
effects, and are therefore called spirits of 
science. He was instructed by these differ- 
ent companies that the life of every angel, 
spirit, and man, is from the delight of his 
love, and that the will and understanding are 
not able to make the smallest movement ex- 
cept from the delight of some love, and this 
in each individual is what is called good : 
and further, that the delight of heaven is the 
delight of doing good, and the delight of 
hell the delight of doing evil. In order that 
he might be further instructed, a devil, who 
was allowed to ascend, described in his pre- 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


sence the delights of hell, that they were the 
delights of revenge, whoredom, fraud, and 
blasphemy, and that when these delights are 
perceived there as odors, they are perceived 
as iragrant balm, and he therefore called 
them the delight of his nostrils, n. 670. 

LX. I saw a company of spirits praying 
to God to send angels to them who might 
instruct them concerning faith, for they were 
uncertain of many things, inasmuch as the 
churches were not agreed upon them, and 
all their ministers said, Believe us, we 

ARE THE MINISTERS OF GOD, AND WE KNOW. 
And angels appeared, whom they questioned 
concerning charity and faith, concerning re- 
pentance, regeneration, concerning God, the 
immortality of the soul, baptism, and the 
holy supper. To each of these inquiries the 
angels replied, that such subjects fall within 
the understanding, and thus what is not re- 
ceived in the understanding is like seed 
sown in the sand, which perishes, however 
the rains water it, and that when the under- 
standing is closed by religion, it can no longer 
see any thing whatever in the Word from 
the light which is therein from the Lord; 
ea, that the more it reads the more blind it 
ecomes in respect to faith and salvation, 
n. 621. 

LXI. How man enters heaven when he is 
prepared, namely, that after preparation he 
sees a way, which leads to the society in 
heaven where he is to live to eternity, and 
that near to the society is a gate which is 
opened, and after his intromission examina- 
tion is made whether he is in similar light 
and heat, that is, similar truth and good, as 
the angels of that society. He then goes 
about inquiring where his house is, for there 
is a new house for every novitiate angel, and 
when it is found, he is received and numbered 
as one of their society. But when those in 
whom there is no light and heat, that is, 
truth and good of heaven, enter such socie- 
ties, they are miserably tormented, and on 
account of the torment cast themselves down 
headlong; this is in consequence of their 
being opposed to the sphere of the light and 
heat of heaven, and such afterwards no 
longer desire heaven, but consociate with 
their like in hell ; hence it is evident, that it 
is in vain to think that admittance to heaven 
is only of grace, and that those who are ad- 
mitted enjoy its delights, like those in the 
work' who are admitted to a marriage, 
n. 622. 

LXII. Many, who had believed that hea- 
ven consisted only in admission of grace, and 
after admission eternal joy, were permitted 
«o ascend into heaven, but as they were not 
able to bear its light and heat, that is, its 
fib.tL and love, they cast themselves down 


headlong, and then appeared to those who 
were below like dead horses; among those 
who thus saw them were some boys with 
their master, w T ho taught them what is sig- 
nified by the appearance of dead horses, and 
afterwards who they were that appeared so 
at a distance. He said that they were those 
who, while they read the Word think mate- 
rially and not spiritually of God, of the neigh- 
bor, and of heaven ; and that those think 
materially of God who think of essence from 
person, and of the quality of the neighbor 
from his face and speech, and of heaven, as 
to the state of love there, from place ; and 
that those think spiritually who think of God 
from essence, and thence from person, of the 
neighbor from quality and thence from face 
and speech, and of heaven from the state of 
love there and thence from place. He then 
instructed them that a horse signifies the un 
derstanding of the Word, and as the Word 
with those who think spiritually while they 
read it, is a living letter, such persons at a 
distance appear like living horses ; and on 
the other hand, as the Word with those who 
think materially while they read it, is a dead 
letter, such appear at a distance like dead 
horses, n. 623. 

LXIII. I saw an angel descending from 
heaven into the world with a paper in his 
hand, upon which was written the marriage 
of good and truth ; and I observed that in 
heaven the paper shone, but in descending it 
became gradually less and less lucid until 
neither the paper nor the angel could be seen 
except by some of the unlearned who were 
simple in heart. The angel explained to 
these what was involved in the marriage of 
good and truth, namely, that every thing in 
general and particular, both in the universal 
heaven and the universal world, contain 
both together, because good and truth in the 
Lord God the Creator make one, and there- 
fore there is not a single thing that re- 
lates to truth alone, nor a single thing that 
relates to good alone, consequently that in 
the whole and in its particulars there is the 
marriage of good and truth ; in the church 
there is the marriage of charity and faith, 
because charity is of good and faith is of 
truth, n. 624. 

LXIY. I was once in profound meditation 
concerning the advent of the Lord, and I saw 
heaven luminous from the east to the west. 
I heard also a glorification and celebration of 
the Lord by the angels ; but it was from the 
prophetic Word of the Old Testament, as well 
as from the apostolic Word of the New. The 
very passages of the Word from which the 
glorification was taken, may be seen in the 
relation itself, n. 625. 

LXV. In the eastern part of the northern 

Q Q Q 


THE AUTHOR'S INDEX TO 


quarter there are places of instruction, and 
those who receive interior instructions there 
are called disciples of the Lord. When I 
was once in the spirit, I inquired of the 
teachers there whether they were acquainted 
with the universals of heaven and of hell. 
They replied that the universals of heaven 
are three loves — the love of uses, the love 
of possessing worldly goods for the sake of 
use, and true conjugial love ; and that the 
universals of hell are three loves opposite to 
these three — the love of dominion from the 
love of self, the love of possessing the goods 
of others from the love of the world, and 
6cortatory love. Then follows a description 
of the quality of the first infernal love, which 

is THE LOVE OF DOMINION FROM THE LOVE 

of self ; this,* with the laity, is of such a 
nature, that when its restraints are relaxed 
they are desirous of dominion over the whole 
world ; while the clergy -wish to have do- 
minion over the whole heaven. That such 
a fantasy prevails over those who are prin- 
cipled in this love is confirmed by the 
like in hell, where those are together in a 
certain valley who find the delight of their 
souls in the fantasy that they are emperors 
of emperors, or kings of kings, and elsewhere 
those who delight in the fantasy that they 
are gods ; and I saw that on the appearance 
of the latter the former, who were of such 
high minds, fell upon their knees and wor- 
shipped. I afterwards spake with two angels, 
whereof one was a prince of a certain society 
in heaven, and the other its chief priest. 
They said that amongst them in their society 
there are magnificent and splendid objects, 
because their love is not from the love of 
self, but from the love of uses, and that 
they are surrounded with honors, which they 
accept not for their own sakes, but for the 
sake of the good of obedience. I then asked 
them, “ How can any one know whether he 
performs uses from the love of self or the 
world, or from the love of uses, inasmuch 
as uses flow from all three? suppose a so- 
ciety to consist of nothing but satans, and 
another society consisting entirely of angels, 
I can imagine that the satans from the love 
of self and the world might perform as many 
uses in their society as the angels. Who 
therefore can say from which love the uses 
proceed?” To this the prince and the priest 
replied, that satans perform uses for the fame 
of being exalted to honors and acquiring 
riches, but angels perform uses for the sake 
of uses. The former are distinguished from 
the latter chiefly by this — that all who believe 
•in the Lord, and shun evils as sins, perform 
uses from the Lord, and thus from the 
love of uses ; but all who do not believe, 
nor shun ivils as sins, perform uses from 

962 


themselves, and for the sake of themselves* 
thus from the love of self or the world, n. 
661. ■ # 

LX VI. I entered a certain grove and saw 
two angels conversing together ; I approached, 
and found the subject of their conversation 
to be the lust of possessing all things of the 
world. They said that many who appear 
moral in their actions and rational in their 
discourse, are in the insanity of that lust, 
and that such concupiscence is turned into 
fantasies in those who indulge in such ideas. 
As every one is permitted in the spiritual 
world to delight in his fantasy, only not to 
do evil to another, there are congregations of 
such persons in the lower earth. As it was 
known were they were, we descended, and 
went among them, and saw them sitting at 
tables, upon which there was a great abund- 
ance of gold coin. They said that this was 
thew r ealth of the whole kingdom ; but it was 
only an imaginary sight or fantasy by which 
they produced that appearance. But when 
it was told them that they were insane, they 
turned away from their tables and confessed 
it was so ; yet inasmuch as that appearance 
delights them above all things, they cannot 
help going and gratifying the enticements of 
their senses. They said further, that if any 
of them takes another's property, or does any 
evil, they fall into a certain prison under 
neath, where they are kept to work for food, 
clothing, and small pieces of money, and if 
they do any mischief there they are fined and 
punished, n. 662. 

LXVII. I heard a dispute between a cer- 
tain royal ambassador and two priests as to 
whether intelligence and wisdom, and con- 
sequently prudence are from God, or wheth-. 
er they are from man. The ambassador 
maintained that they are of man, but the 
priests that they are from God. It was per- 
ceived, however, by some angels, that the 
priests within their own minds believed the 
same as the ambassador, namely, that intel- 
ligence and wisdom, and hence prudence, 
are from man. In proof of this the ambas- 
sador was requested to take off his official 
robes and put on the garments of the sacer- 
dotal office, and when he did this, he began 
to confirm abundantly that all intelligence, 
and prudence likewise, are from God. After 
this the priests were requested to take off 
their vestments and put on the clothing of 
political ministers, and when they did this 
they spake from their interior selves, saying 
that all intelligence and prudence are from 
man. The reason of their speaking thus 
was, thaf a spirit thinks himself to be of a 
quality like the garments which he wears. 
After this the three became cordial friends, 
and, discoursing together, went along a way 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


which leads downwards, but afterwards I saw 
them return, 663. 

LXVIII. Concerning those who, in the 
Word, are called the Elect, and that they 
are such as are found after death to have 
lived a lite of charity and faith, and are sep- 
arated from those who have not lived that 
life, and thus are then elected and prepared 
for heaven. Wherefore to believe that only 
some before they are born, or afterwards, 
are elected and predestinated to heaven, and 
not all, as all are called, is to suppose that 
God has not power to save, and even that he 
is unjust, n. 664. 

LXIX. It was related in heaven by a cer- 
tain new-comer, that no one in the Christian 
world knew what conscience was. The an- 
gels could not credit this, and they directed a 
certain spirit to take a trumpet and call to- 
gether the intelligent, to inquire of them 
whether they know what conscience is. 
This was done, and among those who as- 
sembled there were politicians, scholars, 
physicians, and clergymen. It was then 
inquired, first of the politicians, what con- 
science was, and they answered that it was 
a fear, either preconceived, or arising from 
detection, of the loss of honor or wealth ; or 
a melancholy humor arising from indigestion 
in the stomach ; with much besides. After- 
wards the scholars were asked what they 
knew about conscience ; they replied that it 
was sorrow and anxiety infesting the body 
and thence the head, or the head and thence 
the body, arising from various causes, but es- 
pecially from the mind dwelling much on one 
thing alone, and chiefly when the ruling love 
suffers, whence arise phantasies and delirious 
follies, and in some cases brain-sick fancies 
in religious matters, which are called remorse 
of conscience. After these, the physicians 
were asked what conscience was, and they 
replied, that it was nothing but a sadness 
originating in various diseases, many of 
which they enumerated, as may be seen in 
the relation itself; of these they said they had 
cured a considerable number by their healing 
art. Lastly, the question was put to the 
clergy, what conscience was, and they an- 
swered that it was the contrition which pre- 
cedes faith, and that they heal it by Evan- 
gelical consolation ; they said further, that 
there are conscientious persons of every re- 
ligion, whether it be fanatical or true, who 
make to themselves scruples in matters of 
salvation, as well as in things indifferent. 
The angels, on hearing these replies, per- 
ceived the fact that no one knew what con- 
science really was, they therefore sent one of 
their number to give instruction. Standing 
in the midst of the assembly he told them that 
conscience did not consist in any uneasiness, 

963 


as they had all conjectured, but in a life ac- 
cording to religion, and that those especially 
are in that life who are principled in the 
faith of charity ; and that those who possess 
conscience, as he illustrated by examples, 
speak from the heart when they speak, and 
act from the heart when they act ; when it is 
said therefore that any one has a conscience, 
it is understood that he is just ; and contrari- 
wise. After this, the persons assembled di- 
vided themselves into four companies [differ- 
ing from their former arrangement] ; into 
one company all those were collected who 
understood and assented to what the angel 
had said ; in another, those who did not un- 
derstand, but were still disposed to favor it ; 
in a third, those who had no wish to under- 
stand it, saying among themselves, “ What 
have we to do with conscience ?” And in a 
fourth those who ridiculed it, saying, “What 
is conscience but a breath of wind ?” I after 
wards saw those two latter companies depart 
to the left, while the former two went to the 
right, n. 665. 

LXX. I was led to a place where the old 
Sophi of Greece dwelt together, and which 
they call Parnassus. I was told that they 
periodically depute certain of their number 
to seek out any new-comers from the world, 
and to inquire concerning the present state 
of wisdom on the earth. Two new-comers 
from Christendom had then been found and 
brought to them, and they immediately asked 
them, “What news from earth?” They 
replied that this was new there, — that men 
had been found in forests, who had proba- 
bly been lost there when they were chil- 
dren, and that although indeed they ap- 
peared like men as to their faces, they were 
still not men, and it had been concluded in 
the world that a man was nothing more than 
a beast except as to his capacity of articula- 
ting sound and thus speaking, and that beasts, 
in like manner, if they were gifted with 
articulate speech would have the same ca- 
pacity of intelligence; with much besides. 
The Sophi, from what they had heard, came 
to many conclusions concerning wisdom ; 
what changes it had undergone since their 
time ; and from this especially that men know 
not the difference between the state of man 
and the state of beasts, nor indeed that a man 
is only born in the form of a man, and that he 
becomes a man by instruction, and according 
to the nature of the instruction he receives ; 
that he is made wise by truths, insane byfal- 
ses, and interiorly brutal by evils ; and that 
he is only born with a faculty to know, to 
understand, and become wise, to the end that 
he may be a subject in whom God may in- 
spire wisdom, from its first to its highest de- 
gree. They said, moreover, that they per- 


THE AUTHOR’S INDEX TO 


ceived from these new-comers that wisdom, 
which in their time was in the east, had de- 
clined to the west. After this they instructed 
the novitiates, as may be seen in the relation 
itself, how it was that man, created in the 
form of God, could be changed into a form 
of the devil, n. 692. 

LXXI. It was again announced that an 
assembly would take place where the old 
Sophi resided, because they had heard from 
their emissaries that they had met with three 
new-comers from the earth, one of whom 
was a priest, another a politician, and a third 
a philosopher. These were conducted to the 
assembly and immediately asked, “What 
news from the earth?” And they replied, 
This is new, we have heard that a certain 
person declares that he holds converse with 
angels and spirits, and he relates many things 
concerning their state, among other things, 
thrtt man is equally a man after death, with 
this difference only, that he then puts on a 
spiritual body, while before death his body 
was material. On hearing this the sages 
asked the priest what he had thought of this 
information on earth ; he replied that inas- 
much as he had believed that a man would 
not live again as a man before the last judg- 
ment, he, with the rest of his order, had 
thought such relations to be visions, after- 
wards fictions, and at length had hesitated to 
come to any conclusion. It was then asked 
whether the inhabitants of the earth were 
able to see, rationally, that a man lives a man 
after death, and so to dissipate the paradoxes 
concerning the intermediate state of the soul, 
which are, that souls float in the universe like 
vapors, and continually expect the last judg- 
ment, when they will be reunited to their 
bodies, a lot which is worse than that of any 
beast: to this the priest replied, that there 
are some who say this, but they do not con- 
vince the others, who ascribe the reunion of 
souls with their dead bodies, and skeletons in 
the sepulchre, to the omnipotence of God, and 
when omnipotence and faith are named rea- 
son is banished. After this the politician 
was asked concerning those reports, and he 
replied that in the world he could not believe 
that man lived as a man after death, inasmuch 
as the whole man lies dead in the sepulchre, 
and therefore that the author of those re- 
ports saw phantoms which he thought were 
angels and spirits ; but that now he was 
convinced by his very senses that he lives 
a man as before, and was in consequence 
ashamed of his former thoughts. The phi- 
losopher gave much the same account of 
himself and his associates, and added that 
what he had seen and heard from that man 
he had classed among the opinions and hy- 
potheses which he had collected from ancient 

964 


and modern authors. On hearing these re- 
plies the Sophi were amazed, more especially 
that Christians, who are in a superior light 
to others from revelation, should be in such 
darkness concerning the life after death, when 
yet they and the wise of their time knew 
and believed in that life. They said further, 
that they perceived the light of wisdom had 
since their times descended from the interiors 
of the brain to the mouth, under the nose, 
where it appeared like a shining of the lip, 
and hence the speech resembles wisdom. 
Hereupon one of the scholars exclaimed, 
“ Oh how stupid are the minds of men upon 
earth at this day 1 Oh that the disciples ot 
Heraclitus, who weep at every thing, and 
those of Democritus, who laugh at every 
thing, were here, fpr we should hear much 
laughter and much weeping?” Afterwards 
plates of copper upon which were engraven 
some hieroglyphic characters were given to 
the novitiates, and they departed, n. 693. 

LXXII. Three new-comers from the world 
were found and conducted to the city un- 
der Parnassus, where they were asked, “What 
news from the earth?” and they replied, 
that in the world they had believed in a 
future rest from every kind of labor, and 
yet they had heard when they came hither 
that there are administrations, offices, and 
works, as in the former world, and con- 
sequently that there is no rest. To this 
the wise persons there replied, “So ye be- 
lieved that ye were now to live in mere 
ease, when yet from such ease arises languor, 
torpor, stupidity, and lethargy both of the 
mind and body, which are not life but death.” 
Then they were conducted about the city to 
see the administrators and operatives ; when 
they had seen these they wondered that such 
things existed, w r hile they had believed that 
the future was a certain inane state in which 
souls continue until the new heaven and the 
new earth exist. They were instructed that 
all things which here appear to the eye are 
substantial and are called spiritual, and that 
all things in the former world are material, 
and are called natural, and that the differ- 
ence is in their origin ; every thing in the 
spiritual world exists and subsists from the 
sun which is pure love ; and every thing in 
the natural world from the sun which is pure 
fire. They were further instructed also, that 
there are not only administrations in the 
spiritual world, but studies of every kind, 
as well as writings and books. The novi- 
tiates were rejoiced at these instructions, 
and, when they departed, some virgins came 
and presented them with pieces of embroid- 
ery and net- work made with their own hands. 
They also sang an ode before them, which 
expressed, by the sw'eetness of its angelil 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


melody, the affection of useful works, n. 
694. 

LXXIII. I was introduced into an as- 
sembly where some of the old philosophers 
were also present* and was asked what was 
known in the natural world concerning influx. 
1 replied that nothing concerning it was 
known, except the influx of the sun’s light 
and heat into natural things, both animate 
and inanimate. That nothing whatever was 
known of the influx from the spiritual world 
into the natural, when yet it is by that influx 
that all the wonderful phenomena displayed 
in the animal and vegetable kingdoms (some 
of which I also recounted), are produced, 
and as men know nothing of this influx, they 
confirm themselves in favor of nature, and 
become naturalists, and at last atheists, n. 
G95. 

LXXIV. I discoursed with the disciples 
of Aristotle, of Des Cartes, and of Leibnitz, 
concerning physical influx, occasional in- 
lux, and pre-established harmony, and I 
heard how each of these philosophers con- 
firmed his hypothesis. As they were not 
able to examine the subject from any eleva- 
tion of their understanding above confirma- 
tions, but only from below them, they decid- 
ed the strife by lot, which came out in favor 
of spiritual influx, which in some measure 
agrees with occasional influx, n. 696. 

LXXV. I was conducted to a certain gym- 
nasium, where young men were initiated into 
various arcana of wisdom ; this was effected 
by the discussion of any subject which the 
president might propose on the occasion. 
The problem now to be solved was, What 

IS THE SOUL, AND WHAT IS ITS QUALITY ? 

There was a pulpit or desk into which the 
speakers w r ent up, and immediately one as- 
cended, saying, that no one since the crea- 
tion of the world had been able to search out 
what the soul is, and what its nature is. As 
they knew, however, that the soul was in 
man, they searched for its seat, and it had 
been concluded that it resided in a certain 
gland called the pineal gland, having its seat 
between the two brains in the head. He 
had at first believed this himself, but as many 
rejected this opinion, he also had receded 
from it. After him, a second ascended, and 
he said that he believed the seat of the soul 
to be in the head, because the intellect has 
its seat there ; but as he was unable to divine 
in what part of the head it was seated, he 
had sometimes acceded to the opinion of 
those who said that it was in the three ven- 
tricles of the cerebrum ; sometimes, again, 
he favored the opinion of its being seated in 
the corpora s'riata, sometimes that of its 
location in the medullary or in the cortical 
substance, and sometimes that which fixed 

965 


its seat in the dura mater; to which he 
added that he would leave every one to come 
to his own decision. Then a third ascended, 
who said that the seat of the soul was in the 
heart, and thence in the blood, which he 
confirmed from some passages in the Word 
where the heart and the soul are mentioned. 
After him a fourth ascended, saying, that 
from his childhood he had thought with the 
ancients that the soul w’as not in any part, 
but in the whole of the body, because it is a 
spiritual substance of which place is not pre- 
dicable, but impletion, and because also by 
the soul the life is understood, and life is in 
the whole. Then a fifth ascended, who said 
that he believed the soul to be pure some- 
what, similar to ether or air, and that he 
believed this on account of the opinion that 
souls are of this nature after their separation 
from the body. But as the wise persons in 
the orchestra perceived that none of them 
knew what the soul was, they requested the 
president, who had proposed the problem, to 
descend and teach them. Hereupon he de- 
scended and said, “ The soul is the essence 
itself of man, and as an essence without a 
form is not any thing, the soul is the very 
form of forms of a man, and this form is the 
truly human, in which wisdom, together with 
its perceptions, and love, together with its 
affections, universally reside. And you are 
now souls, as you believed when in the world 
that you would be after death with much 
besides. This was confirmed from the declara- 
tion in the book of creation, “ Jehovah God 
breathed in the nostrils of Adam the breath 
of lives, and man became a living soul,” Gen. 
ii. 7, n. 697. 

LXXVI. I saw an angel with a trumpet; 
by which he called together those who were 
celebrated among Christians for their learn- 
ing, to relate what they had believed in the 
world concerning heavenly joy and eternal 
happiness; this was done because it was said 
in heaven that no one in the Christian world 
knew any thing on this subject. In about half 
an hour I saw six companies of learned Chris- 
tians approach, who were asked what they 
had known about heavenly joy and eternal 
happiness. The first said, they had believed 
it to consist solely in admission into heaven, 
and after that the enjoyment of its delights, 
as a person admitted to a marriage enjoys its 
festivities. The second company said, they 
believed it to consist in delightful consociation 
with angels, and in the sweetness of dis- 
course with them. The third , in feasting 
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The fourth , 
that they believed heaven to be the en- 
joyment of paradisiacal delights. The fifth , 
that it consisted in super-eminent dominion 
with super-royal magnificence and unfailing 


THE AUTHOR’S INDEX TO 


treasure. The sixth company thought it was 
a perennial gladness arising from the eternal 
glorification of God. In order that these 
sages might know whether what they had 
believed constituted the happiness of heaven, 
they were permitted to enter into their joys, 
each company by itself, that they might 
learn from living experience whether their 
delights were imaginary or real: this is the 
case with many who go from the natural 
world into the spiritual, n. 731 — 733. 

And immediately that company which had 
thought heavenly gladness to consist in de- 
lightful consort and sweet conversation with 
angels, was immitted into their imaginary 
joys. But as their joys were external, and 
not internal, they were tired after a few days, 
and withdrew, n. 734. 

After these, those who had believed that 
heavenly gladness consisted in feasting with 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were admitted 
to such delights; but as they perceived that 
those joys were only external and not in- 
ternal, they were wearied, and took their de- 
parture, n. 735. 

The case was similar with those who had 
believed heavenly gladness and eternal hap- 
piness to consist in super-eminent dominion, 
abundance of wealth, and super-royal mag- 
nificence, n. 736. It was similar also with 
those who had thought them to consist in pa- 
radisiacal delights, n. 737. 

The same occurred, afterwards, with those 
who had believed the joys of heaven and 
eternal happiness to consist in the glorifi- 
cation of God and perennial gladness to 
eternity ; and these were at length instructed 
what is meant in the Word by the glorifica- 
tion of God, n. 738. 

Lastly, their experience was similar who 
had believed this happiness and joy to consist 
in a mere admittance into heaven, and that 
then they would enjoy its gladness as those 
who are admitted to a marriage enter into its 
festivities ; but as these were convinced by 
actual experience that there are no joys in 
heaven For any but those who have lived the 
life of heaven, that is, the life of charity and 
faith, and that it is only a torment to those 
who have lived contrary to that life, they re- 
ceded and associated with those who were 
similar to themselves, n. 739. 

As it was perceived by the angels that 
hitherto no one in the natural world had 
known the quality of the joys of heaven, and 
the quality of eternal happiness thence de- 
rived, the angel with the trumpet was told to 
select ten persons out of the whole assembly 
and introduce them into one of the societies 
of heaven, that they might see with their eyes, 
and perceive in their minds, what heaven is, 
and the nature of its joys. This being done, 


they were admitted, and, first, they were 
permitted to see the magnificent palace ol 
the prince, n. 740, and the adjoining para- 
dise, n. 741. Afterwards they saw the prince 
himself and his nobles, clad in splendid 
robes, n. 742. They were then invited to 
the table of the prince, and saw such a dis- 
play of magnificence as no one had ever wit- 
nessed on earth. At table the prince in- 
structed them on the subject of heavenly 
joys and eternal happiness ; that they con 
sisted in internal beatitudes, and in external 
joys thence derived, and that internal beati 
tudes derive their essence from the affection 
of use, n. 743. After they had dined, certain 
wise persons of the society were sent for by 
the prince’s command, who fully instructed 
them in the nature and derivation of interna 
blessedness, which is eternal happiness, and 
which causes external delights to be joys: 
with much besides on these subjects, n. 745, 
746. After this they were allowed to see a 
wedding in that heaven, concerning which, 
n, 747 — 749. Lastly, they heard preaching 
there, n. 750, 761. And having heard and 
seen all these things, they descended filled 
with the knowledge of heaven and gladnes? 
of heart, n. 752. 

LXXVII. On the subject of revelation 
That it has pleased the Lord to manifesf 
Himself to me, and to open the interiors ol 
my mind, that I might see the things which 
are in heaven and hell, and thus reveal such 
arcana as for excellence and importance sur- 
pass all the arcana hitherto discovered. These 
are, 1st. Concerning the Word, that in the 
whole and in every part there is a spiritual 
sense, which does not appear in the sense 
of the letter; and that the Word, therefore, 
is written according to the correspondence ol 
natural things with spiritual. 2d. Con- 
cerning correspondences themselves and 
their nature. 3d. Concerning the life of 
man after death. 4th. Concerning the 
respective quality, also, of heaven and 
hell, and the nature of baptism and the 
holy supper. 5th. Concerning the sun 
in the spiritual world, that it is pure love 
from the Lord, who is in its midst; the 
proceeding light of which also is wisdom, 
and the proceeding heat, love ; whence faith 
and charity are derived : and that all things 
which proceed from this sun are spiritual 
and thus alive. That the sun of the natural 
world is pure fire, and consequently all 
things which proceed from this sun are nat- 
ural, and thus dead. 6th. Concerning three 
degrees hitherto unknown. 7th. Concerning 
the last judgment, that the Lord thb 
Saviour is the God of heaven and 
earth. Concerning the New Church and 
its doctrine. Concerning the inhabitants 


THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS. 


of the planets and the earths in the 
universe, n. 846. 8th. Furthermore, con- 
cerning conjugial love, that it is spiritual 
with those who are spiritual, natural with 
the natural, and carnal with adulterers, n. 
847. 9tli. Although these arcana surpass in 
excellence all the arcana hitherto discovered, 
' it was shown to the very sight of the angels 
that they are slighted by many, n. 848. 10th. 
A murmur was heard from some in the lower 
earth that they could have no faith in them, 
unless miracles were done, but it was re- 
plied that they would no more believe on 
account of miracles than Pharaoh and the 
Egyptians, or than the posterity of Jacob 

967 


when they danced about the golden calf a 
the desert, or even than the Jews when they 
saw the miracles which the Lord Himself 
performed, n. 849. 11th. Lastly, why the 

Lord revealed these arcana to me, and not 
rather to some one of the ecclesiastical order, 
n. 850. 

That the things contained in the Mem- 
orabilia at the end of each chapter are 
truths, -and are similar to those which are 
recorded as having been seen and heard by 
the prophets before the advent of the Lord, 
and by the apostles after His advent, as by 
Peter and Paul ; but especially by John, aa 
recorded in the Revelation, n. 851. 


* 



INDEX 

TO 

I 

THE PASSAGES OF THE HOLY WORD 

CONTAINED IN THE PRECEDING WORK. 


W. B. The numbers to which Cor. is prefixed denote the passages adduced in the Coronis, or 
Appendix to the True Christian lieligion. The asterisk (*) denotes that the passage tu 
more fully explained. 


GENESIS. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

26, 27 

j 20, 34*, Cor. 26*, 
( 48 

ii. 

7 

48* 470, Cor. 25* 


8—17 

Cor. 27 

iii. 

5 

48, 380*, 470* 


14, 15 

Cor. 60 


23, 24 

260* 


22 

48, Cor. 26 

iv. 

14—17 

466 

V. 

1 

48 

xiii. 

10 

Cor. 41 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

xiv. 

18—20 

264, 715* 

XV. 

16 

755 

xvii. 

10, 11 

675 

xviii. 

21 

755 


1—3 

Cox*. 49* 

xxviii. 

12, 13 

24 

xli. 

8 

156 

xlviii. 

5, 14 

247 

xlix. 

10 

Cor. 60 


11 

706, 708 


EXODUS 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

iii. 

2—4, 14, 15 

19, Cor. 49 

xii. 

7, 13, 22 

706 

xix. 

9—24 

Cor. 49 


10, 11, 15 

284 


12, 13 

2S4 


16—18 

284 


20—23 

284 

XX. 

2—14 

284 


4, 5 

Cor. 43* 


3 

9, 291 

xxi. 

6 

106 

xxiii. 

21 

299 

xxiv. 

3—11 

706 

XXV 

16 

284 


17—21 

284 


17—22 

260 


22 

284 

xxvL 

1 

284 


968 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Number*. 


1, 31, 36 

220 


31 

260* 


33 

284 

xxix. 

12, 16, 20, 21 

706 

xxxi. 

3 

156 


18 

284 

xxxii. 

12, 14 

226 


15, 16 

284 

xxxiii. 

5 

689 


18—23 

691 


20 

124, 135, 370, 787 


20—23 

28 

xxxiv. 

15 

310, 314 


13 

264 


28 

286 


29—35 

284 

XXXV. 

5, 21, 29 

495 

xl. 

20, 38 

284 


INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE, 


LEYITICUS. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

5, 11, 15 

706 

ii. 

1—11 

707 

iii. 

11, 16 

707 

iv. 

6, 7, 17, 18 

706 

X. 

6 

223 

xvi. 

2—14 

284 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

xvi. 

12 

706 

xix. 

23 

468, 675 

XX. 

6 

314 

xxi. 

6, 8, 17, 21 

707 

xxii. 

4, 6,7 

707 

xxiv. 

5 

707 





NUMBEKS. 



Chap. 

Verses. 

N umbers. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

N umbers. 

ii. 

1 

284 


xxiiL 

3, 5, 8, 16, 26 

264 

vi. 

1—21 

223 



1, 2, 14, 29, 30 

264 

vii. 

89 

260, 284 



7, 18 

265 

ix. 

15, 16 

284 



19 

226 

X. 

35, 36 

284 


xxiv. 

1, 13 

264 

xiv. 

18 

226 



3, 15 

265 

xxi. 

14, 15 

265 



6, 6 

Cor. 27 


27—30 

265, 279 



17 

264, Cor. 60 

xxii 

13, 18 

264 


xxv. 

1—3 

264 


40 

264 


xxviii. 

2 

707 


DEUTERONOMY. 


Chap. 

Versea, 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

iv. 

11 

284 

xviii. 

15—19 

129, Cor. 60 


13 

286 

xxiii. 

10—16 

569 

V. 

6—18 

284 

xxiv. 

16 

226 


19—23 

284 

XXX. 

6 

675 

vi. 

4,5 

6, 81, 369 

xxxii. 

2—4 

Cor. 53 

vii. 

5 

264 


7,8 

264 

viii. 

3 

707, 709 


15, 18, 30 

Cor. 2 

X. 

16 

675 

xxxiii. 

13—17 

247 

xii. 

5, 11—13, 18 

298 


26 

776 


3 

264 


28 

J 90 

xvi. 

2, 6, 11, 15, 16 

298 

xxxiv. 

9 

156 


JOSHUA. 


Chap. 

iii. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 


Chap. 

Versea. 

Numbers. 

1—17 

284 


vi. 

1—20 

284 

iv. 

2 

6—20 

285 

284 


X. 

12 

265, 279 


Chap. Verse, 

xvi. 17 


JUDGES. 

Number. I Chap. Verse. 

223 I xvi. 29 


.1 

Number. 

627 


1 SAMUEL. 


Chap. 

iii. 

Verses. 

1—8 

Numbers. 

211 

Chap. 

V. 

Verses. 

4 

Number* 

630 

j- 1 to end 

11. 12 

203,* 284 

vi. 

3—5 

595 

V. 

vi. 

XX. 

5, 12—42 

211 

V. 

691 





969 




TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 


2 SAMUEL. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

17, IS 

265, 279 

vi. 

6,7 

691 

vi. 

1—19 

7 

284 
' 284 

xxiii. 

3,4 

j 109, 764, Cor. 2 
( Cor. 5, Cor. 53 


1 KINGS. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 


Chap. Verses. 

Numbers. 

vi. 

7, 29, 30 

221 


xvii. 21 

211 


19 

284 


xviii. 34 

211 


29, 32, 36 

260 


xx. 35 — 38 

130 

via. 

3—9 

284 







• 

2 KINGS. 




Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 




ii. 

23, 24 

223 


• 


iv. 

38—43 

148 



JOB. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

6 

729 

xii. 

7—9 

308* 

ii. 

1 

729 

xxvi. 

8, 9 

776 


PSALMS. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Clap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

1,3 

468 

xlvii. 

3, 8, 9 

251 

ii. 

6, 7, 12 

101, Cor. 6*0 


9 

495 


7, 12 

30, 342, 384 

1. 

2, 3, 10, 11 

Cor. 3, Cor. 60 

7 

6 

322 

Ii. 

7 

671 

viii. 

2, 5, 6, 10 

Cor. 60 


8 

252 

xviii. 

10, 11, 13 

35 

260, 776 

136 


10—12 

j 143, 673, 773 
( Cor. 23 


43 

251 


11 

158 

xix. 

1 

780 


17 

156 


14 

83, 294 

lii. 

8 

468 


15 

188, Cor. 2 

liv. 

6 

495 

xxii. 

9 

583 

lv. 

18 

303 

xxiv. 

8, 10 

116 

lix. 

5 

93 

xxxi. 

5 

83 

lx. 

7 

247 

xxxii. 

2 

156 

lxvii. 

8—5 

251 

xxxiii. 

6 

87, 224 

lxviii. 

3 

252 


10 

251 


4 

776 

XX XV. 

7, 8, 17 

Cor. 59 


8 

93 

xxxvi. 

6 

51 


10, 11 

Cor. 3 

xxxv ii. 

6 

51 


34 

776 

xl. 

7 

Cor. 60 

lxix. 

21, 25 

Cor. 59 

xli. 

13 

93 

lxxi. 

6 

683 

xliv. 

14 

261 

lxxii. 

2 

61 


22 

310 


6—19 

Cor. 60 

xlv. 

8—7 

86, 116 


13—16 

706* 


9—16 

748 

lxxiv. 

18, 19 

Cor. 3 

xl vi. 

6 

764, Cor. 6 

lxxviii. 

8 

168 


970 


INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE, 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

lxxviii. 

9 

247 

cx. 

1,2 

101, 102, 136 


41 

93 


3 

764 

lxxx. 

1 

260 


4 

264,715 


17 

136 

cxi. 

6 

251 

lxxxv. 

8, 10 

303 

cxiv. 

7 

583 

lxxxix 

3—5 

Cor. 60 

cxviii 

22 

Cor. 2 


14 

51 

cxix. 

7, 164 

51 

xc. 

4 

30 

cxxx. 

5—8 

764 

xcix. 

1 

260* 

. 

7,8 

83 

cii. 

18 

673, 773 

cxxxii. 

2 

116 

civ. 

16 

46S 


7,8 

284 


28 

573, 773, Cor 23 

cxxxvii. 

6—7 

782 

cvi. 

4,5 

251 

cxxxix. 

8 

62 

cviii. 

8 

, 247 

cxlviii. 

1—12 

308 





9 

468 



• 

ISAIAH. 



Chap* 

Versea 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

4 

93, 251 

xii. 

6 

93, Cor. 60 


4—9 

Cor. 59 

xiii- 

9—11 

198 


4, 15—18 

329, 459 


9, 13 

689 


16 

671 

xiv. 

2, 6,7 

251 



; 329,435,483 


12 

276 


JLO — 1 o 

1 536,671 


29 

487 


27 

51, 95 

xvi. 

1» 5 

Cor. 60 

ii. 

19 

124 

xvii. 

4,6 

Cor. 56 

m 

a* a* 

9 

782 


7 

93, Cor. 60 

iv. 

2,3 

782 

xviii. 

2,7 

251 


4 

671 

xix. 

1 

776 


6 

213,776 


23—25 

200 

V. 

1,2 

354, Cor. 60 

XX. 

2,3 

130 


3—12 

Cor. 56 


3 

211 


19 

93 

xxi. 

10,17 

93 


30 

761 


11, 12 

764, Cor. 5 

vi. 

3 

780 

xx ii. 

13 

252 


9—12 

Cor. 56 


5, 22—26 

188 

vii. 

14 

82, Cor. 60 

xxiv. 

1—12 

Cor. 56 


18, 19 

Cor. 56 


23 

782 


23, 24 

Cor. 59 

XXV. 

3,7 

251 

viii 

7,8 

Cor. 34* 


6 

708 


13, 14 

Cor. 60 


q 

( 82,188,294 


22 

761 


V 

l 625, Cor. 60 

ix. 

1—3 

251, 270, Cor. 60 

xxvi. 

8, 13 

298 



30, 98, 113, 116 


9 

143, 144, Cor. 60 


6 < 

294, 307, 786 


18 

683 



51, 82, 101, 188 

xxvii. 

6,7 

310 


6,7 • 

303, 625, Cor. 60 

xxviii. 

7,8 

132, 683 


14, 15 

628 


15 

322, Cor. 34 

X. 

3 

Cor. 59 


16,17 

Cor. 2, Cor. 60 


5, 6 

251 


22 

755, Cor. 59 


20 

93 

xxix. 

10—12 

Cor. 56 


22,23 

756, Cor. 69 


19 

93 

XL 

1, 2, 4, 5 

139 

XXX. 

9 

822 


1, 2 

188, Cor. 6C 


11, 12 

93 


1, 5—10 

789 


26 

109, 164 


1—10 

354 


28 

Cor. 34* 


10 

251, Cor. 60 

xxxii. 

17,18 

303 

xii. 

3 

190 

xxxiii. 

5 

51 


971 






TRUK CHRISTIAN RELIGION 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers 

xxxiii. 

8—11 

Cor. 56* 

xlix. 

17, 19 

Cor. 56 


11 

156 


22 

251 


20 

782, 789 


26 

83, 188, 294, 625 


11 

156 

1. 

1 

306 

xxxiv. 

1 

251 

li. 

8 

252, 467, Cor. 27 


11, 18—15 

575 


11 

252 

XXXV. 

10 

252 

lii. 

1,2, 6,9 

782 

xxxvii. 

32 

782 


6—10 

Cor. 60 

xL 

3 

81,82 - 


7 

303 


3,5, 10, 11 

j 188, 294, 625, Cor. 

( 60 

liii. 

4—11 

12 

130 

104* 


3,5 

82, 780 

liv. 

n 

j 83, 93, 113, 188 


9 — 11 

82, Cor. 60 

o 

| 294, 625 

xli. 

20 

573, 773, Cor. 23 


8 

83, 188 

xlii. 

1 

188 

lv. 

1 

708 


6—8 

82 


4 

251 


5 

773, Cor. 23 

lvi. 

8, 9 

Cor. 3 


6, 8 

251, 285, 780 

lvii 

15 

156 


13 

116 

lviiL 

8 

780 


14, 15 

93, Cor. 56 


11 

. 477, Cor. 27 

xliii. 

3 

93 

lix. 

2—10 

Cor. 56 


1,7 

573, 773, Cor. 23 


5 

487 


9 

251 


16, 17,20 

116 


11 

83, 188, 294 


19—21 

139 


14 

83, 93, 294 

lx. 

1 

780 

xliv 

2 

294, 583 


16 

83, 188, 294 



( 6, 13, 19, 102 

lxi. 

1 

13y, 188 


6 

•I 188, 261, 294 


3 

156 



( 625 

Ixii. 

1-4,11, 

12 782,789 


11,15 

93 


8 

136 


24 

13,21, 83, 188, 294 
782 


11 

Cor. 60 


26 

lxiiL 

1—9 

95, 116* 

xlv. 

14, 15 

j 6, 21, 188, 294 
( Cor. 60 


9 

10, 11 

92 

158 


14,21 

21 



( 83, 113, 188 


11 

93 


16 

4 294, 299, 307 


18 

773, Cor. 23 



j 583 


21, 22 

6, 83, 188,294 

lxiv. 

10, 11 

Cor. 56 

xlvi. 

3 

583 


( 107, 303, 781 


13 

Cor. 60 

lxv. 

17—19 

•] 782, Cor. 14 

xlvii. 

4 

83, 93, 188, 294 



( Cor. 23 

xlviii. 

11 

780 


18 

573, 773 


12 

102 


21,23 

304 


13 

1 136 

lxvl 

7—10 

252, 583 


17 

j 83, 93, 188 


10 

583 


( 294, 298 


16, 18 

780,782 

xlix. 

1 

83,93, 188, 294 


22 

Cor. 1 4, Cor. 23 



JEREMIAH. 



Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

ii. 

13 

190 

iv. 

14 

671, 675 


15 

Cor. 56 


23—31 

Cor. 59 


22 

671 


27 

755 

iii. 

6,8 

314 


31 

310 


17 

782, 789 

V. 

1,7 

314,782 

iv. 

1 

51 


10, 18 

Cor. 59 


4 

675 

vi. 

6,7 

782 


7,9 

Cor. 59 


7, 8, 26 

Cor. 56 


18, 1* 

Cor. 56 


22 

251 


972 


INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap, 

Verses. 

Numbers 

vii. 

2—4, 9—1 

329, 536 

xxiii. 

14, 32 

322 


17, 18 

782 


23, 24 

30 


84 

252, Cor. 59 

XXV. 

10 

252 

viii. 

6— S 

782 


11 

Cor. 56 


10 

322 


14 

643 

ix. 

5, 6 

322 


33 

Cor. 59 


10, 11—15 

782, Cor. 59 


36—38 

Cor. 59 


19 

Cor. 56 

xxv i. 

9 

Cor. 59 


24 

51 

xxvii. 

17 

Cor. 59 

x. 

20, 21 

Cor. 56 

xxix. 

23 

314 


22 

Cor. 56 

xxxi. 

9 

190, 247 

xi. 

16 

468 


20 

247 

xii. 

3 

310 


33, 34 

354, 789* 


10—13 

Cor. 56 

xxxii. 

19 

376, 643 

xiii. 

9, 10, 14 

782 

xxxiii. 

10, 11 

252* 


27 

314 



( 51, 82, 137 

xiv. 

16 

782 


15 

•1 188, 625, Cor 

xvi. 

9 

252 



( 60 

xvii. 

8 

468 

xxxiii. 

20, 21, 25 

Cor. 5 


11 

627 

xliv. 

2, 6, 22 

Cor. 59 


13 

190 # 

xlvi. 

5, 10, 

116 

xviii. 

15, 16 

Cor. 66 

xlvii. 

2 

Cor.' 34 

xxii. 

3, 13, 15 

51 


4 

Cor. 69 



{ 51, 82, 95, 177, 

xlviii. 

3, 5, 8, 18 

Cor. 56 

xxiii. 

5, 6 

■J 137, 188, 294, 


45, 46 

265 



( 625 

1 . 

34 

83, 188, 294. 


14 

314, 782 


29 

93 




LAMENTATIONS. 


Chap. 

i. 

iii. 

iv. 

Verses. 

16 

47 

9 

Numbers. 

Cor. 59 

Cor. 69 

Cor. 59 

Chap. 

iv. 

V. 

Verses. 

21 

22 

18 

Numbers 

252 

Cor. 69 
Cor. 69 




EZEKIEL. 



Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

1 

157, 260 

XV. 

8 

Cot 59 

iii. 

12, 14 

157 

xvi. 

15, 22, 23 

314 

’’v. 

1—17 

130 

xvii. 

24 

468 


17 

Cor. 56 

xviii. 

9, 10 

260 

fi. 

6 

Cor. 56 


31 

143,* 156, 601 

vii. 

5—7, 10 

Cor. 5 

xix. 

7 

Cor. 59 


6, 7, 10 

764 

XX. 

47 

468 

viii. 

3 

157 

xxi. 

7 

156 


9 

260 

xxiii. 

A3 

314 

ix. 

1 

260 


33 

Cor. 56 . 

X. 

1 

260, Cor. 56 

xxv. 

13 

Cor. 59 

xi 

1, 24 

157 

xxvi. 

2 

Cor. 59 

13 

Cor. 59 

xxviii 

12—16 

260, 467, Cor. 41 


19 

143,* 705 


12, 13 

219, 467 

xii. 

3—7, 11 

130 


13—15 

773, Cor. 23, 27 

xiii. 

3 

156 

XXX. 

2, 3,9 

689 

11, 13 

Cor. 34* 


7, 12 

Cor. 59 


14, 15 

Cor. 59 


15, 16 

583 

xiv. 

1-4 — 18 

Cor. 59 

xxxi. 

2—13 

Cor. 3 




3—9 

Cor. 41 


973 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 


(Jhap. 

Verses 

Numbers. 

XXXI. 

3, 8, 9 

467, Cor. 27 


18 

467 

xxxii. 

7—9 

198, Cor. 59 

xxxiv. 

11, 12 

689 


23, 24 

171 

XXXV. 

3 

Cor. 59 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

xxxvi. 

15 

251 


26, 27 

143, 601, 705 

xxxvii. 

1—14 

534, 594* 

xxxvi ii. 

14, 16, 18, 19 

689 

xxx ix. 

17, 21 

706, Cor. 3 

xli. 

18—20 

260 


DANIEL. 


Chap. 

ii. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

31—35 

35, 44 

275, Cor. 3 

625, 761 

vii. 

13, 14 

( 113,416, 625,788 
\ Cor. 3 


43, 44 

788 


14 

251 

IV 

7—13 

Cor. 3 

viii. 

2 

157 


13 

93 


4 

157 


25, 26 

644 


14, 26 

764, Cor. 5 

V. 

12 

156 

ix. 

25, 27 

782 

vii. 

1, 2, 7, 13 

157 


26 

Cor. 34* 


7, 23 

761 


27 

378, 755, 761 


9 * 

223 

xii. 

3 * 

606 





4 

788 


HOSEA. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

2—9 

130 , 


2 

247 

ii. 

2,5 

306, 683 


19 

51, Cor. 3 

iii. 

1—3 

130, 247* 


4 

Cor. 59 

iv. 

9 

64, 376, 643 


10 

114 

V. 

3 

114, 247 


4,5 

156, 247 


9, 11—14 

247 

vi. 

2,3 

Cor. 53 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

vi. 

4 

247 


10 

247, 314 

vii. 

1 

318 


13 

Cor. 56 

ix. 

3 

247 

x. 

14 

Cor. 56 

xi. 

8 

247 

xii. 

1 

247* 


12 

Cor. 56 

xiii. 

4 

6, 21, 83, 188, 294 


13 

683 


JOEL. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chaj> 

Verses 

Numbers. 

i. 

6,7 

Col’. 56 

ii. 

17 

251 


10 

Cor. 56 


20 

Cor. 56 


16 

252 


21—23 

Cor. 3 

Ii. 

1, 2, 11 

689 

iii. 

2,4 

689 


2 

198 


15 

198 


9 

318 


17—20 

782, 789 


AMOS. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Number. 

V. 

9 

Cor. 56 

vi. 

12 

'51 


13, 18, 20 

689 

vii. 

9 

Cor. 56 


18. 20 

• 761 

viii. 

11 

707 


24 

51 

ix. 

2 

62 


974 


INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE, 


OBADIAH. 

Verse. Number. 

6 318 


JONAH. 


Chap. 

Versea 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verse. 

Number 

i. 

17 

211 

iv. 

2 

226 

iii. 

9 

226 





MICAH. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

iL 

11 

156 

V. 

2.4 

Cor. 60 


4 

Cor. 59 

vi. 

12 

322 

iv. 

T,2 

782 


13, 16 

Cor. 56 


4 

304* 

vii. 

13 

Cor. 66 


5 

298 





NAHUM. 


Chap. 

i. 

Verse. 

8 

Numbers. 

Cor. 35 * 59 

Chap. 

iii. 

Verse, 

4 

Number. 

314 

• 


HABAKKUK. 



Chap. 

i. 

iL 

Verses. 

3 

b 

Numbers. 

Cor. 56 

Cor. 60 

Chap. 

iii. 

Verses. 

2,4 

3 

Numbers. 
Cor. 60 
93 




ZEPIIANIAH. 



Chap 

Vorsvjs. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

10- Id 

82, 689 

ii. 

12 

Cor. 59 


18 

755 

iii. 

5 

764, Cor. 6 

ii. 

9 

251, Cor. 56 

— r 

14—17, 20 

782 




ZECEfAKIAH. 



Chap, 

Verses. 

Numbers 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Number* 

i. 

6 

376, 439, 483, 643 

ix 

11 

285,706 


1,8 

157 


13 

247 

ii. 

1 

167 

X. 

7 

247 


10, 11 

82, Cor. 60 


3,4 

Cor. 2 

iii. 

1 

157 

xi. 

4,5 

310 

iv. 

12 

156 


2,3 

Cor. 56 

vi. 

1,2 

157 

xii. 

1 

143 

vii. 

12 

627 


3, 6, 10 

782 


14 

Cor. 56 

xiv. 

14, 26 

82 

viii 

1 

190 


7 

Cor. 5 


8, 20 — 23 

782 


7—9 

789 


19 

252 


8, 11, 12, 21 

782 


22 

251 


9 

6, 188, 62ft 

ix. 

9 

Cor. 60 





975 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 


MALACHI. 


Chsp. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

L 

11—13 

298 

iii. 

4 

782 

ii. 

12 

688 

( 92, 285, 688 

iv. 

5,6 

688 

iii. 

1, 2 

\ Cor. 60 






MATTHEW. 



Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

20,25 

82, 140, 188 

xii. 

1—14 

301* 


22, 23 

823 


31 

299 

ii. 

1, 2, 9—1 

205 


33 

468,483 

iii. 

2 

113, 600 


34, 35 

653 


6 

‘ 677 


39 

314 


7 

689 


46—49 

102, 306 


10 

468 

xiii. 

3,4 

375 


11 

144, 684 


9, 23 

376 


8, 12 

483 


14, 15 

7, 232 


15 

95* 


23 

347, 376, 483 


16, 17 

164, 188, 342 


24, 30, 39, 40 

784* 

iv 

3, 6 

342 


25—31 

532 


4 

239 


30, 40,41 

38,* 653 


16 

270 


31,32 

290,* 499 


17 

528 


33 

211 


17,23 

113 


38 

606,729 

V. 

3 

156,226 


40 

755 * 


10 

96 


49 

96, 755 


11, 12 

440 


57 

129 


17, 18 

262, 581 

xiv. 

33 

342 


20 

96 

vx. 

18, 19 

675 


21,22 

309* 

xvi. 

13, 16, 18 

342 


27, 38 

313, 326 


16, 18 

224, 379* 


43—45 

409 


27 

376, 440,483, 648 


45 

43, 364, 491 

xvii. 

1 — 5 

222, 261,* 342 

vi. 

2, 5 

452 


26 

298 


19, 20 

318 

xviii. 

20 

298, 682 


22 

403 


21, 22 

409, 539 


24 

383, 536 

xix. 

28 

226 


33 

416 


29 

729 

vii. 

1,2 

226* 

XX. 

1—17 

462, 708 


7,8 

226* 


28 

709 


7 

459 


31 

298 


12 

411,444 

•xxi. 

11 

129 


15, 16 

381,* 590 


19 

676 


16—18 

435, 468 


33—44 

483, Cor. 2, 60 


19—21 

376 

xxii. 

2—13 

358, 380 


19,20 

22, 23 

722 

617,567, 68 


37-40 

j 287,369,357,483 
( 722 


24—26 

347, 375 


41—46 

102 

vili. 

29 

342 

xxiii. 

8—10 

226 

ix. 

15 

252, 370,783 


9 

306 


17 

784 


13, 15, 25 

452 


32 

777 


25, 26 

j 215* 326, 435 


35 

113 

1 

| 517 

X. 

12—14 

303 


25—28 

673 


22 

682 


37, 38 

782 


39 

532* 

XXIV. 

3 

755, 757,764 


40 

92 


9, 10 

682 

XL 

27 

111, 113, 370 


12, 14, 15 

378,434' 


976 





INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE, 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

782, Cor. 

, Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

xxiv 

15 

j 755, 

( 34 

758, 

xxvi. 

26—28 

j 703,704,706,716 
* < 730* 


15, 21, 29 

384, 

761, 

Cor. 59 


•28 

285, 730 


21, 22 

182, 

598, 

758 

fi 

29 

708 


29—31 

198, 

271, 

764 


34 

211 


30 

625, 

776, 

780 


39—44 

211 


3 1 

791 




54—56 

262 


37, 39, 44, 46 

764, 

Cor. 

34 


63, 64 

136, 342, 776 

XXV 

1 

748 



xxvii. 

40, 43, 54 

342 


1—13 

\ 199* 521 

, 687, 719, 


43 

842 


( 723 




46,47 

104* 


3 

676 



xxviiu 

1 

211 


13 

Cor. 

5 



3 

686* 


14—34 

462, 

483 



16 

113 


16—18 

379 





( 98, 104, 111, 113 


25 

527 




18 

•] 133, 137, 354,379 


31, <fcc. 

643 





( 459, 781 


33 

643 



• 

19 

164, 677 


84 

440, 

536, 

729 


20 

139, 188,755, 76] 


MARK. 


Chap 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

4 

690 

xii. 

29, 30 

81 


8 

144* 

xiii. 

26 

764 


8, 9 

677, 684 


31 

190 


10, 11 

164, 342 


35 

Cor. 5 


12, 13 

Cor. 3 

xiv. 

21 

262 


14, la 

113, 528 


25 

708 


15 

581 


22—24 

703, 704*, 716 

ii. 

19, 20 

252, 783, 784 


24 

706* 

iii. 

11 

342 


36 

704 

iv. 

3, 16, 31. 32 290 


61, 62 

342, 776 


38, 39 

123 

XV. 

28 

262 

vii 

1—4, 14, 15 671 


34 

104* 


6 

452, 517 


39 

342 

lx. 

2 

261 

xvi. 

2, 9 

764 


7 

342 


15 

j 113, 673, 687, Ce® 

X. 

45 

709 


is 

xi. 

13 

527 


16 

685* 

xii. 

29 

6 


19 

136 

1 


10, 11 

Cor. 2 





Oiap Verses, 

i. 14 

31—35 

34, 35 

41, 67 
76 

ai. 19, 21 

25 

30—32 
40, 52 

42, 46, 47 
8,9 

Q77 


LUKE. 


Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

252 

iii. 

16 

144, 689 

188, 342 


18 

298 

82, 92, 98, 111, 140, 


19, 21 

85 

158, 164 , 


21, 22 

144, 842 

158 

iv. 

16—21 

188, 262, 801 

81, 688 


24 

129 

221 


16—22, 32 

89* 

158* 

V, 

- 34,35 

252, 783 

85, 251 

vi. 

1—6 

301 

89* 


6—12 

301 

89* 


20 

226 

483, 528 


33—36 

439 


nil 


RUB 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Yerses. 

Numbers. 

ri 

87 

226 

xvi. 

26 

455, 475* 651 


44, 45 

373 


31 

500 


46—49 

375, 483, 681 

xv ii. 

34 

761. Cor. 5 

vii. 

16 

129 

xviii. 

8 

384, 764 


27 

688 

xix. 

13—26 

462, 483 

Yiii. 

20, 21 

102, 376, 483 


41—44 

782 


28 

342 

XX. 

17, 18 

Cor. 2, 60 

ix. 

29 

261 


41—44 

102 


82 

777 

xxi. 

1—3 

459 


85 

342 


20—22 

782 

X. 

5, 6 

803 


27 

764, 776 


18 

116 

xxii. 

17, 18, 20 

706, 708 


25—28 

287 


19 

703, 7 04, \ 09, 716 


27 

411 


37 

262 


80, 37 

378, 410 


69 

136 

xi. 

44 

452 


70 

342 

xiii. 

8 

528 

xxiii. 

28—30 

782 


10—19 

290, 301 

xxiv. 

25—27 

262 


26, 27 

667, 723 


26 

128, 262 


33 

129 


31 

777 

xiy. 

1—7 

301 ’ 


37—39 

109 

XV. 

7 

528 


39 

170 . 

xvi. 

13 

437 


44, 45 

262, 288 


17 

262, 288, 341 


47 

528, 681 


19, 2a 

215* 





JOHN. 


OCiap. 

Yerses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

L 

1,2 

261 

Ill 

18 

| 107,298, 387, 342, 


1,3 

85 

111* 

384, 682 


1, 3, 4, 10, 14 

50 


19, 21 

85 


1—4 

j 39, 190, 224, 354, 


21 

377 


( 716, 474, 777* 


27 

8, 359, 439, 663 


1, 3, 10 

76, 87, 224 


29 

252, 783 


1,4 

38, 358 


35 

j 111, 113, 153,188, 


1, 5, 9 

269 


) 379, 716 


1, 4, 9, 14 

780 


36 

2, I07 r 337, 384, 


1, 14 

( 3, 111, 140, 261, 


j 483, 722 


1 777, 786 

iv. 

6, 10, 14 

190 


9' 

85, 354, 776 


14 

239 

i 

12 

298, 682 


36 

483 


12, 13 

729, Cor. 25 

V. 

9—19 

301 


14, 18 

188, 342 


19—27 

342 


18 

j 98, 107, 135, 153, 


21 

- 358 


| 339, 787 


25 

342 


32, S3 

164 


26 

j 21, 25, 39, 40. 


32, 34, 35 

111 


j 153, 35S, 461,474 


34, 49 

342 


29 

483. 643 

•• 

n. 

3,4 

102 


37 

j 107, 135, 153,339, 


19,21 

211, 221 


} 270, 787 


23 

682 

vi. 

27 

239, 707 

•» • 
in, 

3, 4, 9—11 

Cor. 54 


27, 32,. Ac. 

703 


8, 5, 6 

572*, 577* 


28, 29 

107, 337 


5 

144, 572* 


33, 35 

107, 358 


15, 16 

( 159, 107,337, 483, 


35, 37 

337, 358 


l 772 


40 

j 2, 107, 337, 48^ 


16, 18 

137, 188, 841 


j 722 


17, 18 

298, 652, 772 


46 

107„ 339. 3',’U 




INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE, 




Chap V erses. 

vi. 47, 48 

48, 51, 58 

51 

58—68 

66 

63 

68 

69 

viL 24 

37—38 

39 

48, 49 
viii 5 

12 

15 

19 

24 

31—36 

36 

44 

56, 58 

4 

5 
5 

31 

41 

x. 1, 10 

1, 2—9, 11 

I, 9 

2, 3,11 
3—5 

9 

10 

II, 17 

• 15, 17 

18 

30 

84, 35 
38 

XL 3, 5, 36 

11 

25, 26 

52 

xii 2 

24 

27, 28 
28 

31 

32 

34 

35 

35, 36, 46 

36 

44 

w 


Numbers. 

107, 337 
707 

494, 707 
700* Cor. 25 
j 100, 113, 368,371, 
( 372*, 725 
j 153, 190, 199, 214, 
( 239, 358, 618 
190 
342 
226 

107, 190, 337, 358 
140, 149, 153,158, 
188 
288 
288 

107, 358, 474, Cor. 

57 

652 

98, 107 

107, 337, 384 
495 
106 

310, 322 
109, Cor. 49 
761, Cor. 3 
85 
358 

376, 483, 722 
107, 322 
318, 370, 457 
538 
380 
300 
682 

370, 457 
310, 358 
131 
709 
126 

\ 98, 111, 188, 379, 
< 716 
262, 288 

99, 371, 379 
215 

215 

107, 337, 358, 483, 
722 
729 
215 
762 
128 
299 
116 
652 

262, 288 
776 

85; 618, Cor. 54 
107, 337 
188 


Chap. Verses. 

xii. 45 
46 

47, 48 

xiii. 17 
18 
20 

31, 32 
34, 35 

xiv. 6 

6, 7,9 
6—11 

6— 15 
7 

7— 12 

8 — 10 
9 

10 , 11 
11, 20 
13, 14 

15— 21 

16— 19 
18, 20, 28 

19 

20 

20, 23 

21—23 

26, 27 
27 

xv. 1, 2, 5 


4,5 

4—6 

5 

5, 6 

6 

7 

8 
9 

14—16 

25 

26 

xvi 7 
8 
11 
13 

13—15 
14, 15 
15 

26, 27 
28 
33 

xvii 1 


Numbers. 

107, 113, 307, 870 
107, 354 
226, 652, 772 
347, 376, 483 
262 

98, 107 
128 
357 

i 85, 107, 188, 190, 
354, 358, 370,474, 
777 

339, 379, 787 

638 

159 

107 

307 

111, 188,294,307 
98, 113, 538 
99, 371, 379, 716 

153 

153, 299 
376 
139 
188 
358 

107, 368, 370,458 
787, Cor. 51 
231, 371 

329, 339, 359,369, 
376, 458, 483 
139, 153, 188, 303 
599 

107, 354, 708 
70 

( 100,111,113, 347, 
•j 368, 371, 439,459 
( 462, 787 
188, 524, 725 

S 8, 354, 359, 459 
539, 663 

120,462, 584, Cor 
47 

38, 370, 653 
226, 349 
376, 483 
357 
483 

262, 288 

139, 153, 188 

139, 153, 188 

337, 884 

116 

139 

153 

139, 188 
98, 379, 716 
154* 

3 

116, 303 
871 




TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

xviL 

1,5 

128 

xviii. 

11 

704 


o 

( 98, 104*, 111, 113, 

xix. 

24 

262 


A 

(3§4 


26, 27 

102 


10 

99, 188, 371 


28—37 

262 


9, 15, 20 

104 

XX. 

11—15 

170 


12 

262 


19—21 

303 


21 

99 


22 

140, 146, 153, 


21—23, 26 

43, 370, 787 



j 188, 298, 337, 


23 

107 


ol 

» 358, 682 


26 

298 

xxi. 

15—17 

211 

xviii. 

9 

262 


22 

764 



ACTS. 



Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

10, 11 

764 

ix. 

20 

342 

ii. 

3,4 

146 

xvi. 

30, 31 

338 


38 

528 

xvii. 

30 

528 

Hi. 

19 

528 

xviii. 

25 

690 

iv. 

11, 12 

Cor. 2 

xix. 

3—6 

690 

vi. 

5 

378 

XX. 

21 

4, 175, 528 

vm. 

9 

378 


21 

107, 137, 333 


37 

342 

xxvi. 

20 

528 


KOMANS. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

i. 

4 • 

342 

> iii. 

28 

288*, 388* 

ii. . , 

‘4-6 

376, 643 


31 

606 

. ‘ * 

6 , * 

606 

yiii. 

19, 20 

687 



376, 606 

xii. 

4,5 

372 

iiL 

22—26 * 

338 

xiii. 

8—10 

330, 444, 506 


Chap. Verses. 

x. 4 

xi. 24, 25 


1 CORINTHIANS. 


Numbers. 

Cor. 2, Cor. 53 
704 


Chap. Verses. 

xii. 27 

xiii. 13 


Numbers. 

372 

506, 722, 797 


2 CORINTHIANS. 


Chapt 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

V 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. * 

L 

9, 11 

342, Cor. 5 


y. 

16, 17 

601* 

▼. 

10 

376, 506, 643 



17 

573* 687 




GALATIANS. 



Chap, 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

ii. 

15, 16 

288, 338*, 506 

V. 

6 

338, 675 


20 

338, 342 


17 

327 

iii. 

1 

311 

vi. 

15 

675, 687 

iv 

4 

Cor. 6 


< 



980 






INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCEIPTUKE, 


Chap. Verses. 

i. 23 

ii. 20—22 


EPHESIANS. 



Numbers. 

872 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers, 

iii. 

9 

354 

374, Cor. 2 

iv. 

4, 6, 12, 13 

379, 342 


philippians. 

Chap. Verse. Numbers. 

m - 9 338, 354 


COLOSSIANS. 


Chap. Verso. 

ii. 9 


Numbers. 

j 101, 109, 111, 137, 188, 
I 294,379, 638, 655,798 


2 TIMOTHY. 

Chap. Verse. Number, 

iii. 15 338 


HEBREWS. 


Chap 

Verses. 

Numbers. 


Chap. 

Verses. 

IV. 

14 

342 


.. 

1, 10, 11, 15, 

V. 

6, 8, 10 

716 


Vll. 

17, 21 

vi 

6 

311, 342 

< 


3 


20 

716 


X. 

29 


Numt er*. 
j- 715 

342 

342 


JAMES. 


Chap Verses, 

i. 14, 16 

22 


Numbers. 

327 

376 


Chap. Verses. Numbers, 

ii. 5, 17—26 500 

21—23 643 


Chap. 

ii. 


1 PETER. 

Verses. Number. 

4 — 6 Cor. 2 


Chap Verses, 

ri 9, 10 


Number. 

2 PETER. 

1 Chap. 

Verse. 

Numbers. 

327 

1 iii. 

13 

Cor. 14, Cor. 28 


I JOHN. 


Chap 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

lit 

8 

342 



r 3, 85, 101, 109, 


24 

371,458 


90 

I 111,137,842,354 

IV 

3 

371 

V. 


‘t 367,560,722,726 


15 

342, 368, 371, 379 



[777,798 


20, 21 

458 


20,21 

j 109,111,294,358. 

V- 

2, 12, 13 

338, 342 


{ 560, 638, 655, 688 


13 

342 





981 


TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 


S 



REVELATION. 


C'iRp. 

Verses. 

Numbers. 

Chap. 

Verses. 

• Numbers. 

i 

5—7, 10—13 

625 

xiii. 

7 

311 


7 

776 


8 

107 


8, 11 

19, 102, 261 

xiv. 

4 

748 


3, 17 

13 


8 

314 


10 

157 

’ 

12 

338 


13—16 

261 


13 

376, 440 


12, 13, 17 

102 

* 

14 

776 


14 

223, 641 


19, 20 

179 


17 

225 

XV. 

4 

168, 188 

B 

8 

682 

xvi. 

16 

113 


4.5 

628 

xvii. 

1,2 

314 

* 

6 

378 


3 

157 


tj 

( 467, 606, 610, Cor. 


8, 14 

107, 724 



( 27 

xix. 

2 

314 


8 

261 


7 

307, 783, 790 


11,17,26 

610 


8 

686 


13, 16, 22 

628' 

- 

9 * 

783,791 


18 

342 


10 

149* 

ii. 

4 

298, 682* 686 


11 

307 


4, 12 

300 


14 

686* 


6, 12, 21 

610 


17,18 

705 


14 

573, 777, Cor. 3 

XX. 

7,8 

384 


15, 16 

437 


8,9 

388 


15, 19 

528 


19 1 Q 

( 107,376,440,488 


on 

j 100, 285, 359, 371, 


1^, io 

j 643 



( 462,720,725 

xxi. 

1,2 

118, Cor. 14 

e. 

6 

9 

311 

251 


1,2. 9, 10 

( 252,307,625,781 
j 790 

vi. 

9—11 

119 


1—5 

107, 687 


15—17 

124, 641, 691 


2 

307, 783, Cor. 18 

rii 

14 

706 


3 

187 


17 

190 


3, 24, 26 

789 

ix. 

2 

113, 462 


6 

102, 261 

x. 

6, 11 

251, Cor. 5 


9, 10 

307,783 

xi. 

4 

468 


17—22 

37, 187,217 


8 

311 


23, 24 

780, Cor. 5 


15 

113,788 . 


27 

107 


19 . 

285 

xxii. 

1,2 

687 

xii. 

7,11 

706 


1 

190 


9 

Cor. 32 


2 

467 


10 

113 


6, 7,12,16,) 

h & a 


11,17 

149 


17, 20, 21 j 



12 

619 


12 

102, 376, 483, 643 


14 

848, Cor. 5 


13 

19, 261, 625 

xiii. 

1,2 

389, Cor. 3 


16, 17, 20 

252, 625,783,790 


THE END. 


■AS 


982 





MOV 11333 











